Celebrity Autographs And Celebrity Addresses

Friends are calm, cool and collecting at celebrity golf tourney

Friday, June 24, 2005
By Wade Malcolm, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The three friends drove 2 1/2 hours from Cleveland, slept in their car Wednesday night and got up at 5 a.m. yesterday morning, all to attend the Mario Lemieux Celebrity Invitational, a charity golf tournament.


Not that golf really had anything to do with it.

They came to The Club at Nevillewood with bags of sports memorabilia over their shoulders and albums of photos and trading cards tucked under their arms. They hoped to fill every last collectible piece with the John Hancocks of the celebrities teeing off in Collier yesterday.

Adam Bolinger, Tony Loparo and Matt Zagorc are autograph hunters, and they were not alone in that pursuit yesterday. Their kind appeared to vastly outnumber the celebrities and even the golf fans at the tournament.

They carried plastic shopping bags crammed with mini helmets, baseballs, basketballs, footballs and authentic jerseys.

To say it is a hobby for the three probably diminishes their degree of commitment. Obsession or perhaps compulsion might be more like it.

Nineteen-year-old Zagorc, for example, was arrested in 2004 for trespassing while seeking autographs at the San Antonio Spurs' team hotel in Cleveland.

"That's such an awesome story, man," Bolinger mused, as Zagorc recounted how he had tried to evade a security guard by using an alternate entrance.

They work on their strategies for obtaining the signatures they seek. They know All-Pro defensive end Bruce Smith and retired NBA all-star Charles Barkley won't sign photos, and some athletes won't sign any merchandise from a former team with which they parted on bitter terms.

They've also worked events like this before, and their savvy showed. They somehow knew which hole every player was on, better than most of the course marshals.

"If we hurry, we can try and get [Dan] Marino coming off nine," Bolinger, 19, said around 3:30 p.m., his 11th hour on the course. "Then we can get [Ben] Roethlisberger on 12."

Apparently, a few other autograph hounds had the same idea. After Big Ben crushed a monster drive off the 12th tee, one man in his 20s among the horde yelled: "Ben, can you sign one? It's for my little brother."

"It probably isn't," the Steelers quarterback said, smirking. "But I'll do it anyway."

One of the most frequent signers of all the celebrities at the tournament, Roethlisberger then inked at least a dozen autographs before heading up the fairway.

Loparo, 15, later complained about the quality of Roethlisberger's penmanship. The 2004 NFL Rookie of the Year's increasing popularity and lengthy surname have reduced his autograph to a "B" and "R" accompanied by indistinguishable scribbles.

Collectors are particular in other ways. When Bolinger approached Carson Daly to sign a photo before the 11th tee, the talk show host took out a black pen of his own -- which was a problem, because blue ink is preferred for photos. Daly gave a skewed look when Bolinger implored him to use his Sharpie instead.

As the three gathered with other autograph hunters to discuss how the day was going, word got out about Daly's desire to use his own pen.

The celebrities were often judged harshly on their graciousness in supplying signatures.

The three, for instance, were pleased to get Lemieux's signature earlier in the day, but were irked at his suggestion that they only sought to sell the collectibles on eBay.

In fact, the three said, they sell very few items, only those that are extras. They mostly hold on to their memorabilia or trade it for other pieces.

There was one catch they hoped to make at the course yesterday that none of them would ever trade: the ink of NBA icon Michael Jordan.

"If you're here for an autograph, you're here for Jordan," Bolinger said.

At least for these three, though, yesterday was not their day. One of the world's most recognizable athletes signed only briefly.

But needless to say, they won't be giving up that easily.

"We'll be back [today]," Bolinger said. "I got one more shot at Jordan."