Wednesday, August 15, 2018

An Attempt at Identification

About two weeks ago, I posted the pennant that I brought back from my dad's place in Ohio.  Here's an attempt at identifying all the signatures.  Assistance is appreciated if I got any wrong, or on the ones I can't identify. I can also take closer photos of individual signatures in better light if requested.

Click To Enlarge


1Sean Bowers
2David Beltran
3Kia Zolgharnain
4Ulf Ryberg (1)
5Richard Chinapoo
6John Kowalski
7Ulf Ryberg (2)
8Ali Kazemaini
9Tatu
10Michael King
11Cris Vaccaro
12Bernie James
13Denison Cabral
14Slobo Ilijevski
15Kai Haaskivi
16Chris Handsor
17Chris Mormon
18Doc Lawson (1)
19Branko Segota
20John Ball
21Peter Ward
22Doc Lawson (2)
23Pat Morris
24Simon Look
25Scott Hileman
26Lou Cioffi
27Troy Dusosky
28Nick Corneli
29Erich Geyer
30Paul Kitson
31Dino Delevski
32Gino DiFlorio
33Benny Dargle
34Jim May
35Dave Grimaldi
36Chris D'Amico
37Trevor Dawkins
38Gary DePalma
39Wes Wade
40Carl Valentine
41Walter Schlothauer
42Ron Newman
43Charley Greene
44Kiley Couch
45Joe Reiniger
46Joe Raduka
47Jim Pollihan
48David Bascome
49Kevin Koetters
50Daryl Doran
51Zoran Savic
52Mike Powers
53Wayne Jentas
54Keith Tozer
55Lance Johnson
56Kevin Terry?
57Victor Nogueira
58Lovelace Ackah
59David MacKenzie
60Omid Namazi

There were a total of 78 people there that weekend who played and/or coached on either the All-Star or Legends teams. Courtesy of Ray in Baltimore who has the game program and ticket stub (which I plan to acquire soon), here are the players who were there but either aren't on the pennant, or are ones I can't identify...

Paul Wright, Paul Child, Scott Manning, Kim Roentved, Mike Stankovic, Peter Pappas, Fred Grgurev, Fernando Clavijo, Stan Terlecki, Mike Sweeney, George Nanchoff, Andy Chapman, Ruben Astigarraga, Joel Shanker, Mark Moser, Glenn Carbonara, Hector Marinaro, Carlos Farias, Chris Handsor.

Of those, I know Carbonara was at the signing since I got him on a card there.  I also know Marinaro was not since I only got him on a card while he was near the field.  Zoran Karic was also at some events over the weekend but did not play in the game or do the signing. Some other Crunch players like Otto Orf and Andy Schmetzer may have been around too. Gino DiFlorio was not listed as playing, but was at the signing.

EDIT: Big thanks to Ray for sending me some scans to help nail down some of these ID's. I'm down to just one that I'm not certain on.

Tuesday, August 14, 2018

Big event in DFW!

It looks like the Soccer Hall of Fame is finally almost ready to open its doors-- thanks to a pair of Brians (Reser and Gutmann) for giving me info on this...

In addition to the celebration for Hall of Fame Weekend, Frisco will also be putting on a celebration for the NASL's 50th anniversary.

Needless to say, I've already bought tickets because I have a few project needs on guys who will be there for the NASL game-- Tatu, Mike Sweeney, Fernando Clavijo, and of course my fellow Finn, Kai Haaskivi!

I also have hopes for a few other players to be added just for the general festivities as HOF members: Pele (also an NASL player, but unlikely to play at 77 years old), Preki, and Desmond Armstrong would be nice additions.

I have about seven cards I need Haaskivi to sign, plus a couple for Sweeney, one for Clavijo, and maybe three plus some photos for Tatu. I have a ton of non-set cards for him as well (20-30 or so), but I'll hold back a bit.

Hope to see some of you there; my wife and I will be sitting in Section 126 for the FC Dallas-Sporting KC game and the NASL Legends game. We will likely try to make the postgame party at the British Lion Pub, and I may even try to 'graph some of the other events as well.

Monday, August 13, 2018

Goal: Complete my first set

Sitting at nearly 80% completion on the entire project, my goal of finishing all the sets from 87/88-91/92 is certainly accessible.  However, sometimes it's best to break that big goal down into smaller goals.

For me, the first one will be to complete my favorite set of them all, the 1989-90 set.

Right now, of the 114 sigs I need to complete it, I'm only 13 away.  Let's give a rundown on what I still need...

#6 Waad Hirmez - I haven't heard of Hirmez signing via mail and had no success via his club in 2016, so I suppose I'll have to hope for a San Diego collector to catch him at an alumni game out there. I may also try via a home address.

#26 Joe Papaleo - In all the Dallas Sidekicks stuff I've acquired, I've never gotten Joe on any cards-- just a photo in an eBay lot I picked up.  I tried him by mail at the same time as Hirmez, also via a club, also with no response. Home address next?

#33 Dominic Mobilio - Mobilio tragically died in 2004, suffering a heart attack while driving back from a friend's house after an amateur game. I have seen a few of his autographs out there, but they are tough to come by.

#34 Scott Manning - I recently picked up the Scoop Stanisic wrong photo error signed by Scoop. I just need to get Manning on it as well. He signed for me in 2016 with a six-week turnaround. I can try him again soon.

#47 Pedro Debrito - Debrito was killed in a car accident in 2004, hitting a tree in a median on his way to work. Like Papaleo, I have a photo signed by Debrito, but no cards, and I haven't seen any signed by him either.

#52 Nenad Zigante - I tried Zigante with no luck via his club in the Carolinas in 2015. It may be time to re-try via home. I also need him in the 1988-89 set.

#66 Greg Ion - Having finally tracked down Chico Moreira a while back, finding Ion has been my tough one. Three attempts in 2016 resulted in two RTS via home addresses in Washington and Oregon and one non-return via a club in Washington. I suppose I'll keep searching...

#67 Chris Hundelt - I have the error signed on the back by Kevin. I just need it signed on the front by Chris, along with the corrected version. I haven't tried mailing Chris just yet.

#71 Bill Crook - I haven't tried him yet but probably should since I need him in here and the following two years' sets.

#76 David Hoggan - No luck on Hoggan in 2015, and I haven't found a home address for him yet. I'm hoping I can track something down since I also need him on four other cards.

#100 Dennis Mepham - Another tough one, I'm 0/2 on two different Lakewood, OH addresses. I might see if I can find a business address since I seem to recall hearing he's involved in Cleveland real estate.

#108 Bobo Lucic - I have a potential address on him in Slovenia. He was born in Mostar, currently part of Bosnia and Herzegovina near its border with Croatia. So I'm not sure if it's good or not, but I should give it a try once I get some Slovenian stamps.

I also came up with a few other international mailing projects-- I mentioned before I need to send to Roberto Baggio, and possibly a few other Italian players that I have loads of cards of. I also found two boxes of Australian Football League cards at my dad's place, so I might see if I can try some of those guys as well if I can find some addresses.