May 5

No cards for today's birthday(although I thought I had a Ziggy Palffy

somewhere.

Instead, I will talk about one of my hounding experiences. In the 80's Wayne Gretzky held a celebrity tennis classic during the summer. Today, we will look at June 11, 1983, held at the Brantford and District Civic Centre.

This event was sponsored by Molsons and raised funds for the CNIB (Canadian National Institute for the Blind). Wayne and a bunch of celebrities (both sports and non-sports) would get together for a day of tennis. Each year, there would be a revolving door of people. It was a great time to get autographs. I must admit I did not watch a lot of tennis. I was standing right by the roped off area where the players had to walk by. As at any hounding event, you may be getting someone to sign for you while someone else walks by. You hope you can get them later. Besides getting cards and photos autographed, also bought the program and had it signed too.

Front cover signed in blue ink by Keith and Walter Gretzky.

Back cover signed in blue ink by Don Cherry.

Inside the program were the requisite sponsor ads and pages and photos of guests scheduled to appear.

Signed in blue ink by Cape Breton folksinger John Allan Cameron

Signed in thin blue marker by Mr. Hockey himself, Gordie Howe.

Signed in blue ink by TV newscaster Mike Anscombe.

Signed in blue ink by Colin Campbell and Rick Vaive.

Signed in blue ink by former Brantford Alexander Mike Bullard.

Signed in blue ink by Ron Duguay and Paul Coffey. Signed in red marker by soap star Gloria Loring.

As I mentioned earlier, this was one of many different events I attended during the 80's. Things were a lot different then. Access was no real problem nor was multiple items. Of course, with only two major card sets, there wasn't a lot to get signed. But fun times were had and you became friends with other hounds as you usually were at the same events. 

If you are interested in this item, it is available. Drop me a line with your offer.

Thanks for reading