Meeting Pierre Pilote, George Altman and Ernie Banks

                The Mounted Memories Sports Spectacular convention is long past, but sports fans are counting down the days until the next Sun-Times Convention from Nov. 16-18. The Sports Spectacular Convention took place in Rosemont, IL. from June 29-July 1.

                During that convention, my girlfriend and I went to show on Sunday, July 1 and met some pretty awesome people. The first person that we met that day was Pierre Pilote (Chicago Blackhawks Hall of Famer 1975) who was signing for the Fergie Jenkins foundation at his own separate booth.

                He was really nice and talkative, talking about the poster that I brought for him to sign. I also have Denis Savard’s autograph on that poster so Pilote was talking about all of the other guys that I need to get on that poster now including Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita and Tony Esposito.

                He signed my poster in gold ink and then he stood up for a picture with me and I moved on. I went and found George Altman who was doing a free signing for CSAC which is a website that I am a member of for autograph signings.

                I grabbed my free ticket and got in line and he took my baseball and signed it 1961-62 2x All-Star. He took a picture with me too after signing my baseball.

                After the two of them we proceeded to walk around and check out the autographs and sports memorabilia that the Sports Spectacular show had to offer. That convention can make any sports fans drool over the amount of memorabilia you wish you had in your ‘man cave.’

                The final signing of the day for me was Hall of Famer Ernie Banks. He was probably the nicest guy that I have ever met.

                My girlfriend and I walked up and there was a guy in front of us getting a helmet signed and Banks looks at me and says, “Is that your wife with you?” I replied, “No, that is my girlfriend.” He then said, “That’s your wife.” We had a good laugh after he said that.

                We got up to him and he took my baseball and signed it and his agent or friend told me to lean in and get a picture while he was signing. Banks said, “No, no, no, wait on the picture.” He turned to his buddy/agent and said you go and take a picture of these two people.

                I ended up handing the camera to someone in the crowd and he took a picture of me, my girlfriend and Mr. Banks. We shook his hand and headed off.

                I looked at the baseball and to my amazement Banks had signed not only his name, but also HOF 77 and Mr. Cub. That was a great surprise and I was really excited by that.

                All in all, this was a great experience and another great autograph signing session. Those three guys were three more awesome signings to add to my collection.

                If you have not been to any of the sports conventions held in Rosemont, IL., at the Donald E. Stephens Center you need to make it out there. It is a lot of fun and a great time, so bring someone along and head on out there at the next convention from Nov. 16-18.