Olympians and Other Stars of the Past
1920s-1960s
This website features autographs from my collection of 90 track and field athletes of the past. It also includes autographs of Olympians in other sports, too.
I first started collecting vintage football autographs in the late 1980s, but my collecting interests soon branched out to other sports--including track and field. That happened after I began reading the sports pages of old newspapers on microfilm. I discovered the old sports cartoons. These cartoons were popular from after the turn of the century and started to disappear in newspapers about the late 1950s. The graphic images created by these wonderful cartoonists really appealed to me. I thought these old sports cartoons would make a wonderful medium for collecting autographs. Not only were they great visual images, but they gave historical context and information about the career of the athlete. Thus my collection of vintage track and field autographs extends into those in the 1920s and who were featured in these great old cartoons. Each cartoonist was distinct in his style. Some newspapers had their own in-house while others were syndicated and their drawings appeared in newspapers across the country. Tom Paprocki (or Pap) was may favorite cartoonist, but I also liked Alan Maver and Jack Sords. Although this website focuses on track and field, I have a vast collection of vintage baseball, tennis, golf, basketball, boxing, Olympics, and football autographs. My vintage sports autograph collection numbers in the thousands. I have a different website for each sport. Connect to my other sports autograph sites on the "Links" page. I still collect autographs, but not in such a frenzied manner as I did in the late 1980s and 1990s. I think it is now time to share these wonderful old athletes, what I have learned about them, and their autographs with you. Click on the categories in the directory on the top of this page to see entries. I also have a website where you can view and purchase autographs of track and field and Olympic athletes that I offer for sale, but I'm open to other requests for sale or trade, too. LAST UPDATED: November 20, 2021 |