2025 National Free Signer - Roland Harper

Here is another free signer from this year's National.  Roland Harper was really cool.  I ended up with a couple extra vouchers of his, so I got the cards I bought off of Sportlots signed.  I also got an 8 x 10 signed in gold paint pen.  I think I'm going to give that one to a coworker.

Harper (b. 1953) played professionally from 1975 to 1978 and 1980 to 1982 for the Bears.  He had 3,044 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns in his career.

Harper was really nice.  I'm glad I took the time to pick up the non-baseball guys' cards for the show.

TTM Success - Rocky Bleier

When I went to my continuing ed conference this past December in Las Vegas, Rocky Bleier was the keynote speaker.  I obviously didn;t have any of his cards with me (I also didn't get an opportunity to speak to him), but while I listened to his speech, I went on Ebay and bought a couple of his cards.

Bleier gave a great speech, and I was happy to add some autographs from him after the fact.

Bleier (b. 1946) played pro football from 1968 to 1980 for the Steelers.  He had 3,865 rushing yards (23 touch downs) and 1,294 receiving yards (2 touch downs) in his career.  He won the Super Bowl four times (1974, 1975, 1978 and 1979).

I mailed to Bleier on December 13 and got the cards back on December 24, for an 11-day TAT.

2022 National Free Signer - Bill Bergey

Bill Bergey was another of the former football players that was a VIP signer at this year's National.  I didn't know who he was, but I had a voucher for him, and I had found one of his cards, so I went ahead and got the card signed.  Usually, I just trade away the football vouchers for baseball guys, but the handlers limited folks this year to 4 vouchers per person, now.  So, I went with some of the non-baseball guys, and will have a little more variety in my album.

This is a 1980 Topps football card that I had found at the vendor who had the board of cards of signers.  I liked the design, and went with it.

Bergey (b. 1945) played professional football from 1969 to 1980 for the Bengals and Eagles.  He was the 1969 AP Defensive Rookie of the Year and finished second in the 1974.  He was an All Pro twice (1974 and 1975) and a Pro Bowler 5 times 1969, 1974, 197, 1977 and 1978.