Slapshot Autographs: 59 & Counting

30ranfordfan

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I've mentioned this collection of mine plenty of times in passing. I've posted before with a lot of other cards, but it's been a long time since I posted pics of my Slapshot collection. This has been a big project for me over the last couple of years, and I'm still trying to grow it!

This is not every card I consider part of my collection. I'm just showing off unique signatures today (I've got lots of other Hanson brothers cards, plenty of non-auto'd cards that go into this collection too). I've also left out a few that I consider "associated" with the film: Goldie Goldthorpe, Jack Carlson, and Christian Hanson.

Like the title says, I'm up to 59 autographs from people that were in the film, and hoping to add to that this year. Most of these are on custom cards that I've been printing myself. They don't always turn out great, as it's hard to get a clean still shot from the movie (at least using free, low-tech software) but I make due as best I can. I make backs for the cards too. A few times the person on the card signed the back instead of the front - I suspect because they thought the front would be difficult to see. I've included the front & the back for those folks.

This is really a tribute to how amazing the people I've been in touch with have been. There's a few people in this thread that sign autographs regularly, a few more that sign on occasion, but a lot of these people have hard very few requests to sign, ever (I was told by a couple of them that I'm the only person that's ever asked - and they were very happy to do it). I'll mention that I always send an extra copy of the custom card, and almost always the person on the other end keeps it (as I offered). There's been a few times where they've asked for extra copies, and I've always been more than happy to have those printed and send them along.

Anyway, here's the show:

52634008691_17fc6ccd00_k.jpg


We'll start off with 6 names most of you will know, all on certified / pack-pulled autographed cards:
Michael Ontkean (Ned Braden)
Paul Newman (Reggie Dunlop)
Yvon Barrette (Denis Lemieux)
Steve Carlson (Steve Hanson)
Jeff Carlson (Jeff Hanson)
Dave Hanson (Jack Hanson)


Next up, 10 more Charlestown Chiefs:
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Stephen Mendillo (Jim Ahern)
Yvon Ponton (Jean-Guy Drouin)
Allan Nichols (Johnny Upton)
Guido Tenesi (Billy Charlebois)
Jerry House (Dave 'Killer' Carlson)
Jean Rosario Tetreault (Andre Bergerson)
Strother Martin (GM Joe McGrath, cut from an index card)
Brad Sullivan (Mo Wanchuk, cut from a signed Playbill)
Ron Docken (Yvon Lebrun, the backup goalie)
Reg Kent (a star for the Johnstown Jets back in the 70s, is an extra for the Chiefs in the movie, can be seen in the opening game)

Then there's the other teams.....

4 members of the Syracuse Bulldogs:
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Connie Madigan (Ross "Mad Dog" Madigan, certified auto from Panini)
Mark Bousquet (Andre 'Poodle' Lussier)
Paul D'Amato (Tim 'Dr Hook' McCracken)
Dan Belisle (unnamed player, fights with Paul Newman in the final game)

5 members of the Hyannisport Presidents

52633496287_76bec0d485_k.jpg

John Gofton (Nick Brophy)
the other 4 are all unnamed:
Bruce Boudreau (NHL coach!)
Jim Boo
Dave Birch
Larry Mavety (signed ITG card. I've read he was in the opening game, with Boudreau & Gofton, but I'm not sure where)

4 Long Island Ducks, and 3 Broome County Blades:

52633496262_131a9cde88_k.jpg


Christopher Murney & Jean-Louis Levasseur as Tommy Hanrahan (Murney is only Hanrahan when the mask comes off. Levasseur actually plays goalie).
Steve Stirling (NHL coach) & Paul Stewart (NHL ref) were unnamed Ducks.
Frank Hamill as "Johnson" (you can read the back of his jersey if you know what to watch)
Bob Jones as an unnamed player
Ross Smith as Barclay Donaldson

3 members of the Peterborough Patriots (all unnamed) along with a Federal League Referee!

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Michael Smith, Bob Murphy, and James Bolen all shown at various points in the pre-game brawl for the Patriots.
Dick Roberge as Referee Ecker


Now we get to non-players....

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Will "Woody" Espey, Bruce Kent, and Dan Belisle Jr were all Chiefs' stickboys
Paul Dooley was an announcer for Hyannisport
M Emmet Walsh was the local reporter, Dickie Dunn
Mickey McQuillan played Dickie Dunn's son.


More non-players:

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Jennifer Warren (Francine Dunlup, Reggie's wife)
Lindsay Crouse (Lily Braden, Ned's wife)
Swoosie Kurtz (Shirley Upton, Johnny's wife)
Melinda Dillon (Suzanne Hanrahan, Tommy's wife)
Phil Light - Random guy in the crowd that was protesting the Chiefs on their way into Hyannisport
Lucy Lee Flippin - Game Show contestant (when the Chiefs were watching TV in the locker room)
Bill Bingler - Fashion Consultant, helping Upton @ the fashion show
David Burke - Desk Sergeant, when they were bailing the Hansons out of jail

Now some of the Bluebirds:

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None of these women would have had "named" roles in the film. Jennifer Suppes was Killer Carlson's date at the Aces after their show. For Laurie Lydic I used a group photo. I was given "behind the scenes" photos of both Tricia Suppes & Terry Kohler to work with.... those aren't shots from the movie, but I liked using them more than group pictures.

Finally, a few signatures that are not on cards, but I'd like to give them the "cut signature" treatment, similar to Strother Martin & Brad Sullivan eventually:

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Matthew Cowles signed play bill from the play Malcolm. (That's Angela Landsbury in red, if you're interested). He played Chiefs trainer, Charlie Kischel.

and these three photos, that I purchased from Mad Brothers (who sell a ton of Slapshot Memoribilia):

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Andrew Duncan as Jim Carr
Louise and Janet Arters as the Sparkle Twins
Cliff Thompson as Walk Comisky





And there you have it! That's 59 autographs. I've got a bunch in the wind right now, so hoping to break 60 very soon, hitting 65 in 2023 is my goalie. Kathryn Walker (Anita McCambridge), New Dowd (Ogie Ogilthorpe), Nancy Dowd (writer of the film) would be the three right at the top of my wantlist, but it's certainly not limited to them.
 
Very impressive effort. Great to see some of the various characters from that movie. How you found all the mailing addresses is phenomenal. Are the Dowd's tough to get or you just haven't sent anything yet? They would be two must haves for me if possible. Thanks for the look.
 
Very impressive effort. Great to see some of the various characters from that movie. How you found all the mailing addresses is phenomenal. Are the Dowd's tough to get or you just haven't sent anything yet? They would be two must haves for me if possible. Thanks for the look.

Thank you! Finding the names of people who weren't credited in the movie was challenging (there were quite a few articles written for then Johnstown newspaper for the 40th anniversary, and I got a lot of names that way). In some cases, I'd contact one person - and they'd offer up a few more names.

Then tracking them down (for a mailing address) would be the next part, which also isn't always easy (though in some cases it was). Reaching out to people via Facebook was a good way to do it.

I have written to both of the Dowds. Best I can tell they live in Europe now. Found what I believed to be mailing addresses for them, but never got anything back. I have no way of knowing if something got lost in the mail, I sent to bad addresses, or they just weren't interested in signing.

What’s the story behind the Newman card, it’s outstanding! Didn’t know it existed.

The Newman came from 2010-11 Dominion:

https://blog.paniniamerica.net/cuts...2010-11-dominion-hockeys-kindest-cuts-insert/

When I saw it was on the checklist, I knew I wanted the card... I didn't think I'd luck out and ever own it though. I won an eBay auction for it.... either 2011 or 2012 (can't remember). I got it for much less than I thought it would sell for (I didn't think I'd win it).

Awesome cards. They just showed the movie in the swiss TV recently. It’s still angreqt movie. Was a blast to scroll through your cards.

Thank you! Yeah, I have no idea how many times I've watched it. Still love it every time.

Those are awesome!!! :beer:

--Curt

Thanks Curt!

Amazing collection! That's some great dedication. Thanks for sharing.


My pleasure! Glad you enjoyed it.
 
awesome collection , massive commitment but well done i have a few my self but mostly main characters and mcfarlanes.

One of these years I need to just get the McFarlanes. They look awesome, I've just never had a great spot to put them - so never bought them.

that is a fantastic collection, i have the ontkean myself and this one other card (NFS)

IMG_20230118_0001 by peter chow, on Flickr

id love to get a paul newman auto, i check on those once in a while


Pacman


He's got other cut autographs. That was a 1/1 in Dominion, but I'm sure Leaf has put him into a couple of sets (maybe others too?)

They did a fantastic job with those A&G cards. I've got one as well, along with a few other triple signed ones:

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I love this. Unreservedly.

Amazing! Thanks for sharing

Sean

What can I say, :banana:

Thanks a ton for the show.

Ok this is one of if not the coolest collection I have ever seen - awestruck! Congrats!!!

I'll second what Quincy said.. well done.

Thanks everyone!

I certainly think I have something pretty unique. There's a dozen, or so, names that have signed lots over the years.... and maybe another dozen who were famous enough to sign a bit - but the bulk of them are simply not celebrities (or even pro-hockey players).

I don't want to claim that I've got the biggest collection of random autographs from the film out there - but I have yet to see a collection with more.
 
For sure Sean, an amazing collection by far! I truly love unique collections, the represent the essence of collecting IMO.

I'm curious, did any Bruins make it into the movie?

Glenn
 
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For sure Sean, an amazing collection by far! I truly love unique collections, the represent the essence of collecting IMO.

I'm curious, did any Bruins make it into the movie?

Glenn

That's a good question.

I don't know of anyone who was in the movie, and played for the Bruins..... but that's doesn't mean that there isn't one. If I had a quick / easy way to query something like hockeydb.com, I'd check for a player that played for the Bruins, and also played in the NAHL. A TON of the players on opposing teams were in the NAHL at the time.

Awesome show! Great job on tracking these all down. Love that you used the OPC WHA card design.

Thanks! That WHA design seemed appropriate. I liked the idea of borrowing from the "rival league". That particular design is really easy to work with in photoshop, and it's from 1977 - the same year the film came out.
 

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