Bill Schneider, of Hazel Crest, Illinois meticulously tracked down and personally acquired the autographs of as many of the top PGA and LPGA Tour pros as he could. He collected for approximately 55 years. He would get individual pictures from a magazine and mount them to business-size cards (many of these cards are blank on the reverse side while others read "Bill Schnider, Autograph Collector, Hazel Crest, Illinois"). The man was dedicated and successful. All told he built a collection of 568 cards autographed by the vast bulk of the greatest names in professional golf during the 2nd half of the 20th century. His work in the 50s and 60s was outstanding as so many pros from that era are included in his collection. Fortunately, he did not stop with those. He kept collecting, and meticulously so, for many more decades.
It should be noted that the collection does contain at least 5 cards signed by non-pros that were quite prominent in professional golf: Karsten Solheim (PING), David Fay (USGA), William Blue (LPGA), Herman Mitchell (Trevinio's caddy), Squeeky Medlin (Nick Price's Caddy).
It has been a special treat for the auctioneer to page through the notebook which holds the signed cards in plastic card-holder sheets. Seeing the pictures and signatures of so many heros and even a few of the greats that he was blessed to play with as a kid provides an undeniable trip back in time. There is no easy way to help a person wrap their head around the scope of this collection and its deep connection to the world of professional golf other than to picture every sheet and all 568 cards, which has been done and accompanies this lot. The amount of major golf history created by the signers of these cards is staggering.
As mentioned, some of the cards have Bill Schneider's information on the reverse side and other cards are blank. Most but not all cards have a small image attached, and Schneider was good about writing the name of the signer on the reverse side of the card.
This collection comes with a PSA/DNA certificate of authenticity signed by James Spence and Steve Grad as well as a signed Global Authentications letter of authenticity. Both are dated to December of 2003 which is when the collection was prepared and sold at a MastroNet Sports—Americana Auction held on December 17-19, 2003. The individual who consigned this collection to JEGA was the individual who won the bidding in 2003. This is the prize item in his entire collection.
When purchased, the cards were in 5 smaller binders, but the new owner eventually had them matted and framed in six big frames. There are remnants of tape on the back of some of the cards, but it is of no consequence to the quality or integrity of these items, nor to their presentation. Today, they are all together in a large binder, 9 signatures to a page.
Any interested bidder should read the letters of authenticity. They mention a number of the famous players whose signatures are included, but not even close to all. Suffice it to say this collection holds somewhere around 150 Hall of Famer's. From Mickey Wright to Seve Ballesteros, Ben Hogan to Jack Nicklaus, Sam Snead to Phil Mickleson, Byron Nelson to Cathy Whitworth, Tony Lema to Payne Stewart, and on and on and on....
This is the type of collection that could easily be worth far more than the sum of its parts. While a number of the autographs might not be big dollar items on their own, as a collection, however, these autographs represent the core of the PGA and LPGA Tours during the 2nd half of the 20th century—and that's incredible history. Where else is there a golf autograph collection this deep? It is an entity unto itself.
A spreadsheet of all the players signatures is available via email. Please email me if desired.