Southern California Sports Club in the 1970s

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Posted By: Griffin's

I certainly remember them- at one point I was the vice president, for what little that was worth.
The meetings were initially at the school that John Parks taught at. At the outset they were free and then they started charging an annual membership fee.
I found out about them about '73 or '74 when Merv Williams, a local dealer often remembered as he had an amputated leg, ran an ad in the Santa Monica Evening Outlook seeking out other collectors to attend the meetings. Myself and a few friends responded and Merv drove us to the meetings for the next few years, never allowing us to pitch in a dime for gas.
Besides the collectors/dealers mentioned above, Clay Hill was very involved (he was the pres the year I was vp) as was Tom Tuttlemeyer and Goody Goldfadden.
The meetings always started with buying and selling, followed by a formal meeting and then an auction. The big convention was at the Anaheim Hyatt every August. I had tons of '60's and '70's cards I had picked up from other kids that were no longer interested and often traded mass amounts for T205's and T206's. Condition didn't mean that much for the most part, but Jim Nowell (who I believe founded the first annual convention in '69) was always very particular about his cards. Jim, Gavin Riley, Clay,Tom T. and Merv were all very good about helping young collectors, some of the others would take advantage whenever possible. I probably learned more about business from those meetings than anything I ever studied in school
I stopped collecting early in '76 and didn't get back until '99. The only person I've seen from those days was Clay Hill, who still works for SCP, I believe.