Notes from the National

[frankbmd]

Originally Posted by tbob

.........The 54 Dinner and Drinks is tonight and I hope to see other 54ers there like David McDonald, Tom Boblitt and others who are here but I keep missing. I did meet a lot of members for the first time like Bubba and Frank Burkett. All in all it's been a great time....

My day at the National started at the B & L booth meeting tbob (thanks for the shout out), so I will offer a thankful contribution to his thread.

My expectations were high and I was not disappointed yesterday. I left the show after 7 hours with sore feet and without the cards I was looking for, but still financially solvent. By the end of the dinner I couldn't have been more pleased with the day . My first goal for the day was meeting as many of the folks here as possible. I will not try to list them all fearing exclusions but you know who you are. I'm sure I missed a few and for that I am sorry, but there's always next year.

The highlight of the show itself could not have been more unexpected, when my guest, not a collector, came to the show in the afternoon and immediately ran into someone he knew, who was involved with running the Olympic Collection section. Ultimately we went over to take a look. It was not crowded. After looking at a few items we were made aware of a table that we passed when entering the area. We went over to meet two former Olympians from 1968, who couldn't have been more gracious. We talked for at least 20 minutes with them. There was no line.

My guest and I were college roommates in 1968 and both remembered the '68 games well. Several of our classmates were Olympians that year and were well known to these two that were at the show. The Olympians stay in touch. My take away from that conversation was a signed Olympic jersey for a most reasonable price with the proceeds going to the Olympic Collector organization and not the athletes. Who were they?

Bob Beamon, who shattered the long jump record in 1968, a world record in track and field that stood for 23 years I think and is still an Olympic record and Dick Fosbury, who revolutionized the technique of the high jump in the 68 Olympics by "flopping".

The Dinner last evening was a treat and a tremendous tradition that I am now happy to be a part of. We sat up front by the podium and were joined by "Sterling" Lee, Eric S (who had the drink tickets (+1)) and Leon. By the end of the evening we were joined by many other Net54 "friends", hopefully not only because we had the drink tickets.

I apologize for the lack of wit in this post and will get back on track very soon, I promise, but wanted to express my sincere thanks to Leon and Net54 community for a day I will always remember.

[freakhappy]

Sounds like you had a great time, Frank! Thanks for sharing.

I'm sorry you didn't find any cards to take home, but I find the National is more of a museum than a bargain house, but it's absolutely heaven for collectors and many alike. Can't wait until next year...I'll be there for sure

[thehoodedcoder]

If you like beer consider prostchicago.com
Great German beers. 20 on tap I have never seen before.
The grapefruit beer was really good. Recommend not going for the liter size on it though

.5 liter pilsners
1 liter draft mugs
2 liter drafts in das boot.

Food was great. Pretzel was huge.