UACC Story: Michael Hecht has been a UACC member for over 25 years and served on the board for over 10 years, many of those as President. He was the UACC promoter of the Los Angeles Autograph Shows in the early 1980's, and a founding member of the local UACC Los Angeles Autograph Collector Club. His first job for the UACC was as an ethics board member. As President his focus has been on increasing membership and increasing the education content of the UACC available to the autograph collector.

Collector Profile: Michael Hecht started collecting autographs at the age of 12. He started writing for autographs, and he has never lost the joy of receiving an autograph request through the mail. He has also attended many autograph signings at book stores. After 40 years he has over 500 autographs in several fields. He collects the great financial figures of economic history as well as U.S. Presidents, and the military figures of World War I and II. He has purchased most of his autographs using dealers and the occasional e-bay purchase. He has a library of dozens and dozens books on autograph collecting.

UACC Story: Anthony Pizzitola, Vice- President of the UACC. Collecting and a member of the UACC for 30 years. Served also as a UACC Director for several years. In a spirit to continue with one of the club's initial founding principles, Anthony is the author of The In-Person Experience, a column designed to educate members especially on the best avenues for collecting in-person items.

Collector Profile: Anthony is considered a leading authority on Neil Armstrong and contributed to his authorized biography, First Man, by Dr. James Hansen. The UACC will soon publish his study, The Quest for the Autograph of Neil Armstrong. Attached is one of Anthony's prized items, a rare photo signed by the Apollo 11 crew during training.

UACC Story: Al has been Treasurer of the UACC since 1983 and a UACC Life Member of the club since 1970. He is a Charter Registered Autograph Dealer number RD007 under AWA, Inc. Winner of every major award the UACC gives out as well as authoring hundreds of educational autograph articles, books and classroom instruction. Al also serves as Educational Director as well as Senior Editor for the Pen & Quill.

Collector Profile: Al has been an autograph collector since 1962. Al's personal collection is that of early television personalities. From Phil Silvers to Burns and Allen he still likes to search for some of the rare items that he has yet to capture for his collection.

UACC Story: Aaron Kasmir has been collecting autographs since he was 14 years old. He has been a member of the UACC for over 10 years, and was named UACC Autograph Collector of the Year in 2009. He has participated in a number of UACC fundraisers, membership drives. and seminars. He hopes to continue to be an ongoing contributor along with developing his growth and knowledge within the club.

Collector Profile: Aaron collects Hollywood and Sports autographs; specializing in Vintage Hollywood. He has been known to venture in to U.S. Presidents and Musicians when the opportunity is there to acquire them.. From time to time he collects other types of Movie and TV memorabilia,including: Original Theatre Posters and Die-Cast Cars. Always on the hunt, he takes his collecting very seriously.

UACC Story: Al has been a life member of the UACC for over 10 years, during which time he not only collected a bunch of autographs, but served the UACC and its membership as chairman of the UACC's Ethics Boards, investigating complaints against UACC members in an attempt to maintain the UACC's integrity. His career in over 30 years of law enforcement has assisted him in this goal. After a term at this he is currently serving as the Registered Dealer liaison on the Board of Directors, as a Director. He is the proud recipient of "Autograph Collector of the Year" in 2003, and the "Literary Award" in 2005.

Collector Profile: Al Hallonquist has been collecting autographs since the age of 11, when at spring training in Dodgertown (Vero Beach, FL) he sort of had a conversation with Felipe Alou who signed his Little League glove. He's still trying to figure out what Mr. Alou, one of the all time baseball greats, had to say. Since then he has moved on to his love of Aerospace signatures and is a published Aerospace historian as well. He has seen both sides of the fence as a collector and as an agent for Apollo 15 astronaut Al Worden. He has attended autograph shows all over the Country and in England as well. He was also a writer and Contributing Editor for the "retired" Autograph Collector magazine. He moderated the autograph forum on the old Compuserve forums, and moderated the first online space community discussion group on yahoo: astronauts@yahoogroups.com and also owns and moderates an aviation history online discussion group populated by some test pilots, aces and Mercury 13 gals, aviation-history@yahoogroups.com. He is also the owner and author of www.mercury13.com .

He prized part of his collection is a series of X-15 flight covers signed by all 12 pilots, a true rarity.

UACC Story: Andy Alas has been a member of the UACC since 1992. He sees his 18 years of membership as a valuable part of his autograph collecting experience. Passion for the hobby is a hallmark of Andy Alas. This is apparent to those who meet him. Andy served the UACC as a member of the Ethics Board from 1998-2004. After 6 years as an Ethics Board member he sought and won election onto the Executive Board in 2004. He is currently serving his second term as a UACC Director. In 2007 Andy was awarded the UACC's Distinguished Service Award for his contributions to the Membership.

Collector Profile: Andy Alas is a regular sight at Southern California book signing events. He has been spotted waiting in line to get books signed by such luminaries as Margaret Thatcher, Jimmy Carter, Barbara Bush, and Elton John. Andy began collecting in 1989. His dedication to the hobby was exemplified by hosting a UACC autograph event at his home. This was done with the desire to share his love of autographs with like-minded individuals. Ever the passionate collector he has traveled to UACC-sponsored shows in New Jersey, San Antonio, and London. Andy has proven that he is willing to travel far and wide to add to his collection.

UACC Story: Tom has been a member of the UACC for over 6 years, and recently the UACC has acquired his services to help them build a new digital communication campaign. His first major task is the new UACC web site, which we are very excited to have his expertise at hand. Tom's background is perfect for this task because he is the President of Webgines Communication, a mutlimedia marketing & publishing company. Webgines Communications has produced web applications and web marketing campaigns for Yamaha and other companies within the music industry for over the last decade.

Collector Profile: Tom's personal collection and interest is tailored towards Classic Hollywood and Musicians. He has been collecting for over 10 years and really enjoys going to autograph events and loves the hunt. Tom's favorite items in his collection is a signed George Gershwin photo with 4 bars of Rhapsody In Blue, a Marilyn Monroe signed photo and his collection of small autograph books.

UACC Story: Ben Benson has been a serious collector for over 40 years. His first document was a signed, inscribed photo of John Kennedy received through one of his aides. His most significant document was an ALS of Jimmy Carter as President telling about his preparations for his debate with Ronald Reagan.

Collector Profile: A few years ago he sold his collections at auction. As any dedicated Collector will advise, "Once a Collector, Always a Collector". It is in the blood so to speak. As a part-time Artist, I create Presidential Portraits to compliment his collections. Selling a collection and starting a new one is a great stress reliever - quoting from a former President of the UACC, Paul Carr. Ben was fortunate that his State Historical Society funded the publication of his book, "Presidential Profiles". All funds from the sale of the book go to the society. It did't take him ling to start up a new collection.

Finally he believes that all Collectors have an obligation to preserve and protect documents for future generations and to encourage young Collectors to participate in this fantastic hobby.

UACC Story: Dave Phillips once served as a UACC Regional Director before he was elected as a Director on the UACC Board. His vision for the club especially his world vision is a great addition to the team. Dave lives in England and is proud of his association with the club as we are of him.

Collector Profile: Dave Phillips has been an autograph collector since 1980. In 1999 he started Autographica in the UK which turned out to be the largest autograph collectors show in the world today.