First autograph from GS folk

[Adam Nedeff]

Tom Kennedy; when I was still in West Virginia, Matt Ottinger met him and had the presence of mind to ask him for an autograph for me. First one I got face-to-face was from Geoff Edwards, who signed a photo from "The New Treasure Hunt" for me.

[Jamey Greek]

First one I got was when I won a signed copy of Johnny Gilbert's CD Johnny Gilbert sings when he was a guest on Stu’s Show.

[Dbacksfan12]

Back in '97 or so I got autographed pictures of Barker, Janice, Kathleen, & Chantal.  I also have a letter from Dob but doubt any of these are personally signed.  Unless one escapes me this is my entire collection of autographs that are game show related.   I do have an autograph of Jerry Springer but it's from his talk show.

[Don Howard]

Who was the first game show personality (host, model, celeb player, etc.) you ever got an autograph from; either in person or through fan mail?

My FIRST! was Jim Lange. That was her question and it has been answered.

[BrandonFG]

Wink Martindale, 1994, first and only so far. I got it after calling the Family Channel, when they were still headquartered in my hometown. Whether or not it was his authentic Herbie Hancock, I'll never know. :-P

/An intern from the channel prolly signed it to shut me up
//I kinda called there regularly
///I was 11 and didn't know any better

[dale_grass]

My sister snagged an autographed pic of Betty White for me about ten years ago.  It was my first and only.

[SwohS Emag]

Indeed, neat question! 

Not necessarily an autograph, but Randy West sent me an email with a photo of him on the Weakest Link set back in 2001 or so.  I vaguely remember the occasion; I think it was something having to do with a post I made on ATGS regarding a research assignment for school. 

As a result of that same posting, I also had a pleasant phone conversation with Steve Beverly, and an enlightening email exchange with Leszek Pawlowicz.

(I also shook hands with Bill Anderson, backstage at the Opry, once!)

Pretty neat stuff!

[Matt Ottinger]

Tom Kennedy; when I was still in West Virginia, Matt Ottinger met him and had the presence of mind to ask him for an autograph for me.

Still one of my favorite "good deeds", and one of my favorite game show experiences ever.  This was at Peter Marshall's book signing, and Tom Kennedy was a surprise visitor who was quickly hustled into the autograph line along with a bunch of "Squares" that Marshall had brought along.

Truth is, autographs have never been a big deal to me.  For me, it's all about the experience of meeting people, and golly, what a great experience that was.  I assume that I got my copy of the book signed along with everybody else, but oddly, I don't have a specific memory of that.  My memories are of the look on Peter Marshall's face when I gave him a copy of his MUCH older book to sign, and of the brief conversations I got to have with Jo Anne Worley, Robert Fuller and Kennedy.

[tvwxman]

I'm not a big fan of autographs, and I'm lucky enough to have a few game show hosts as personal friends...but after interviewing him for a story, I did ask Trebek to autograph a photo of him from High Rollers , and he kindly obliged with a "To Matthew, who remembers the good ol days!".

And I had the opportunity to host a charity event in front of Alan Kalter, and he, knowing i was a big game show fan, sent me a nice letter, with a t-shirt from a pilot he hosted. I have that framed on my wall. Super nice guy.

[knagl]

I'm not sure that I ever have gotten one (maybe I had Todd Newton autograph my ticket after I first saw The Price Is Right Live in Kansas City many years ago).  I know my mom has an autograph from Gene Rayburn, which is pretty neat.

[The Ol' Guy]

Through correspondence with several companies, I did pick up signatures of Monty Hall, Larry Hovis, Ron Greenberg, Bob Noah and perhaps a few others, along with plenty of letters from Barry & Enright (also including one about Private Lessons). Jack autographed my copy of the JOKER home game when we visited the show (which might be, in keeping with the question, the first true autograph), kept along with some other handwritten correspondence. Got Bob Eubanks' autograph on the photo from seeing his "Greatest Game Shows" event, his new book, and a first edition copy of The Newlywed Game. Also got Steve Allen's autograph on a VHS copy of clips from his Tonight Show and a book based on one of his old routines, "The Question Man." And an autographed picture of Ray Combs a friend got me during a Family Feud Grand Rapids promotional trip.

[nowhammies10]

Todd Newton autographed a T-shirt that I had made (and wore) to TPIR: Live! when it was here in Toronto last year.

[SRIV94]

Not a huge autograph collector either--I'm more into the handshake/fistbump thing.

But I attended a book signing for Chuck Barris in 2004 (for his Bad Grass Never Dies book), so he would be my first in the world of game shows (what a lucky quirk of scheduling--I scheduled the trip to L.A. for the purpose of seeing TPiR, and Barris' book signing happened to be the next day).  I've met or talked with quite a few hosts/panelists since, but for the most part never bothered to get autographs from them except at book signings (where just getting a handshake kinda defeats the purpose).

[Jay Temple]

First and only: In 1986, Vicki Lawrence made a series of personal appearances promoting union membership. At that time, I was compiling my version of a book of top-40 hits. She autographed the page that had her lone entry. (I'm not sure I have it any more.)

[Yogi007]

I have a signed credit card receipt from Peter Marshall when he went to a store where my buddy worked in the 90s.  My buddy got a picture from Ebay and placed the photo, the receipt, and another signed piece of paper that my buddy asked for and placed it all in a nice frame and gave it to me as a gift.  I still have it.