Over 40 years ago, the Los Angeles King mailed a little love to their fans. The team sent out this page of facsimile autographs during the 1973-74 season. The standard letter-sized page was neatly typed out, autographed by 21 players in marker, photocopied, folded into thirds and mailed in a business-size envelope. At the top, it reads” BEST WISHES FROM THE LOS ANGELES KINGS.”
The signatures on the page are as follows:
Left column:
No. 1 – Gary Edwards, Goal
No. 2 – Terry Harper, Defense
No. 3 – Larry Brown, Defense
No. 5 – Bob Murdoch, Defense
No. 6 – Sheldon Kannegiesser, Defense
No. 7 – Mike Murphy, Right Wing
No. 9 – Bob Nevin, Right Wing
Middle column:
No. 11 – Mike Corrigan, Right Wing
No. 14 – Frank St. Marseille, Right Wing
No. 16 – Bill Lesuk, Left Wing
No. 15 – Juha Widing, Center
No. 17 – Tom Williams, Left Wing
No. 18 – Bob Berry, Left Wing
No. 19 – Butch Goring, Center
Right column:
No. 21 – Phil Hoene, Center
No. 22 – Barry Long, Defense
No. 23 – Neil Komadoski, Defense
No. 24 – Don Kozak, Right Wing
No. 25 – Randy Rota, Left Wing
No 27 – Danny Maloney, Left Wing
No. 30 – Rogie Vachon, Goal
Two of the more notable autographs are of goaltender Rogie Vachon, who was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2016, and center Butch Goring, who won the Conn Smythe trophy as Stanley Cup MVP in 1981.
Also, notice how absolutely great looking hockey player autographs were back in the 1970s. Even without their names underneath their sigs, one could easily figure out who each signature belongs to. This is unlike NHL players today, whose autographs are nothing more than the first letter of their name with a squiggle and/or loop after it.
While this autographed page is photocopied, it is still a neat collectible for anyone who collects Kings memorabilia from the team’s early years.
If you have any additional information about this page of autographs, please contact me or leave a comment below. I am curious to know more about it. Did anyone who wrote the team get one of these signed pages? Were they sent to season ticket holders? Hopefully a longtime Kings fan will see this and remember. ■
Follow Sal Barry on Twitter @PuckJunk.
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