April 3 Report: Jack Fleck, Tim Herron, Karen Allen and Jeff Reardon

Today was a busy day preparing and mailing out requests. The last five days really have been geared toward adding the signatures of prominent golfers over the years to my collection.

Essentially the focus has been sending out prints of photographs I've taken over the years of significant trophies in golf. The four I've been sending out lately are to LPGA players who have played on Solheim Cup teams, plus PGA Tour players who have either played on the Ryder Cup or have won The Open or PGA Championship.

Hopefully in a week or so I'll have some of those successes to post here. I did officially send my 200th request of the year today. For the record that was a a 5x7 print of the Claret Jug to Stewart Cink.

Now on to the successes from today, while still keeping with the theme of major championship golf.

Fifty-five years ago this year, one of the greatest upsets in golf history occured. Playing the role of upsetter was unheralded Iowan Jack Fleck, who battled the legendary Ben Hogan to a tie in the 1955 U.S. Open.

Fleck, who had served in the U.S. Navy and was a part of the Invasion of Normandy, would outduel Hogan, his childhood hero, to earn his first professional victory.

Fleck, who was 88 years old when he signed this ball, would win three times on the PGA during his career. He later won a senior major at the 1979 Senior PGA Championship.

Today's other golf success comes from a modern-day star, Tim Herron. Herron had a respectable amateur career at the University of New Mexico, where he played on the 1993 U.S. Walker Cup team.

Herron played for a spell on the Nationwide Tour before joining the PGA Tour in 1996, when he won his first Tour title at the Honda Classic.

To date Herron has four Tour titles, the most recent coming at the 2006 Bank of America Colonial.

Herron also has a unique claim to fame as he defeated a 15-year-old Tiger Woods in second round of 1992 U.S. Amateur. The loss was one of only two defeats Woods suffered in 23 U.S. Amateur matches.

Today's last success comes from the acting world.

One of my favorite movies growing up was the Raiders of the Lost Ark series. One of the main characters was Marion Ravenswood (Indiana Jones' love interest), who was played by Karen Allen.

Allen has appeared in a number of other movies, though she has often taken long breaks away from the bigscreen to apply her considerable talents to broadway and stage acting.

Lastly I report my second failure of the year. Bernie Kosar was the first as he was asking for $$$ to sign a card. This time it's Jeff Reardon. Although Reardon did not ask for money, he simply sent the card back unsigned -- no note, no message, just the unsigned card.

Day of the Year: 93
Number of Autographs This Year: 133