A passion worthy of a world record
Cupertinoman running out of room for display
CUPERTINO — When Joe Galiardi enters the inner sanctum that contains his golf ball collection, the 80-year-old teenager starts jetting around and rapid-fire-explaining what you’re looking at with enough energy to club every ball in the room — to the moon.
And that would be quite a large payload of dimpled projectiles because the folks at Guinness World Records have just declared Galiardi the owner of the world’s largest autographed golf ball collection.
“There are 415 balls in this room,” said a beaming Galiardi, who has been some kind of collector most of his life, hunting his prey in person or writing formal letters of request.
Sometimes, family and friends with special connections get signatures. That’s how he got autographed golf balls from Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.
Having drawn a visitor into his lair, he begins dropping some of the names of his other notable
signers: “Sean Connery, Lennie Moore, Joe Thornton, Jim Brown and Clint Eastwood” — inhale.
“Mike Ditka, John Glenn, Tommy Smothers, Jerry Rice, Ronnie Lott, Joe Paterno, Roger Moore and John Madden” — exhale.
“Jim Otto, Fred Biletnikoff, Troy Aikman, Y.A. Tittle and Joe Namath.”
Marvel of uniformity
You could leave the room, exit the house, stroll over to the Deep Cliff Golf Course doubling as Galiardi’s backyard and play several holes. And by the time you made it back, the retired public relations executive might still be reading the chicken scratch of golfers, athletes, coaches, movie stars, politicians and entertainers he’s collected for the past quarter-century. He has signed golf balls from the last eight U.S. presidents.
Housed in a small bedroom, around an actual bed, the collection is testament to an uncompromising sense of order.
The room’s wallpaper, picked by wife, Judy, depicts Victorian-era putters.
“Behind every great man,” wisecracked Joe’s wife of 32 years, “is a classy woman who knows how to make everything look great.”
The meticulous way the golf balls are maintained makes the room a marvel of uniformity. Many of the mini-spheres stand behind sheets of glass. Others are individually encased in clear, snug, plastic boxes. But all of them sit in racks bearing shelves with a universe of wood-burned names — Colin Powell to Barbra Streisand, Don Cheadle to Brandi Chastain, Ernie Banks to Chris Evert, Alice Cooper to Lawrence Welk, “Sully” Sullenberger to Joe Montana, Samuel L. Jackson to Donald Trump, who wrote a personal letter complimenting Galiardi’s charity work for wounded soldiers.
As for the record, Guinness officials were interested only in golfers. That’s why the verifying certificate, hanging in the room, reads: “The largest collection of autographed golf balls consists of 204 balls all autographed by different professional golf players.”
Galiardi got his first autographed ball on Oct. 25, 1989, at the first Transamerica Senior Golf Tournament at the Silverado Country Club in Napa. The inaugural scribbler? Arnold Palmer. Today, that ball is surrounded in a “Golf Legends” rack with balls from Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Sam Snead, Gary Player, Tom Watson, Byron Nelson, Gene Sarazen, Chi Chi Rodriguez, Johnny Miller, Ray Floyd, Greg Norman, Lee Trevino, Kathy Whitworth and Mickey Wright.
Tiger Woods? Though fallen from grace, he has his own display.
The Ladies Professional Golf Association is grandly represented by Amy Alcott, Juli Inkster, Nancy Lopez, Patty Sheehan, Annika Sorenstam, Karrie Webb, Michelle Wie and 26 others.
While many conquests come with stories of success, Galiardi also has tales of autographs he missed.
Charles Woodson, he said, is a sour puss. The only defensive Heisman Trophy winner, Woodson now plays nearby, for the Oakland Raiders. Still, he told Galiardi it would cost him to get a ball signed.
In a letter to Woodson, Galiardi explained: “I … never buy or sell any of my collection.”
Woodson wrote back: “Too bad. I charge $175.”
Ex-president signs
His favorite presidential signing story involves George H.W. Bush at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am in 1994. Bush was only a year out of office, and his Secret Service agents were not allowing autographs.
But armed with a Sharpie and a ball bearing a presidential seal, Galiardi shouted from the gallery: “You knew my late brotherin-law, Major Gen. Lewis Mologne!”
The name of Bush’s former physician at Walter Reed Medical Center caught the ex-president’s attention — and Galiardi immediately asked if he’d sign a ball.
That upset the security detail. “My ball could have been a bomb,” Galiardi said, but Bush “came right over to me and signed it.” But in the shoving chaos, he slapped the wet ball back into Galiardi’s hand.
“Fearing the worst,” Galiardi wrote in “Hooked on Autographs,” his 2009 book about his obsession. “I looked at the palm of my right hand and was disheartened to see that some of the 41st president’s signature was smeared on my skin.”
For Galiardi, still an avid golfer, the collecting obsession began around age 7 when he gathered sets of model planes, comic books and baseball cards. His card collection might have been worth a fortune, but young Joe ironically insisted upon having his cards
autographed— thus ruining their value.
As for his current passion, Galiardi has another 20 signed balls to augment his world record. But they’re not yet on display because of a serious, immutable problem.
“I don’t have an inch left in this room,” he said, bursting into a cackle, “and my wife won’t let me go out of this room.”
“I don’t have an inch left in this room and my wife won’t letme go out of this room.”