The Collector: Ken Nulph

As a kid growing up in Toppenish, Washington, Ken Nulph never imagined how many famous people he’d eventually encounter.

“You didn’t see a lot of movie stars there,” he said.

In 1969, he moved to Los Angeles with a group of friends.

“I wanted to seek my fame and fortune,” he said.

His friends soon moved back home to finish college, but Nulph took a job at PSA Airlines.

“The flight attendants were mostly models – girls with go-go boots, and I thought this is where I want to work,” he said. “I was living on the beach and working at the airport with all these beautiful people.”

As a ticket and gate agent, he saw lots of celebrities and that’s what launched his collection of 250 autographs.

Scribbled on napkins, scratch paper, glossy photos and boarding passes, the signatures remind him of his 47-plus year career that took him to airports from L.A. to Stockton and Sacramento, California; Greensville-Spartanberg in South Carolina; Pittsburgh; Phoenix and, finally, Spokane.

Airline employees aren’t supposed to ask for autographs, but that didn’t deter this collector.

His strategy for whom to ask was simple.

“I asked anybody that I recognized,” he said.

Professional athlete autographs include O.J. Simpson (twice, one for Nulph and one for his cousin), Mickey Mantle, Reggie Jackson, Tommy Lasorda, Mike Tyson, Joe Frazier, Muhammad Ali, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird.

Bird signed, “To Kin.” Evidently, spelling isn’t his strong suit.

After he checked Billie Jean King through the gate, she saw him taking paperwork to the pilots in the cockpit which prompted her to ask, “What? Are you flying the plane now, too?”

He gathered signatures from musicians like Tony Bennett, Kenny Loggins, Little Richard, Joan Jett and Dolly Parton.

“She was wonderful,” he said of Parton.

Sometimes he was too intimidated to ask, as was the case with poet/singer/composer Rod McKuen. That time he sent a co-worker over to get the autograph.

She returned with a signed note from McKuen.

“To Ken with attention. Never send a girl to do a man’s job.”

Nulph also saw a host of movie and TV stars.

“I helped Jane Fonda carry her books on the airplane,” he said.

Cindy Williams arrived in the predawn hours wearing dark glasses. Her autograph reads, “Love to Ken (it’s too early!!!)

Jetlag sometimes gets the best of everyone. When Nulph met Tom Hanks on Dec. 28, 1986, the actor was on his way to his daughter’s birthday party. This explains why he wrote, “Ken, Happy Birthday,” then Hanks crossed out birthday and wrote New Year.

Usually, Nulph’s encounters with stars were brief.

“It goes by so fast,” he said. “You’re only going to see them once in your life.”

But some liked to chat. Actor Robert Hayes wanted to talk about fishing and offered to take Nulph fly fishing.

Clint Eastwood filmed several movies in the Sacramento area.

“I went out to a set and got to watch him film a scene,” Nulph said. “I got his autograph there.”

Most celebrities were warm and engaging, but some were not and declined his polite requests.

His grumpy list includes Kevin Bacon, John McCain, Lee Marvin and Lou Gossett Jr.

“Lee Marvin was leaning against the wall of the ladies room and said, ‘Some other time, guy,” Nulph said.

Gossett was even crankier.

“He said, ‘Not here in front of everybody!’ There were like, two people in the entire lobby of the Greenville, South Carolina, airport.”

His favorites are Famous (Wally) Amos and Clarence Nash, the voice of Donald Duck.

“Famous Amos gave me a bag of cookies,” Nulph said. “And Clarence Nash had chartered one of our planes for Donald’s 50th birthday. I worked the flight and found a roll of posters. I asked Mr. Nash for his autograph. His wife said, ‘I’d like to have one, too,’ so I got her a poster. It was fun!”

And then there are the missed opportunities.

“Bob Hope stood beside me in L.A., but I was star-struck and didn’t ask.”

Hope’s buddy, Spokane native Bing Crosby, got off an airplane in Sacramento and walked down the hall minus an entourage.

“I was afraid to ask,” Nulph said. “The worst part about the whole thing was he died three weeks later on a golf course in Spain.”

And once it wasn’t the celebrity who wowed Nulph so much that he didn’t ask for an autograph.

“Max Baer Jr., who played Jethro on ‘The Beverly Hillbillies’ came up with several people, including this beautiful woman in a full-length mink. She was absolutely stunning!”

The last autograph he collected was in Spokane when Ben Stein (“Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”) came through the airport.

Nulph’s collection is impressive but probably not valuable.

“It’s a double-edged sword,” he said. “If they’re signed to somebody, they’re worthless.”

Signed to him or not, his collection is irreplaceable. He smiled as he thumbed through his album of memorable encounters.

“I did this to prove I actually met them.”