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Autograph Collector's Quest for Cover Girl Ends on Sad Note


For years, Scott Smith had tried to find the woman who appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated on Oct. 17, 1960. Model Dolores Greer died last month.

    Robin Greer holds a photograph of her mother, model Dolores Greer, who died last month at 81. Autograph collector Scott Smith spent decades trying to track down the identity of Dolores Greer, who appeared on the cover of the Oct. 17, 1960, issue of Sports Illustrated.

The search for a Los Angeles woman who 53 years ago was a Sports Illustrated cover girl has ended sadly for a collector of autographs from cover subjects.

Model Dolores Greer, 81, died last month on the same day that cover autograph collector Scott Smith was being interviewed by The Times.

Greer's obituary appeared in Sunday's Times.

The saga of Smith's search for the model who illustrated the magazine's Oct. 17, 1960, cover story on the "new look in sports clothes" has spanned more than three decades. The retired New Jersey investment banker and corporate debt specialist has collected the signatures of 4,413 individuals who have been featured on 2,913 of the sports magazine's covers. He figures he has the autographs of 95% of all cover subjects.

Tuesday's story about Smith's search prompted Times readers to offer suggestions about who the mystery cover girl might be. It turned out that former Brentwood fashion model Julie Chandler held the answer.

Chandler, who now works in real estate, e-mailed the newspaper: "Just a guess, but if it was shot in Los Angeles, one of the top models was Dolores Greer. Just read an obituary of her in your paper. Same look."

Chandler explained that she remembered Greer because "we often modeled in some of the same fashion shows."

Greer's obituary included the names of family members. When reached, Greer's daughter Robin hadn't yet read the story about Smith's search. She quickly looked at the photograph of the mystery cover that accompanied it.

"Oh wow, it's her!" Robin Greer exclaimed. "The thing that's so interesting is that she was a big model back when you didn't have supermodels that everybody knows their name. My mother was constantly on magazine and album covers. But darn, nobody knew who she was."

Robin Greer, an actress known for her roles in TV movies and series such as "Falcon Crest" and "Ryan's Hope," now works as a Beverly Hills real estate agent.

Smith was dismayed by the news that Dolores Greer had died when he was so close to finding her and securing her signature. He was also stunned by readers' swift response.

"Oh, my goodness. This is unbelievable. I wish I'd done this two or three years ago. This is a bummer," he said.

Smith was philosophical about missing his elusive cover girl by mere days, however.

"Looking for her was a great journey and a lot of fun. It was nice to finally identify her. I'm just sorry I can't put her in my collection."

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Article source: LA Times

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