Reports
  • Autographer Session with Shannon in Memphis(Feb.1/97)

  • Shannon in Hawaii(Feb.20-23/97)

  • Shannon on Book Tour in Orlando(May.30/98)
    Autograph Session with Shannon in Memphis By Ben Crawford
    February 1, 1997

    Here's the report on what went on before, during, & after Shannon's auotgraph session at the grand opening of Goldsmith's in the new Wolfchase Galleria Mall here in Memphis on Saturday, February 1, 1997. The start time was 1:00 PM CST, and she signed autographs until nearly 2:30 PM. I estimate that Shannon signed at least 600 to 700 autographs (maybe more) in that time.

    I got to the mall a few hours early to look around; a few "friends" were supposed to go with me, but they had "better" things to do, but my mom was with me (which also made it much easier to get more pictures). Goldsmith's is actually the only store open so far (the mall opens on 2-26-97). Around 11:30 AM, we went over to the table where Shannon was going to be signing autographs; and there was one girl waiting there (who was, no doubt, a huge fan) looking like she would wait days in line to see Shannon (I know I would). After talking to her for a couple of minutes, and after getting some details from a store attendant, we left to go eat; which wasn't such a good idea, though gone no more than 15 minutes. We got back around 11:45 AM, and there were at least 70 or 80 people in line, so we got in line as quick as possible. About 50 ft. ahead of us, the line turned to the right, and went about 20 more feet to where Shannon would be seated. While waiting, some people passed by who didn't know what was happening; one old lady asked her friend "Who's Shannon Miller?", which brought a little laughter to the crowd in line. Many people walked by carrying loads of Shannon Miller stuff to be autographed: Her biographies, the Mag 7 book, Wheaties boxes (some unopened), posters, and one lady even had the life-size Olympic poster from McDonalds!

    As time passed, the line got longer & longer, and I was getting more & more excited. I've never been so excited as I was when I saw Shannon for the first time (in person) in Atlanta (July 30) & again in OK City (Sept. 29). When 1:00 finally rolled around, people started clapping & cheering, and I turned around and saw Shannon walk out of a room along with a couple of security guards & a few other escorts. As people yelled "Shannon... Shannon," she walked by me, and I was able to get a picture or two of her. (The button on my camera must be held down for a few seconds, so I couldn't get many pictures taken very fast.) She was wearing a, well, some type of white shirt or sweater, but I really didn't care, because I was admiring how beautiful she looked!

    After she sat down and started signing autographs, the line moved along pretty quickly. There was a limit of one autograph, which could be obtained on one's personal items, or on a b/w picture that she had (which, by the way, was a very beautiful picture of her). We had decided that I would get my book ("America's Most Decorated Gymnast") signed, and my mom would get the picture. While the line was moving along, I walked over and took a few pictures from her left side. In less than 10 minutes, it was my turn, and I was soooo excited! I handed her my book, and she signed her beautiful name on the first page. She handed my book back to me, and I said "Thank you," and she said "Your welcome." As I said earlier, I was caught up in the moment by her beauty, and I totally forgot to congratulate her on her awesome victory at the Reeses Cup last weekend. (doh!) My mom stepped up, and Shannon autographed a picture for her; and I took another close-up picture as I walked away.

    There was a large crowd of people gathered around behind the line, so I joined them and took some more pictures from about 12 feet away. Since I'm over 6 feet tall, some people behind me asked if I would get a few pictures for them, since they couldn't see too well, of which I did. One problem was that when I got a good shot at Shannon, the next person to get her autograph would stand right in front of her, so I had to work around that. I heard one dude walking behind me, replying a friend's question, saying that Shannon was "some skater"; of which I had to tell him "no, she's a gymnast." Anyway, I watched from that position for a while, then I moved across the exit of the line to Shannon's right side. I was able to get about 6 or 7 feet away and take some more pictures. I stood there for a long while, watching Shannon and the people that received her autograph. Some were extremely excited and made some noise or jumped up & down. A few people gave stuff to Shannon, like pieces of paper with poems or songs on them, I guess, and one man gave her some kind of pin; my attention was still focused on Shannon & her beauty, so I didn't catch too much of what was going on with other people. After the pictures of Shannon ran out, some Xerox copies of the picture were used, and she signed them until a few stacks of them ran out, and then she signed some blue Wolfchase Galleria stationery. I also saw Shannon autograph the McDonalds Olympic poster (of which I wanted, but never got), which she signed in large letters; that poster was at least 3'x 5'.

    Sometime during all of this, I wandered back down the line, and I walked & walked until I reached the end. I would hear later on that the line stretched all of the way to the men's section of the store, which was like a few hundred yards away (well, close to it). I came back and watched Shannon sign more autographs, and I took some more pictures. The end of the line finally came around, and Shannon signed the last few autographs, with her right hand about to fall off, I'm sure. She then got up from the table and was escorted back to the room from where she entered the store, with the crowd cheering for her again; and I followed along with many other people, trying to get a few close-up pictures. I was definitely the last to see her leave the place.

    I kind of doubt that she would remember meeting me OK City, but I can't wait until the next time that I see her!
    {BACK}

    Shannon in Hawaii By Ryka Hirokane
    February 20-23, 1997

    Thursday, 2/20/97

    "Ok, here is my first report. Well, Shannon arrived at the airport. And she arrived with this guy, and I found out that he was her boyfriend. Sorry all you guys who love Shannon. Its kinda funny though, 'cause she is like 5 ft. and he is like 6'5. But I took some pic's with Shannon and some other people. And I got some pic's of Shannon. And, I shook her hand, and I said, "Hi, welcome to Hawaii, i'm Ryka" And I felt like a retard, 'cause we were walking to the baggage place, and I was walking right next to her!!! I wanted to talk to her, but I don't know, the words just didn't come out. But I did give her a lei, and a hug. But on Sat, i'm going to get to have breakfast with her, her boyfriend, and Amy and her mom, me and my mom, and this other guy!! So i'll get to talk to her then. I'll write a report on the beach party and the competition. To be continued.............."

    Friday, 2/21/97

    "Ok, here is what happened at the beach party tonight, and it has to be one of my best day/night in the world!!! Ok, here it is:"

    "Day 2: The beach party!"

    "Ok, I made friends with Shannon and her boyfriend!!! Anyway, she does have a boyfriend, and his name is James. They are both very, very nice. Anyway, I got some very important info from talking to Shannon. Ok, I started making conversation with Shannon, and I asked, "So now that everything is over, do you have more free time?" She said, "Well, i'm doing a lot of apperences now, but next year the tour is going to start again." So I asked her if it was true that they were doing the tour in Europe, and sure enough, they are. I'm having breakfast with Shannon tomorrow, and I told her that everyone on the internet says "hi" and she has AOL. I had dinner, we talked a little more, and they did this dancing, I tried to get them to do it, and they were like, "No, no, no....we're not doing that stuff. Well, thats about it, hope you read this!"
    "To be continued........ (one more thing, Jaycie and Amanda come tomorrow)"

    Saturday, 2/22/97

    "Here is the 3rd report:"

    "Ok, my mom and I went to eat breakfast. First Shannon and James showed up, and we started to eat. I was very, very nerveous. Amd my mom, (who was sitting next to Shannon) was having very good conversation with her. So then Amy and her mom arrived, and I was finally getting ok. So they interviewed them (Shannon and Amy) and it was pretty funny. So they went, and at the competition, Shannon and Amy started to warm up. That guy Joe said I could go and watch them warm up if I wanted to. So I went, and the securety gaurd told me I couldn't go there. So I told him that Joe gave me permission if I wanted to. And he still said no. So I got mad at him. But I talked to him, and Joe said next time it happens, just let him know. And I got a good amount of pic's. And I continued to talk with James. And I got a lot of things signed. So, it was really good. And tomorrow, (Feb. 23) i'm going with Joe to pick up Jaycie, Amanda, and John from their hotel room, and bring them to the gym. I hope Jaycie remembers me! :) Stay tuned next week for the pic's on: http://www.oocities.org/Colosseum/Field/2449/index.html
    To be continued........"

    "URGENT!"

    "For those of you getting this report for your page, I got some info straight from Shannon herself."

    "First, next year, the JH tour will go on again, and it'll star the exact same people. Second, there will be a Europe tour sometime around October."

    Sunday, 2/23/97

    "Ok, first of all, i'd just like to say that today was better then anything else in the world! Jaycie and Amanda were standing outside of the gym, and I was walking up with my breakfast. (it was around 10 am.) And I saw Jayice, so I went up to her, and I said, "Hi, i'm Ryka" and she was like, "hi" And we shook hands. And I said, "I got all your emails, thanks." And she said, "Oh really." But she had to go. So I asked the guy Joe if I could just ride with him to take them back to the hotel to eat lunch. And he said yes. But what I didn't know, was that he took us to this place called Aloha Tower, and there are all these different small eating places. So I also got to have lunch with them!! Oh, and I forgot to mention that Jessica Davis was also there, and had lunch with her too! And we all talked so-o much! Even on the way over! They were all just very, very, nice. And really friendly to talk to! They weren't shy at all! And I tought them some cool stuff about Hawaii and all this other stuff. And the performance was just awsome! And for the meet, all 4 of them were giving the awards, and I was right behind Jaycie, so I yelled, "Jaycie! Pose!" So she turned around, and did this cool thing I asked her to do. And Amanda did the exact same thing! So, it was pretty awesome, but the one thing that really made me mad was the security gaurds were really being mean. Except this one. He was really nice, I didn't get to get Jaycie's autograph for my Mag 7 book, but he told me to sneek around the back, and get it, so I did, and the guy Joe was there, and I just asked if I could stay a while. And he said yes. But overall, it was just really awsome! I got to do some really cool things! I hope you all enjoyed this report."

    "-Ryka Hirokane-"

    "I would like to give a very special thanks to the HGA and booster club for letting me help out and being really good friends to me, Joe Baierly for letting me meet and talk with the gymnast. Scott deGuzman for helping with my pic's, and to Jaycie, Amanda, Amy, Shannon, and Jessica for being very nice and talking with me."
    {BACK}

    Shannon on Book Tour in Orlando By Hans
    May 30, 1998

    Here is my story on how I met Shannon Miller for the second time.

    My sister and I left for Barnes And Nobles bookstore on Saturday, May 30 at 10:50 a.m. she was expected to be there a 12:00 p.m. we got there at about 11:10 a.m. as i walked in the door a lady asked me ''are you here for Shannon miller'' of course i replied ''yes'' then she handed me a flyer about the Event, then she told me to purchase the book first then get into line upstairs, so I bought her book and I headed upstairs, then some guys that worked there asked me 'are you here for the signing'' i of course replied ''yes'' then he pointed to where the line was and I headed over there. There weren't many people in line which was a good relief. My sister and I looked at a magazine (it was one about Seinfeld LOL) I kept looking at my watch and looking at her book, and finally 12:00p.m. rolled around but I was in an area where I could not see her, then only thing that told me she was there was because of the camera flashes. So the line started moving really fast! We weaved in and out of 2 shelves of books, then finally I was up next! There was a certain lady standing there and she said ''hello, Shannon is going to be signing a the picture in the inside cover'' so she took my book and opened it to where it was she was going to sign at. Then I said Thanks. The Shannon looked at me with her cute smile, and I walk towards her smiling as well. She said ''Hello'' and I said ''Hello'' back then she signed my book, then she looked up at smiled for a picture my sister took of me and her! I Then I walked away, and I told my sister I wanted to take more pictures so she said all right. Then I took about 5 more good pictures. The security guard was looking at me funny, so I what I think he did was get in my way and obstruct my view of Shannon. I was like darn, but then I found another open spot and I took a couple more pictures. The guard looked at me funny, then I stopped taking pictures, and I left. I haven't gotten then developed yet but I am sure they are good.
    {BACK}


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