“It was a cool, rainy evening in September of 1965, when I began researching my records. From my shelves of Billboard magazines, I pulled out the issue dated August 4, 1958, and turned to the first-ever “Hot 100” chart. I opened a sealed pack of 3” x 5” cards, took out a card, a ballpoint pen and wrote “Nelson, Ricky” on the top line, “8/4/58” on the second, “Poor Little Fool” on the third and “1” on the fourth. My first card was the first #1 hit on the “Hot 100.” I catalogued every artist and song on that chart on individual cards. I followed those songs, chart after chart, circling the highest positions that they reached, later dubbing these their ‘peak positions.’ With every new song entry that I added to the cards I had already created, my fervor grew for researching and collecting. On each card, I was building an artist’s history on the “Hot 100” chart. These cards would be a guide as to what was missing from my collection of 45s. From that night, I was compelled to chronicle the charts.
     “At that time, I did not know any other Billboard subscribers or anyone who shared my definite obsession for collecting records. I could not imagine that my ‘record researching’ would ever be seen by eyes other than mine. It was the love of sports that led to my discovery of Billboard. I was 12 years old, waiting with my mother for the Greyhound bus back to Menomonee Falls. It was a special treat when Mom would venture with one of us six kids to Milwaukee for a day of shopping at Gimbels. Next to our bus stop was the magazine stand where I first spied Billboard. Scanning the magazine from back to front, I was captivated by an ad for baseball card vending machines. I loved collecting baseball cards, seeing the color photos on one side and the organized player statistics on the back, and ultimately, completing a set. Mom graciously purchased the Billboard. Back home I studied the issue, cover to cover, with the music charts overwhelming my curiosity. My hard-earned newspaper delivery wages would not be spent on a baseball card vending machine but on a subscription to Billboard magazine.
     “Fast forward a dozen years or so: my attention to baseball was surpassed by my playing of basketball on the semi-pro Menomonee Falls Badgers; I worked in sales in Milwaukee and spent my lunch hours at record shops not far from that bus stop; and the best part, I was married to Fran and we had a baby girl. And on that fateful night, the “Hot 100” was electric with the sounds of the British Invasion, Motown, Surf Music, Folk Rock, Girl Groups and more. How could I know that what I was jotting down to satisfy my own curiosity would be shared worldwide and endlessly referenced — and, that five decades later, my compulsion to create data would still be going strong as the longest tenured licensee in Billboard history. And so, the story continues …”