Josh Peter

USA TODAY Sports

James Spence Jr. is a common link: the man whose company authenticated hundreds of items signed by Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston, Georgia running back Todd Gurley and former Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel, before all three players came under suspicion for selling their autographs, putting them at risk of losing their college eligibility.

As Gurley remains indefinitely suspended and Winston is being investigated by FSU, sports memorabilia dealers, of which there are thousands in the U.S., and authenticators have been under scrutiny for their rolls in turning autographs from collegiate stars into cash.

Several long-time dealers hold the view that Spence's company, James Spence Authentication (JSA), and the nation's other primary authenticator, Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA), should help police the business and turn away dealers who have autographs that may have been obtained by breaking NCAA rules.

"As authenticators they have a certain responsibility and a certain standard they should all adhere to," said Jeremy Brown, owner of Ultimate Sports Cards and Memorabilia who appears as an expert on the TV show Pawn Stars. "That's the one bad thing about authentication. There's no standard. No certification you need to be an authenticator. It's all based on your reputation. Anybody at that level should know better than to look to make a quick buck by authenticating a few things to either promote your business or profit from it."

Says Spence: "An autograph is an autograph to me. I just do what I got to do."

Spence, known as Jimmy among sports memorabilia collectors, says his company has authenticated autographs of Adolph Hitler, Pope John Paul II, Charles Manson, Mother Teresa and Saddam Hussein. He says his job is to determine whether an autograph is legitimate, regardless of how it was acquired.

"I've heard some people … blasting our company for enticing these (players) to sign," he said. "We haven't enticed anybody.

"We just authenticate. The people who are getting (the players) to sign, that's a whole different business. It's not mine."

The business is likely here to stay, even though the August ruling in the Ed O'Bannon case opened the door for college athletes to be paid for the value of their name and likeness. However, U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken put limits on the athletes' rights, including being paid for autographs.

"I think we'd be naive to believe these are the only cases out there," said Rich Mueller, editor and founder of Sports Collectors Daily. "It's one way (athletes) can quietly earn some bucks and most fans seem to think it's OK."

'NEVER TAKEN A DIME'

A third-generation autograph collector from New Jersey, Spence worked as a professional memorabilia dealer before seeing a need for third-party authentication. He started PSA in 1999 and left six years later to start JSA.

Virtually all autographed merchandise sold online includes a stamp-of-approval from PSA or JSA, whose certificates of authenticity are attached to hundreds of items autographed by Gurley and Winston, as they were on items autographed by Manziel while he was playing at Texas A&M.

"Having a third-party authenticator who is well respected certainly makes (autographed memorabilia) infinitely more marketable," said Adam Martin, co-owner and CEO of Dave & Adam's Card World, one of the largest trading card retailers in the sports memorabilia industry.

Martin is among industry experts who said the quantity and similarity of the available items autographed by Winston, Gurley and Manziel, in addition to the sequential order of the authenticity certificates, suggests the players and memorabilia dealers engaged in transactions worth several thousand dollars — which would be a violation of NCAA rules.

"When you see hundreds of things signed and authenticated, it clearly points to a dealer or someone who got in front of the athlete with a stack of money," said Martin, who has worked in the industry since 1991. "Because it's hard to imagine the player would sign 500 items or more out of the goodness of their heart."

But Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher says that's exactly what Winston has been doing.

"He's never taken a dime for anything," Fisher told reporters Tuesday. "He's signed thousands of things. I mean, the guy sits for an hour and a half before a baseball game and signed and an hour and a half after a baseball game — I mean, there are thousands of things out there with his name on it.

"He is very accommodating to people."

Brandon Steiner, one of the country's leading sports memorabilia dealers, says Spence enabled rule breaking by authenticating the items — for a fee ranging from $10 and $500 per item.

"I think Jimmy's just as guilty as anybody else," Steiner said, while noting he uses Spence's company and respects his work. "He's sitting there watching ..."

Mueller says Spence and authenticators are not paid to keep the industry clean.

"They're doing what they're paid to do, which is to authenticate autographs," Mueller said. "In terms of blowing the whistle, I don't see that that's their job. I see they're doing what they're being asked to do."

'THAT'S DOING OUR JOB'

Spence said he only became aware of the bulk of autographs Gurley and Winston items his company authenticated after media reports about the mini-scandals. He suggested it would be difficult to track such matters internally because his company has offices in New Jersey and Florida and handles more than 350,000 pieces of memorabilia a year.

"We get bulk of items in all the time for different athletes. That's not unusual at all," he said. "We weren't there knowing whether or not there was any money transacted (between the players and dealers) or anything like that. That's not against the rules, for athletes to be signing. So I don't feel like there's any remorse or culpability on our end for something like that."

Last year, one of four brokers involved in obtaining autographed items from Manziel said he paid the Heisman Trophy winner $7,500 for "approximately 300 mini- and full-sized helmets," according to ESPN.com. The NCAA found no evidence that proved Manziel received compensation.

According to SI.com, a person told Georgia's compliance office he paid Gurley $400 to sign 80 items on campus — but industry experts say the $5 per autograph fee is far below what Gurley could have commanded.

On eBay, an autographed photo of Gurley is on sale for $59.99, a football autographed by Gurley is going for $75 and a helmet autographed by Gurley is listed at $400 — prices that rival what NFL players command, said Martin Buckley, co-owner of Palm Beach Autographs in Florida.

"These young college kids, when these guys are on top of the world, is better than the NFL market, without a doubt," said Buckley, who noted his company does not sell merchandise autographed by active college athletes in deference to NCAA eligibility rules. "It's frustrating because … you have these guys out there waving money in some kid's face and trying to make a quick buck."

Added Steiner: "We just went through this with Johnny (Manziel) and we're going through this whole uproar again."

Steiner said he would gladly turn over the names of any dealers involved in paying the players for their autographs. Spence has no such intentions because it would violate his customer's privacy.

"I haven't done any investigation or anything," he said. "But we feel very confident with the authenticity of the stuff.

"That's doing our job."