?THE FIRST ELVIS FANS CLUB.1956. KAY WHEELER

?The FIRST ELVIS FANS CLUB.1956.

KAY WHEELER

Kay Wheeler, was a young Elvis fan.

She heard Elvis sing for the first time on a live radio broadcast from the ‘Big D. Jamboree‘ in Dallas.

Kay was 16 years old.

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Her aunt worked at Dallas radio station KLIF, and Kay went to visit her one day. The disc jockey, who worked at the station didn’t know Elvis, but he had a record of his and told Kay “you won’t believe the record I have in my hand…the singer has a corny name, his name is Elvis Presley.” Kay came to her idol’s defense and said “…well all the girls are crazy about Elvis…and I’ve even thought about starting a Fan Club“.

The D.J. was amused by this situation and later, on the air, as a joke, he announced Kay’s name and address on the radio as president of the “Elvis Presley Fan Club“.

Almost immediately, Kay began receiving large amounts of mail at her home from girls who wanted to join the supposed Club.

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Seeing this, Kay, astonished, was encouraged to make what was only an idea and started out as a joke.

She wrote to Bob Neal, who forwarded her letter to Colonel Parker. The Colonel’s assistant, Carolyn Asmus, replied that they had nothing in place regarding Elvis fan clubs, and that the Colonel had said to go ahead with the creation of the Club.

He also told her that Elvis was giving a show in San Antonio, that if she wanted to go, she could have a meeting with Elvis there.

So he did, and on April 15, 1956, in San Antonio, Texas; Kay would meet his idol and create the first Elvis Fan Club: The Nation’s First & Largest Elvis Presley Fan Club.

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Thanks to Kay, fans could get closer to their idol, and at the same time, many other fan clubs would be created all over the world. For Elvis it was something very important since, as we know, Elvis loved his fans above all and he always took care of them, took care of them and took care of giving them his love and autographs.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzhMjLUN7vo]