Offered are three "Presley Center Courts" business cards for Elvis Presley, Chairman of the Board; Joseph Esposito, Vice President; and Dr. George Nichopoulos, President. The three original cards for the top executives emanate directly from Elaine Nichopoulos and come with a handwritten note from her, dated 09-02-02 that reads, “These are the original business cards for Elvis Presley, Joseph Esposito, and my father Dr. George Nichopoulos (Dr. Nick) for ‘Presley’s Center Courts’.” Following the growing popularity of the sport at the time, Elvis started his sole business investment venture in 1976 called Presley Center Courts Racquetball Club, in Memphis. Land was purchased, construction plans were organized, bank accounts were opened, memberships were offered, business cards were printed and bills started to be charged to Elvis. The venture began mounting large debts and encountering issues, and these problems eventually resulted in the project’s demise—the courts were closed in the summer of 1976 after opening that April.
The cards bear the “TCB” logo in gold in the upper right corner, the Presley Center Courts logo with four racquetball racquets in the upper left and the address—5100 Poplar, Suite 2758, Memphis, Tennessee 38137—and the phone number along the bottom edge. As of this writing, we theorize that there were most likely two printings of Presley Center Courts business cards: one set early on in the venture and another set in conjunction with the printing of the brochures, that came a bit later in the process. Minor differences can be seen in the logo on different examples of the business cards--look at the "O" in "COURTS". The offered cards are from the earlier batch. Each card measures 2 by 3 1/2 inches, and they are accompanied by a letter of authenticity from Graceland Authenticated. Near Mint to Mint condition.