ORANGE : Artist Seeks the Stamp of Approval

When Elivs Presley died in 1977, Stephen Davenport didn’t go out and buy an armload of his records or watch reruns of the legendary entertainer’s old movies.

Instead, the Orange resident sat down and made a pencil drawing of the King and submitted it to the U.S. Postal Service suggesting that it use the rendering on a postage stamp.

“They sent me a letter back telling me that someone had to be dead for at least 10 years before they are allowed to appear on a postage stamp,” said Davenport, a Vietnam veteran who works as a peace officer at Saddleback College and designs stamps as a hobby. “I knew that there would eventually be an Elvis Presley stamp, and I wanted to be the first. Sometimes an artist just has to jump the gun.”

Next month the Postal Service, which has received more than 62,000 renderings of the late entertainer, will make public two proposals for an Elvis Presley stamp which will be voted on by the public, Postal Service spokesman James H. Adams said.

Although the odds are stacked against him, Davenport hopes that his submission will be among the finalists.

“It would mean a lot,” he said as he sat at his drawing table at home where he is now working on a sketch of a young Abraham Lincoln.

Davenport began collecting postage stamps at the age of 13. Two years later, using his natural artistic talent, he began to design stamps.

He sent his first drawing, of John F. Kennedy, to the late President’s younger brother Robert in the mid-1960s. In return, he received a signed photograph of Robert F. Kennedy with a personal message written from the senator. It is a photo Davenport still treasures.

Since 1977, Davenport, now 39, has sent the Postal Service 12 drawings as proposed stamps. They include drawings of Robert F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., Hubert Humphrey and the Liberty Bell.

Davenport is one of more than 30,000 artists who submit their ideas each year, Adams said.

A three-ring binder filled with letters and signed photos from people such as President Bush, former President Jimmy Carter, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy and the late senators Robert F. Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey is testament to Davenport’s tireless efforts to have his works made into postage stamps.

“These letters are what’s made it all worth it,” he said. “There are government officials who do recognize the effort that I’ve put into this, and their support shows me that it has not been in vain.”

He frequently corresponded with Humphrey during the politician’s final years and was invited by the Humphrey family to attend official ceremonies last year when the late senator’s postage stamp was revealed.

Several of the pencil drawings he sent to Humphrey were hung in the senator’s office, work which Humphrey described in letters to Davenport as “excellent.”

Although another artist was commissioned to draw the Humphrey stamp, Davenport said he feels tremendous pride in his efforts to see that one was issued.

In addition to the Elvis Presley stamp, Davenport has also designed and is lobbying for an Anwar Sadat stamp. However, Adams said the late Egyptian leader would not qualify for a stamp because he is not an American.

Sadat’s daughter, Camelia Sadat, met with Davenport in 1990 and praised his drawing of her late father.

“I think the U.S. Postal Service needs to broaden their guidelines a bit and realize that Anwar Sadat gave a lot,” Davenport said. “When Kennedy was shot, so many other countries around the world immediately issued Kennedy stamps.”

Despite his efforts, Davenport has never received official recognition from the Postal Service as a stamp designer.

“I really don’t do it for money or recognition,” he said. “I love to draw, and this is my way of getting involved in history and politics.”