American Airlines "Admiral of the Flagship Fleet" certificate (1960's) - anybody know more about this?

[RussR]

Found this cool bit of aviation history hanging in my mother-in-law's house. The "W. R. Burrows" is my wife's grand-uncle (my MIL's uncle) (?). Unfortunately my MIL has Alzheimer's and can't remember anything about it.

It's dated 1963 and signed by C.R. Smith who was the CEO of AA at the time. It's obviously stylized with terms like Admiral.

Anybody know anything about these certificates? What were they recognizing?

 

[Racerx]

Per wikipedia

The Admirals Club was conceived by AA president C.R. Smith as a marketing gimmick shortly after he was made an honorary Texas Ranger. Inspired by the Kentucky colonels and other honorary organizations, Smith decided to make particularly valued passengers "admirals" of the "Flagship fleet" (AA called its aircraft "Flagships" at the time). The list of Admirals included many celebrities, politicians and other VIPs, as well as more "ordinary" customers who had been particularly loyal to the airline.

A Google search of W.R Burrows shows he was an artist

 

[RussR]

Per wikipedia

The Admirals Club was conceived by AA president C.R. Smith as a marketing gimmick shortly after he was made an honorary Texas Ranger. Inspired by the Kentucky colonels and other honorary organizations, Smith decided to make particularly valued passengers "admirals" of the "Flagship fleet" (AA called its aircraft "Flagships" at the time). The list of Admirals included many celebrities, politicians and other VIPs, as well as more "ordinary" customers who had been particularly loyal to the airline.

A Google search of W.R Burrows shows he was an artist

Thanks.

Different WR Burrows, this one was an engineer of some sort.

So it was basically like either a frequent fliers club or being a VIP? Did being in this club confer any actual benefits? (Like lounge access or seat upgrades or a concierge service, maybe.)