Tell Your Story of Meeting a Famous Athlete

[BluePhantom]

I have two I want to share. One good and one bad. Let's start with the bad first.

When I was about nine years old we went to Seattle to see the game between the Seahawks and the Steelers. By pure luck the Steelers were staying in the same hotel we were. It was awesome because i got to meet Terry Bradshaw, Lynn Swann, Joe Green (who I met years later again), etc. But this story involves Jack Lambert. See my family was waiting in the lobby for our room to get ready and Lambert was sitting in the lobby reading the paper. So my Dad gives me a pad and pen and sends me to him to ask for his autograph. Well..being about nine I approached and said "Excuse me Mr. Lambert can I have your autograph?" I remember those words as clear as a bell because of what happened next. He threw down his paper and started screaming at me because I had not said "please". Then he demanded to know where my family was...drug me over to my father and began to scream at him for not teaching his son better manners and say "please". He did finally give me his autograph that I still have but seriously...every time I look at the autograph I remember how mean he was to me and my father.

My favorite was meeting Eugene Robinson who was a safety for the Seahawks back in the day. I was going to college at the University of Idaho at the time and was in marching band and we got invited to play at halftime for the Seahawks vs. the Chiefs. So we all had field passes and we allowed to roam the sidelines. It was great because I got my uniform autographed by Steve Largent, Kenny Easley, Dave Krieg, Norm Johnson...you name it...classic old school Seahawks team. So I got to Robinson and asked for his autograph on my uniform and he was getting ready to sign when the coach called for warm ups on the field. Robinson put the pen back in may hand and said "I am sorry I have to go" and left without signing. So he runs onto the field and they are warming up and then suddenly he jumps up and runs back to me and stops the whole warm up routine. He actually yelled out "stop hold on a minute" and ran to me and grabbed my pen and said "The Lord is telling me that I have to do this. What is your name?" I said "Scott" and he signed my band uniform and said "Ok Scott, read what I am writing" and he wrote a Bible verse under his autograph.

Now that is cool enough...what happened later has stayed with me my entire life. Two years later we were invited again to play for halftime and so the same situation was there. i was roaming the sidelines getting autographs and all that. Well Robinson approached ME and said "your name is Scott right?" I almost fell over. I said "yeah..how did you know that?" He said "you were the kid I ran back to sign the autograph for". I said "yeah that was me". he said "did you read what I wrote?" I said "Yes I did". He said "Are you following it?" I said "To the best of my ability." and then he smiled and smacked me on my shoulder and ran off to warm up. Want to talk about making an impression on a kid? That one still stays with me to this day

 

[Moonglow]

Lynn Swan was a bit of a dick at the NW Ark. golf charity event when I met him 15 years ago...

 

[Tehon]

I was in a club box at a hockey game when Kristi Yamaguchi walked in on me while relieving myself in the restroom.
I'm not as absent minded about locking restroom doors now.

 

[Syriusly]

Joe Montana.

I was going to my local grocery store and noticed a Ferrari parked out front, but didn't really think that much about it- and noticed some kids peering in through the window. I walked inside, noticed this guy with this beautiful blond- and thought "he looks just like Joe Montana'.....and walked all the way out of the store before all of the blocks fell into place "beautiful blonde....Ferrari.....kids all excited...guy who looks just like Joe Montana".

Beautiful blonde was the future Mrs. Montana.

 

[TrinityPower]

I have to laugh...Going to the store in a car like that. I have seen smart cars at Costco and think "man I really want to sit here and wait for those people to come out and see the slapstick comedy of getting any groceries in that thing"

 

[Papageorgio]

When I was 17 I met retired Greg Smith, forward for the Portland Trailblazers & the Milwaukee Bucks when they won the NBA championship.

I was at a local AAU tournament covering the tournament for the local paper. I saw Smith walk-in and he was at the wrong high school ( they had a public and a catholic school about two blocks from each other) and I walked up to him and told him, he started to ask for directions and finally said, just hop in my car and show me. So I got him to the school and he asked me to sit next to his girl friend and keep her company during the game. He played the game and it wasn't until the end of the game, he took over and won the game. He took me back to my car and gave me a Miller beer and thanked me for my help. His team won the tournament, later that weekend his team had Larry Steele and Herm Gilliam both came down for the final day.

 

[BluePhantom]

Just to follow up, my daughter read the Eugene Robinson story and tweeted him a short version. Not surprisingly he didn't remember but he did tweet back that he is glad he had a positive effect and that he appreciated the kind words.

 

[HUGGY]

I have met a few. Joe Namouth and Larry Czonka being the most famous. I've told the stories several times.

Both of the meetings took place in bars in Southern Florida. Both stories involved alcohol. Hyjinx ensued.

 

[BluePhantom]

Charles Barkley was a regular at the Cigar Bar when I worked at the Ritz-Carlton in Phoenix so I met him several times. All the stories about him being an ass are totally false. He is a total gentleman, big tipper, minds his own business. Great guy. Well there's a back story. When I lived in Seattle I had season tickets to the Sonics during the Gary Payton/Shawn Kemp era. My seats were courtside (the benefit of having a brother who was a big shot for a major bank). Anyhow I would trash talk Barkley all night every time the Suns played us in Seattle. My favorite thing was when he was against Payton I would always yell the same thing..."You can't handle Gary's game, Charles. Gary is too much man for you!" Well this went on for a couple years.

A couple years later I had moved to Phoenix, working at the Ritz and it just happened to be Sir Charles' hang out. For months he wold ask me "have we met somewhere? I know I know you from somewhere." and I would always say "no Mr. Barkley we have never met outside this establishment". Well finally one night he says "look I can't take it anymore. Everytime I see you I know I know you from somewhere". So I hesitated for a second and said "You can't handle Gary's game, Charles. Gary is too much man for you!" and he leaps out of his seat and screams "THAT'S WHERE I KNOW YOU FROM!"

Thankfully he has a wonderful sense of humor.

 

[Sherry]

When my ex and I were in HS (mid 80's), Michael Jordan lived in the next cul-de-sac over from my ex. One of his friends lived in the same cul-de-sac, and on a couple of occasions I tagged along and watched them all shoot some hoops. I knew he played for the Bulls, but he was not yet a mega star.

 

[Papageorgio]

I owned a sports card shop for several years. I went to many shows and set up tables. I was invited by Mickey Mantle to have drinks afterwards. My brother and I went with him, Moose Skowron and Chris Chamblis. I was in Portland and we stayed in the same hotel as Towy Gwynn, talked with him in the restaurant. Also met Clyde Drexler, Terry Porter, Kevin Duckworth, Buck Williams and Jerome Kersey. Maurice Lucas did a commercial in the small town we lived in when I was a kid. He was pretty cool. Jon Stockton was pretty cool, I saw him after a game and when I approached him, he was try to blend and not attract attention. I spoke with him briefly. Jose Canseco, I always wondered how they got his big head in one room. Mark McGwire was pretty nice, that was the show I bought a case of 86 Fleer basketball cards for $180, that score netted me some good money. Also met Lester Hayes, the guy was really funny. Alvin Davis was pretty cool. Hank Aaron was pretty cool, his staff wasn't so nice. Willie Mays was all business. Cliff Branch was nice and has an ego, but funny. Asked him what his most memorable catch was? "I made so many great catches, I don't remember them all." Dragon Petrovich was nice, I don't think he got the popularity thing. Ken Griffey Jr. and his Dad were pretty cool to met. Barry Sanders was a show in Bellevue, Washington, he was a humble guy. Loved meeting Gary Payton, he was cordial and him and I got to talk about his days at OSU. Shawn Kemp was okay, he was kind of a jerk to the promoter. Met Arvidas Sabonas at a grocery store. He is pretty big guy. Met Reggie Jackson in Oakland, he was doing a show under the Coliseum while the Yankees were playing the A's right next door. My best time was a three day show in the Bay Area and I met Jack Tatum. It was three shows in three cities, so every night we met Jack at the lounge and talked with him, he was really humble. He had to we of respect for Walter Peyton and Steve Largent.

 

[Moonglow]

When my ex and I were in HS (mid 80's), Michael Jordan lived in the next cul-de-sac over from my ex. One of his friends lived in the same cul-de-sac, and on a couple of occasions I tagged along and watched them all shoot some hoops. I knew he played for the Bulls, but he was not yet a mega star.

Dang, you're young...

 

[westwall]

I got to go for a spin with Petter Solberg in his rally car in Finland one year. That was a blast! He was really cool too.

Didn't let me drive though!

 

[Papageorgio]

Very cool, that would be fun.

 

[Wyatt earp]

Met Jim McMahon at a bar in Chicago had a few beers with him. Jim Harbaugh lived down the road from me when he was a rookie with the Bears.

 

[BluePhantom]

Well working at the Ritz-Carlton for as long as I did you get to meet a lot of people. At first I was star struck but after a few months (unless they were someone mega-huge) they just became another person with special needs you had to kiss ass to. This story isn't about an athlete but it's a great story nonetheless because I had no idea who it was.

I get to work and park in the employee section underground and you have to go up a set of stairs and over the main driveway to get to the employee entrance. Well I come up out of the stairwell and it is a massive flood of people and I am about to be late so I am trying to wiggle my way through this crowd, pushing and shoving through, but saying "excuse me, pardon me" as I wind my way through and I am getting more and more annoyed the longer this goes on. Well suddenly this big black guy grabs my arm and rips it upwards...damn near lifted me off the ground...and yells "what do you think you are doing?" Well I turn and look and Janet Jackson is about a foot away from me almost nose to nose...I had apparently tried to wiggle my way between her bodyguards and her and they were having none of it. I knew who she was the moment I saw her but my immediate reaction was to yell back "I don't give a fuck who she is I am trying to get to work!"

Well the bodyguard's eyes got as big as silver dollars and he let me go and said "Oh....I apologize sir" and pushed me toward the back of the crowd and I am thinking "yeah...God damn right mother fucker" while at the same time appreciating the fact that he didn't rip my head off my shoulders.