Your story of meeting a sports figure

[NoleFan]

Your story of meeting a sports figure

About 7 years ago I was flying out to Iowa for an interview. Had a little layover in O’Hare. Standing around and saw this really tall white guy that looked familiar. Wasn’t sure until I saw someone approach him which confirmed it. It was Bill Walton.

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Met Antwan Jamison at my nephew’s birthday party a few years ago. He and my brother-in-law are friends from childhood.


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[doubledeuceR6]

Re: Your story of meeting a sports figure

Met Jose Canseco and Mark Grace at a baseball card show when I was a kid. I'm 44 now and to this day all I can remember is that when I went to shake Grace's hand I got crossed up and shook with the wrong hand. So embarrassed! Lol

Have met Warren Morris at the dealership I work at a time or two.

[LowerWolf]

Re: Your story of meeting a sports figure

I worked at the Atlanta Olympics as a transportation supervisor. I was assigned to Towers High School, which was the training site for all of the Olympic basketball teams - except for Dream Team II. I got to meet Kukoc and Sabonis. Actually played HORSE with Kukoc (he destroyed me). I remember the Lithuanian and Puerto Rican teams were both very cool.

My job was to make sure the buses with the teams stayed on schedule and to keep any unauthorized personnel off the buses. Practice had ended and the Yugoslav team was on the bus ready to go, except for Vlade Divac. So I walked back into the locker area and found him still showering. I got to tell a very naked Vlade to hurry his *** up because it was time for the bus to leave.

[Caulfield]

Re: Your story of meeting a sports figure

...My job was to make sure the buses with the teams stayed on schedule and to keep any unauthorized personnel off the buses. Practice had ended and the Yugoslav team was on the bus ready to go, except for Vlade Divac. So I walked back into the locker area and found him still showering. I got to tell a very naked Vlade to hurry his *** up because it was time for the bus to leave.

at which point, he immediately flopped.

[RockinDaMike]

Your story of meeting a sports figure

Got off the Viper at 6 Flags at 14 and Hulk Hogan was right there with him and his kids. I choked and didn’t say anything lol.

Lived next to Jahadi White when he played for the Suns. Smoked with him a couple times, pretty awesome guy but hated I was Duke fan.

Channing Frye at the bowling alley. My friend kept talking **** to him about how the Knicks were trash and he took the time explain why they weren’t gonna be trash. Super nice guy though.

Played pick up ball with Mike Bibby, guys a dick from my experiences with him. Talking **** all the time, chill dude we’re just playing at Lifetime Fitness. I guess the competitor doesn’t turn off. I worked with one of his best friends and told him about it and said that’s how is on the court but is a giving guy. Always had on player exclusive Jordan’s at work, so sick.

Pretty much if you played ball anywhere in Alaska you would come across the nba players, like Trajan Langdon and Carlos Boozer. I knew quickly I wasn’t meant to be an athlete playing against those guys.


Also Mario Chalmers went to my high school and was friends with my sister, good kid and worked his *** off. So happy for him what he has done I’m his career.

Tim Biakabutuka, running back for the Panthers in the late 90s. I helped with his website when I worked at Godaddy. Talked football with him, cool guy, and I remember a ****ty website lol.


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[DrJones]

Re: Your story of meeting a sports figure

This one's still my favourite - the breakfast I'll never forget. Copied from a similar thread in 2014:

Today (Jan 11th) is the 15th anniversary of my first day at EA, so I'll share another story, though this one doesn't take place at a ballpark.

This one takes place in the late winter/early spring of 2000. Triple Play 2001 (yes, the year on the title didn't match the year of the game's release in those days; IIRC this was Madden's fault) was being designed by us at EAC in Vancouver, but being built (artists, programmers, etc.) by Treyarch in LA. Several of us producers would fly down there for days or weeks at a time, especially during final.

It's difficult to describe how different the game industry was back then, especially in LA. The industry was booming, and things were pretty loosey-goosey at Treyarch (very, very different from how it is today, I imagine). Rather, um... anti-social behaviour was allowed because otherwise, people would just quit and get another job (it was a jobseekers' market back then, unlike today). EA was nominally in charge, but we needed these guys to get the game done (it would've been our asses if it didn't ship on time), so we had to overlook certain things (like occasional chair-throwing temper tantrums, or our lead programmer only showering once a week and reeking like a homeless guy; seriously, you could smell him from 40 feet away). Hours back at EAC weren't exactly "normal", but they were insane at Treyarch, as we had to keep the same weird hours their programmers did. My hours during a 3 week stint in Feb/Mar at the end of the project were usually noon-1pm to 4-5am. It wasn't hot outside, but none of the windows in the office opened and the AC shut off at midnight, meaning the dozens of PCs and consoles heated the place up like a sonuvabitch, and heat didn't improve the homeless stink that pervaded the floor.

Anyhoo, us EA types (a couple producers, maybe a tester or two) always stayed at the Doubletree Hotel in El Segundo near LAX, within walking distance of Treyarch. Doubletree always gave me a chocolate cookie when I checked in! They also gave out a coupon for a free breakfast at the hotel restaurant, but how the hell would I be able to use it? I usually came stumbling in at 4am or 5am, half-asleep, half-wondering if I was going to wander into a "Judgment Night" situation on the dark, empty streets of that part of LA. (Remember, I'm a dumb Canadian who hadn't travelled much at the time.)

One night a couple of us came back to the Doubletree at 4:30am to find thirty extremely large African-American men in the lobby. Muscles, chains, and scowls everywhere. Sure. A couple disorienting minutes later, a shorter black guy walks in with several scantily clad women, and I clued in. It was Master P and the No-Limit Soldiers checking in. Okay.

Yes, I'm finally coming to the point of this anecdote. We finally had a solid beta build by mid-March; time to go home, thank God. So, the morning of our departure, I get up after only 4-5 hours sleep. Why? To get my free breakfast, dammit!

As I waited for my order, I noticed that there was only one other occupied table. A white couple in their mid-40s (though the guy had gone prematurely white), an elderly, pretty big black guy (probably 70s) and another old white guy, kinda smallish, facing directly away from me. Couldn't see his face, but the back of his head was pretty distinctive. Mostly bald, misshapen head, huge jug ears. Looked like the back of a goblin's head or something.

Yet vaguely, inexplicably familiar. I semi-eavesdropped on their conversation while I ate; they were talking about... baseball? That was kind of weird. And the old guy with the big ears was talking... had I heard that voice somewhere before? What the hell? Then I heard him say, clear as day, "That Bernie Williams, he's a true Yankee, I tell ya." Suddenly, it clicked and I knew. The old guy sitting a few feet away, with the gremlin-like head, whose face I hadn't seen yet? It was Yogi Berra.

I finished my meal, waited until they were done, and came up and shyly asked Yogi for his autograph (the only thing I had on me was a $1 bill). The younger guy with white hair (who also looked familiar; I was wondering if the strange hours and lack of sleep were getting to me) nodded to the black guy and said to me, "You know, of course, that this is Don Newcombe of the Dodgers", so he signed as well. At the time, I vaguely knew who Newcombe was (played for Brooklyn, was one of the first African-American pitchers). I only found out later that he had in fact been the first black pitcher in MLB, and well as the first-ever Cy Young winner (as well as the NL MVP) in 1956. Not only that, but real baseball aficionados may know that Yogi hit two homers of Newk at the Polo Grounds in Game 7 of the '56 World Series (the last ever between New York and Brooklyn, 2 games after Don Larsen's perfecto). And here they were, 44 years later, having breakfast on the one day I ate at the restaurant after staying 3 weeks in the hotel to work on a baseball game. What a world, eh?

Postscript 1: The younger guy with the white hair who looked familiar as well? I'm 90% positive he was Chris Carter, creator of The X-Files.

Postscript 2: The American one-dollar-bill with Berra's and Newcombe's signatures? Lost to the ages, unfortunately. I hoped I'd stuck it in a book or with other autographs somewhere, but no luck. In the fall of 2001, while I was at ESPN in Bristol of all places, my apartment in Vancouver got robbed. The thieves got scared off and didn't steal anything big, just rifled through a couple of my desk drawers... including the one where I kept items of sentimental value. So my best guess is some punk kid took it and used it to buy drugs or something stupid. Alas.

Good story, though.

Postscript 3: The one thing about Game 7 of the 1956 World Series that I didn't mention at the time was that the game ended with a Jackie Robinson strikeout - the final at-bat of his career. I played in an "All-Time Greats" Strat-O-Matic league this spring during the sports lockdown, and I made sure to draft Yogi, Newk, and Jackie.

[ImTellinTim]

Re: Your story of meeting a sports figure

Story.

Amazing story, just wanted to mention that DoubleTree still gives you a warm cookie when you check in and have the free breakfast. The one in St. Paul is a block away from the mothership of my employer. The one in Minneapolis is next door to the Liverpool bar. Many shenanigans have occurred in the Twin Cities DoubleTrees surrounding conferences and various cup finals.

[Jerromy]

Re: Your story of meeting a sports figure

This one is kind of funny due to the responses I got for my "geek out". I worked at a smaller Walmart in Arkansas. I was working one day on the sales floor. I heard a voice from behind me say "Excuse me sir". I turned around and it was Coach Nolan Richardson. I froze up and didn't know what to do. I was looking at the man that led Arkansas to a National Championship in 1994 when I was 2 years old. I did the whole "uhhhhh" thing when he was asking me a question.

Finally, I was able to help him and I told him it was nice to meet him and wished him a good day. I was almost in tears, I had never met anyone that was apart of Arkansas athletics. I told my co-workers who saw me in near tears and their response was "He's literally in here all the time, he lives close by. This is the store he shops". My jaw dropped and I felt dumb that everyone was like "yeah so?", but hey I got to meet him and I geeked out about it.

[CBoller1331]

Re: Your story of meeting a sports figure

My dad taught at the high school Dwyane Wade went to, and when I was in middle school their basketball team won the State Championship, so D-Wade came back to play an Alumni vs. State Champs game for charity sometime after the NBA season was over. After the game I was able to meet him and get an autograph and he still recognized my dad which I thought was the coolest thing.

Later that summer he held a basketball camp at the high school--which was too expensive so I didn't go--but my dad snuck me up to the school weight room (which overlooks the basketball court) to watch one day and we were looking for Dwyane in the gym but couldn't find him. So we finished working out (or in my case just messing around on some of the machines) and then left...only to find Dwyane Wade sitting outside talking on the phone with someone. After he was done he said hi to us and even called me "buddy"

[Cletus]

Re: Your story of meeting a sports figure

When I stayed in Texas, I worked in the burger king at Grapevine Mills mall. I usually worked the "morning" shift (10 until whenever). One day this big guy orders his kid a kid's meal. We only had one type of toy that week because weekends were basically hell on earth then. I didn't think much of it because there's lots of big guys in the south. Either we had completely ran out of toys or we had one his kid already had and he starts fussing. I get my boss, Rachel, who is a cowboys fan (I was an Eagles one at the time) and talks to him. He walks away and she says, "Do you know who that is?" I say "No, some *bleep* who's complaining about a kids toy?" "No, that's Greg Ellis." I then say something else smart I'm sure, but don't remember. Anyway, Greg Ellis has lots of money, but no BK kid's toys.

Also, not really super famous. I went to a small christian school in South Carolina. I missed playing against Zion by about 20 years, but anyway. When I played basketball we went to Greenwood to play another small school that was just starting up 8 man football. One of their basketball players was starting to play football. His name was Gaines Adams.

My friend grew up down the street from Kevin Garnett who was friends with his older brother. KG broke my friend's basketball goal.

And finally. A lot of times we had kids who were put in our school because their parents thought they were too wild. My Junior or senior year we got this 6'7" or so guy weighing about 270 as a new student. He only went there for half a year and if he wasn't so big I doubt he would be on our varsity basketball team. He then went to finish high school in New Jersey, flunked out of Tennessee, went to Presbyterian and before he was drafted (projected 3rd round) he died. His name was Heath Benedict.

[Blzer]

Re: Your story of meeting a sports figure

I'm just going to link to an old post where I have some of my stories and meet-ups:

https://forums.operationsports.com/forums/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=2042308376

Trying to think if there is somebody more recent I've met. Nothing is coming to mind, but I'm sure there was something somewhere.

[PVarck31]

Re: Your story of meeting a sports figure

When I was a kid in the late 80s and early 90s, I used to go watch Indians games at the old Municipal Stadium. Believe or or not, I actually won a contest to throw out the first pitch at a game. My favorite player at the time was Cory Snyder, and he was the one who caught the first pitch. So I got to shake his hand and spoke briefly. I also met a couple of other players that night but can't recall them.

The Indians had a lot of no-name players back in the day, so unless you're an Indians fan around my age, you might not recognize any of these names, but the games were so empty we would go sit down in the front row near the dugout, and we talked to a player named Jessie Levis. He signed a ball for me. I also met Tom Brookins, Brooke Jacoby, Sandy Alomar, Julio Franco, who was a complete jerk to me, and I also met Steve Olin, who was an up and coming star pitcher, but unfortunately he was killed in a boating accident the following spring training.

We would go out to the parking lot area, and some of the players would come over and sign autos, and that's where I met Julio Franco, and I asked him for an autograph very politely, and he said **** off kid. I was like 10.

I've also met Bob Feller, Omar Vizquel, Bernie Kosar, Frank Minnefield, Hanford Dixon, Ozzie Newsome, and some other Browns players. All very nice to me.

Omar lived in the same development as my aunt and uncle. It was probably 5-6 houses away. But I never approached him there. But he had a yellow corvette I would see there.

And I know this one is gonna sound crazy, but my same aunt and uncle moved to the Detroit suburbs for his job, and they lived right next door to Madonna's parents. They met her a few times. Said her parents were super sweet and down to earth, and so was Madonna.

So I guess I've met a lot of sports figures. I met a guy who was on Day's Of Our Lives for a few years because he went to one of the high schools here and was at some graduation party for someone I knew, I don't even remember his name though. Didn't even realize we had a local actor on a big show like that.

[Cletus]

Re: Your story of meeting a sports figure

We would go out to the parking lot area, and some of the players would come over and sign autos, and that's where I met Julio Franco, and I asked him for an autograph very politely, and he said **** off kid. I was like 10.

That would be when Julio was in his mid 40's. He just needed to take his geritol probably. All of those guys take me back to the age of RBI baseball 2.