This idea came from another CP poster and his recent thread asking about all the sports stadiums we have attended in our life. Once I posted all the stadiums, I was surprised at how many and thought the same about all the celebrities I have met in my lifetime.
The only “rule” is you must have had some interaction, no matter how small. Seeing someone in a restaurant from 100 feet away or a celebrity in a car next to you as you pass means nothing. High fiving a celebrity as they walk into the tunnel or shouting at them also doesn’t count. Going to a concert or show without meeting them personally means jack squat unless you went backstage and did them.
A photo with them does.
So here goes my list and it’s pretty damn long…..
Sports
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Howard Cosell-legendary sportscaster-on the street in New York with my Dad. He was all alone and smoking a cigar. Real nice and much taller and intimidating in person. Small chit chat
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Pele-soccer legend-on plane with me back from Rio de Janeiro Brazil-he was wearing a white fur coat in Miami, getting into a big white caddy limo with two hot white chicks. I guess he really loved white-I only talked to him for a minute and he was very hard to understand with his accent plus I think he was a little tipsy from drinking
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Walt Frazier-New York Knicks-on the way back from concessions at Madison Square Garden-he was as cool as his persona and talked to everyone-he was also wearing a fur coat just like Pele
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Henry Bibby-Philadelphia Sixers and Mike Bibby’s dad-was my camp counselor and coach at Pocono Invitational Basketball Camp
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Elvin Hayes-Washington Bullets-asshole that refused my autograph when I was only 14 years old and he was my idol. I waited after the Nets/Bullets games at Brendon Byrne Arena (now Continental), he came out into the arena with Jan van Breda Kolff of the Nets and passed me going out and returning, spoke and told me he didn’t have time when no one else around. My father was so pissed at me for making him wait for an extra hour after the game ended.
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Darryl Dawkins-Philadelphia Sixers-spent a week with him and his second wife in Italy. Know his father-in-law. My father and sister loved him when he came to my house for a party and started telling stories. One of the funniest and nicest people I know.
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Mark Collins-KC Chiefs and NY Giants-friends with my bartender buddy at the Jersey Shore. The guy was ripped and built like a brick shit house. Very quiet and shy guy. Doesn’t talk much.
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Phil Villapiano-NFL Oakland Raiders-met at airport when both on standby and we became friends over 20 years ago-talked to him this past week. We bet a 6 pack of Heineken on each Chiefs/Raiders game. Super nice and very positive attitude guy. Never negative.
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Tony Kline-Oakland Raiders-came to my house with Phil one time to talk about a business venture he was trying to grow. His son Tony Cline Jr played TE at Stanford and in the NFL 4 yrs
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Ben Davidson, Otis Sistrunk, Conrad Dobler, Dave Casper, and Sean Landetta-Oakland Raiders, St Louis Cardinals and NY Giants-met them all when Phil Villapiano brought them to dinner at a restaurant where we all met. Otis Sistrunk likes Wild Turkey and I got the chance to tell Ben Davidson that he was the reason I starting hating the Raiders. Dave Casper got hammered and Sean Landetta got called to play for the Eagles while at dinner
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Ronnie Lott-San Jose Airport-I remember this like it was yesterday-I took a lot of weekend trips out of SJ airport at 10pm on Friday nights while I lived in Silicon Valley-I was leaving for Scottsdale and Lott was sitting there dressed super sharp in nice slacks and shirt all by himself and NO ONE was talking to him or looking at him. I couldn’t figure out why. I chatted him up for about 10 minutes and he was very nice. Still can’t figure out how no one knew who he was or why no one bothered to talk to him.
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Alex Blackwell-NBA LA Lakers-friend from NJ
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Paul Azinger-professional golfer-one of the biggest dolts I ever met and a real jackass. I was at a trade show in Orlando Florida and I had the morning off-went to Grand Cypress golf course to play a quick 18 holes. Once done I went into the grill room to eat-while there Azinger and his dad came in. When I finished eating I went over to his table and shook his hand telling him, “Congratulations on your fight against cancer and I’m terribly sorry about the loss of your friend Payne Stewart.” The jerkoff just looked at me like I had three heads and said nothing-not a thank you, not a that was nice of you, nothing. I walked away wanting to punch him in the face and I hope to this day that his cancer comes back. Another buddy of mine had another bad experience with him on a driving range during a practice round. Guy seems like a real jerkoff.
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John Franco-New York Mets-after dinner with his family in New York, very nice guy
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Ed Kranepool-NY Mets-speaker at Little League dinner-autograph and small hello
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Scott Skiles Milwaukee Bucks coach-Robert Horry Houston Rockets/LA Lakers plus 15 NBA bench warmers-celebrity golf tournament in NJ for a sports agent’s charity-talked to all of them and not any real standout. Skiles was arrogant asshole. Horry nice but get to talk to him that much.
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Wade Boggs, Spike Owen, and Marty Barrett-Boston Red Sox-this was one of the most shocking encounters for two reasons; first they showed up to the nightclub Heartbreak the night Game 7 of the ’86 World Series was rained out and second, I fixed Wade Boggs up with the hot blonde girl my buddy and I were dancing with. My buddy has never forgiven me for this. Wade Boggs said about two whole words and was wearing an ugly red velour shirt. Spike Owen was a blast and bought us drinks a few times-they were all drinking Rolling Rock. We picked up a hooker on the way home in the limo.
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Bill Bradley-NY Knicks and NJ Senator-at Walt Disney with my family back in the mid 70’s-he and his wife and kid on the tram from the parking lot. He is 6’6” and has a deep voice with slow cadence. Nice guy but a true politician
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Mike Montgomery-Stanford basketball coach + other 20 West Coast college basketball coaches -Cable Car Classic golf tournament at Pasatiempo in Santa Cruz CA-nice guy-spoke a lot of motivation stories and golf courses he played in the Bay Area. Small interaction
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Allen Hopkins-professional pool player-at public golf course in NJ a few months in a row-he was out hustling golfers-he had a million different bar bets-a real shark. Famous player along with Steve Mizerak of Miller Lite beer commercial fame
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Bill Patrick-sportscaster for NHL hockey, PGA Golf on TNT, and other sporting events. In 1987 I went to with an ex-girlfriend and the group Seal Watch up to the Prince Edward Island then out into the North Atlantic on helicopter to see the baby harp seals to protect them from hunters. Bill Patrick and his first wife Suzy were on the trip and we all hung out together. Nice guy.
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Bill Cowher-Pittsburgh Steelers ex-coach. Met him July 13th in Pittsburgh at the Fairmont Hotel when I was checking in for a Pirates game. He was doing an interview with a local TV station and he was very nice. In great shape and looked like life is treating him well in retirement. Didn't seem like he was in any hurry to come back to coaching.
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Ray Knight-Mets player and now TV commentator for the Nats. spoke to him briefly before the Nats-Prates game a few weeks back. Told him about my 1986 World Series story and meeting several ex-Mets. Polite but very rushed prior to pregame TV prep.
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Michael Phelps-ADDED Nov 2018 : US Olympic Swimmer and 28 time medal winner most in history. He comes into the Sprouts grocery store in Gainey Ranch where he lives and saw him numerous times and chatted once about Baltimore AREA and Caps Pit Beef, having lived IN the DC area for the last 10 years. Nice and polite. Had his infant son with him last time I saw him. No one bothered him.
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Jeff Wright-
ADDED Nov 2018 : Nose Tackle for the Buffalo Bills that played for 7 years in the NFL and played in 4 Super Bowls, all losing efforts. He played with Thurman Thomas, Bruce Smith, and Jim Kelly to name a few. Met him this week at K O'Donnell's Sports Bar & Grill in Scottsdale. Nice guy, a little rough around the edges, still built like a brick shit house and told me he suffers from CTE. Told me he's had a few close calls where he wanted to end it all. Played with one of the Baldinger brothers, Gary, who backed him up at NT. Went to school in Kansas and Missouri and wanted to be drafted by the Chiefs.
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Jim Paxson-
ADDED Feb 2019 NBA draft 1979 / Round: 1 / Pick: 12th overall Selected by the Portland Trail Blazers Playing career 1979–1990
Met Jim while working at Sprouts here in Scottsdale
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Herm Edwards-
ADDED Apr 2019 Chiefs Head coach Eagles player and ESPN analyst, now coach of ASU Football team
Met at Hyatt Regency at Gainey Ranch. At the hotel a giant meeting for the Pac-12, Herm Edwards was sitting by himself in a corner away from everyone on the phone finishing a phone call.
Spent about 15 minutes chatting about Philly, Eagles, Andy Reid, Tyreek Hill, Mahomes, East Coast and Jersey Shore, Sixers, ESPN, Phillies, Flyers, Reading Terminal and Dinic's, Darryl Dawkins, ASU players drafted and those undrafted and signed, Phil Villipiano, and a few other things. Really nice guy and friendly.
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Randy Johnson-The "Big Unit"-
ADDED Feb 2020 Pitching great for the Arizona Diamondbacks,Seattle Mariners and Yankees among the teams in his 22 year career.
Met at Pomo Pizzeria Napoletana at Gainey Ranch. He was eating lunch with his wife and only a few people in the restaurant at the time. He was also parked next to me in the parking lot. Just a quick hello about how retirement is treating him as he was on his way out. Didn't want to bother him much and didn't have much to talk to him about.
Music
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Jellybean Benitez and Madonna-before she was famous in 1980 or 1981. A buddy, who is a well known DJ, took me to New York for a record pool meeting. He still DJ’s at Studio 54 and on Sirius radio. A bunch of DJ’s get together to listen to new music and exchange mixed tapes. Jellybean is a great DJ/producer and Madonna was with him as they were dating at the time. I vaguely remember her bopping around while we all listened to music. She didn’t sing or really talk. She looked cute. Little interaction
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Skid Row-Rock Band-Neighbor was friends with band and they lived nearby-saw during practice
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Danny Clinch-Famous Music Photographer-from school
Movies/TV/News
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Lorenzo Lamas-actor-with his dog sitting in the lobby at the Universal Hilton in LA reading a script. Talked to him for a while about Admiral Farragut school he attended in New Jersey. I had friends who attended from my neighborhood and it was in the next town we grew up in.
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Captain Kangaroo-actor Bob Keeshan TV child’s program-at the lobby bar at Universal Hilton in LA-talked to him for an hour and bought him a vodka on the rocks-he likes Stolichnaya
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Carol Alt-Supermodel-in the elevator at Universal Hilton in LA with another super hot women I didn’t recognize. She was super tall with heels and gorgeous in real life. I cracked a joke about the two of them and a cute short guy, they both laughed and they said they were going to Sylvestor Stallone’s house for a party.
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Jason Hervey-actor-The Wonder Years-played Wayne the older brother-at the Universal Hilton in LA-he was a douche and pompous ass for such a young guy with first real job-with a bunch of young ugly women groupies-he’s been in nothing since and I can see why.
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Joe Pesci-Shore Oaks Country Club-in the grill room-we were both members and have some common acquaintances. He is gruff in person just like on camera. LOVES GOLF.
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Donald Trump-(twice)-first time in Atlantic City when he was walking through his first brand new casino Trump Plaza with first wife Ivana. I stopped them, shock his hand, and wished them good luck and success with their new casino. He chatted with me for about 5 minutes asking lots of questions. Very nice-his wife Ivana not so much. Second time was in New York at Trump Towers getting off the elevator. I reminded him of the first time I met him and he said he remembered and we chatted for a few minutes-very engaging guy. Likes to know what people think and why they came to his properties.
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Robin Leach-Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous-I was in Las Vegas for the Comdex trade show and he was filming a tourism commercial for Las Vegas inside the Venetian hotel in front of the fountain. With a few drinks in me and a few co-workers egging me on, I jumped in front of the camera while he was filming and shouted with an English accent “Welcome to Lifestyles of the Fat and Famous”. He was so pissed he shoved me with all his body weight and screamed a few expletives. All the people around clapped and then laughed at him, which made him real pissed. I only spilled a little of my cocktail. I thought he was going to slug me.
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Dan Akroyd-LA Airport-while he was filming the movie “Couch Trip” I was on 3 hour layover to Tahiti and the international terminal was nearly empty-he filmed a single scene getting off a bench about 80 times. I spoke to him on his way to the pay phone, (can you believe he had to use a pay phone), and he gave me an autograph on my Wall Street Journal I was reading
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John Amos-dad on Good Times-met him at Darryl Dawkins house during a summer barbeque-he is a really nice guy and I didn’t know at the time a Chiefs fan-he was drafted by them
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Tom Cruise-at the nightclub Heartbreak in Manhattan the same night I met all the Red Sox. This was the night Game 7 was rained out. I was shocked to see the Red Sox there. Sat in his booth with my buddy who had a mutual friend in Glen Ridge NJ they both knew. He was pretty quiet, drinking a beer, and nice. Before he became super famous-Cher was also here at the club but she left shortly after we got there and she was across the room. They may have been dating at the time.
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Vanessa Williams-Miss America (dethroned)-met her on the Atlantic City boardwalk with her little old German grandma of a chaperon. She looked Hispanic not Black. Extremely beautiful in person and polite. Brief chat she was on way to rehearsals for the pageant
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Carmen Electra-Signing autographs at Comdex in Las Vegas before public opening-wears tons of makeup but still great shape. Seems very phony and gave the same “cute” spiel to everyone.
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Buzz Aldrin- Signing autographs at Comdex in Las Vegas before public opening. A little cranky and not much of a talker to most people.
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Helen Gurley Brown-Cosmopolitan Editor and recently deceased-she and her husband David Brown shared business class flight with me to Beijing, China. She and her husband looked like mummies they were so old. Her husband needed a lot of help from her and it was really hard to imagine she started Cosmo-she was actually nicer than I expected. She asked me a lot of questions about China.
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Alan Thicke-father in Growing Pains-in the United Airlines Red Carpet Club Lounge in Newark Airport, NJ-he was polite and engaging-we talked a good deal about Canada and he was hitting on one of the ladies in the lounge-it was late and few people left
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Jeremy Irons-English actor in Diehard-I went to a movie premier in San Francisco for his film "Chinese Box" which he starred in. The movie sucked but I met him at the after party. he had a super hot date. Nice guy but conversation was brief as I didn't want to discuss the shitty movie I just saw. i really was hoping to see Gong Li but she didn't show. Skyy Vodka was the sponsor and the party rocked.
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George Wendt-Norm from Cheers-He was a guest at a high tech trade show I attended and he stopped in to a private party to tell a few jokes and pick a winner of a grand prize. He joined us at the bar and chatted for quite a while. He likes to drink and he sweats a lot just like his character on Cheers.
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Bernard Shaw-Former CNN anchor. He was on my plane to Hong Kong during the handover. We spent about 15 minutes chatting while at the luggage carousel. He was all alone and no one else approached him to talk.
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James Patterson-World famous author. He used to belong to a local country club at the Jersey Shore when he lived on the ocean in Mantoloking, NJ. I played in the Oldsmobile Scratch and Scramble and he was one of my foursome. He played so God damn slow it was horrible. He was a nice guy but this was at least 20 years ago, just as he was getting popular as an author and still working for ad agency WPP in New York. Nothing remarkable and he stayed around for a few drinks. Not a good golfer at the time.
Political
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John Sununu-Governor of New Hampshire and White House Chief of staff under Bush-had drinks at table with him in Tallahassee Florida when Jeb kicked off his career. Talks a lot and tells good stories. Also likes his cocktails.
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Jeb Bush-Governor of Florida-after his campaign speech got to spend a few minutes chatting. Really pays attention to what each person is saying and very nice guy. Seems genuine.
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George Schultz-Secretary of State under Ronald Reagan-I was living in San Francisco at the time and went to a dinner in honor of the mayor of Shanghai Xu Kuangdi. George Shultz was sitting two tables away and when the dinner ended everyone went to speak to Xu Kuangdi but I went up to George Schultz. I reached out my hand to shake his hand and the Secret Service nearly jumped me thinking I might have a weapon. He shook my hand and I thanked him for his great service under Reagan. He was old and seemed to be having trouble really engaging. His snobby social-climbing bitch of a wife, Charlotte Smith Mailliard Swig Shultz, came over, stepped in front of me, cut off our conversation, and said “George we have to go” and dragged him away, Our former Secretary of State is pussy whipped!!!
It’s really funny that after living in the Washington DC area for the last 5 ½ years, I’ve not met one single politician or celebrity!
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As a kid I met Ric Flair. Well, I actually met several wrestlers that day, but I was maybe 14 and I was a huge Ric Flair fan. My dad knew Bob Geigel? I that was his name. He was some Mid-States Wrestling dude, and I got to meet them in the locker room. It was a match between Bulldog Bob Brown and Flair vs Bruiser Brody and some other guy. I can't remember his name.
After the match I went to the back and Bruiser Brody scared the hell out of me. I don't think that guy ever faked a thing. Ric Flair laughed at me and told me that I was safe as long as I didn't smell like meat or beer, or something to that effect. Flair was really cool, and shook my hand, still drenched in sweat with blood in his platinum hair. I remember he had huge welts on his chest from the slaps from Brody.
I was a huge fan but I could barely get words out of my mouth. I was trying to tell him what a fan I was, and he could obviously see how nervous I was, and he spontaneous let out a Woooooo, and said something like I get you brother, fans are why I do what I do.
It was at old Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kansas. Other than being scared shitless by Bruiser Brody, and starstruck by my all-time favorite wrestler, The Nature Boy Ric Flair, I remember that I didn't realize until I was on my way home that all the wrestlers were just hanging out together. I was 14 and thought that good guys and bad guys, now called faces and heels, only hung out with other good guys, or bad guys, depending on which they were. I had just met my hero, and it took a while to process it, but Ric Flair couldn't have been more awesome.
The other time I met my hero didn't go so well. I, along with every other little leaguer I knew idolized George Brett. He still is the greatest baseball player that I have ever seen. I don't remember the exact circumstances as to how it happened, but my dad's boss, my dad, and the woman my dad was having an affair with (who later became my stepmother but I was clueless at the time) were at I believe the Golden Ox, it was down by Kemper Arena, and somehow I ended up standing on the fringe of a group of adults outside.
As a 10 year old kid (it was 1981) I remember thinking that I had been standing around with nothing to do as all the adults talked for what seemed like literal hours. It was probably 30-45 minutes, but that seemed like forever, especially when you complain about it and are told to just shut up.
But then there was George Brett and all that waiting seemed like it was about to payoff. But as he made his way toward the restaurant some of the adults tried talking to him, and he basically told them to eff off. I didn't understand what was happening, so I tried to say something to him, and he made eye contact with me, and then basically hip checked me without saying a word. I know he saw me because we absolutely locked eyes. Of course, I immediately cried. I was 10 and he was my hero. I wore #5 because of him.
As I embarrassingly tried to stop crying and stealthily wipe the snot from my face, I could hear the adults calling him a drunk asshole, and they were quite upset that a drunk celebrity would basically run over a little kid. I asked my dad about it years later, and he told me that Brett was so drunk that he was belligerent and didn't actually hip check me so much as staggered into me.
My dad then told me something that I never knew, because after the incident at the door with my hero crushing my feelings I kinda blocked out the rest of the night. He told me that the other person who was with Brett (I wanna say Jamie Quirk but my dad couldn't really remember) paid the tab for everyone that had been standing outside, and came to everyone's table and apologized.
Those are the two that truly stick out to me, that were not a result of my job.
I met William Devane (sp?) at the American Royal. He was on a soap opera drama Falcon Crest or some crap.
Later in life I had a job that brought me into contact with Deron Cherry and Joe Montana, who were both in the booze biz, and both super chill and charismatic. And I had a job where I participated in a conference call with Shania Twain. In fact, she actually said my name during the call. I never met her in person, but she was extremely nice over the phone, and knew her business front and back, quoting sales numbers spot on.
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