Story Time: Famous People You Found Yourself With

A1Janitor said:
LMAO

I could talk to Ted Nugent for an hour and not know who he was.

A friend of mine went on a bear hunt with him. A practice I find to be horrible.
Click to expand...
Hunting bear or hunting with Ted Nugent? Bear is delicious.
 
My grandfather was a big hockey booster at the U of MN, so I grew up scrounging tickets from everyone in the "fancy" section at the old Williams arena before they built the actually hoity-toity Mariucci Arena in the early 90s. (My sophomore year in high school I think I went to 20 of 23 home games.) The best night ever was my grandfather's surprise 65th birthday at our house in January 1980. There were a lot of people there, including a bunch of MN hockey luminaries: Herb Brooks, Lou Nanne, Glenn Sonmor, Brad Beutow and several of the former U of MN players. It was just before they wrapped up the pre-Olympic schedule and headed out to Lake Placid. The evening was lots of 15 year old me and my younger brother taking coats, emptying ashtrays and hiding out listening to the stories. At one point Brooks and Nanne were in the front hall taking turns playing the little hand-held 9v Mattel hockey game someone had given as a gag gift. They were taking it very seriously considering they were both terrible.
 
I forgot that I (literally) walked into Paul Newman once in the pits at the Indy Motor Speedway during qualifications. I wasn't looking where I was going and he was in a really foul mood, because his car didn't qualify. I wasn't star-struck at all, because I immediately started looking around to see if I could bump into Joanne Woodward. ;)
 
Hockey Woman's side. Gold, Silver and Bronze medal winners Angela Ruggiero, Julie Chu, Courtney Kennedy and Chandra Gunn at various hockey camps and functions when daughters were playing hockey. Chevy Chase when oldest daughter used to play against his daughter's team. Chandra Gunn (Goalie) was great with my youngest. Chandra was diagnosed with epilepsy at nine. She got a full ride to Wisconsin but had some medical problems and had to leave. She tried to come back but it was hard to find a team that would take a chance. Accepted at Northeastern and was made Captain and selected for Team USA. An amazing woman. Drove Marv Fleming, Manny Fernandez and Larry Csonka from the 17-0 season to the Walter Camp Dinner one year (my first Tux event. Second was Wedding third was Daughter's Wedding and haven't had another since). At the table Fleming let me try on his Super Bowl Ring. I could get two fingers through with ease. That man has the biggest hands I have ever seen.
Richard Nixon at a function in the East Room. Henry Kissinger at a Q &A. Gerald Ford at a reception. Met Tucker Carlson at parent's weekends when my daughter was in high school and had classes with one of his children.
Best was when, in Grad School, Kenneth D. Taylor spoke to one of my classes. My professor knew him well and invited him to speak and mingle with us for an hour. Mr. Taylor was the Canadian Ambassador to Iran when the US hostages were taken. He was the man responsible for the "Canadian Caper" hiding some Americans and getting them out with false Canadian papers. A very dignified and impressive man.
 
Last edited:
VelveteenR said:
Hmmm... Does family count? My BIL is the Houston Chief of Police. He’s on the news a lot and is a rock star in law enforcement.
Click to expand...
My second cousin is former Senator Barbara Boxer but I've never met her. Family members who were more closely related
have reported that she is not interested in them and is not a nice person. When I lived in New Hampshire, I held local
office and campaigned alongside or otherwise encountered numerous Presidential candidates of the mid to late 90's. In
general, due to the prominence and length of campaigning for the NH Primary, any resident who does NOT meet candidates
is probably trying hard to avoid them.
 
VelveteenR said:
Hmmm... Does family count? My BIL is the Houston Chief of Police. He’s on the news a lot and is a rock star in law enforcement.
Click to expand...
In this case, I'd say family counts. I have a personal letter from your BIL. Dad was stationed in Texas as a young man. After he passed away, I started sorting his personal effects. I came across a tattered paper cutting that the Houston PD had submitted to the Houston Chronicle. It was a somewhat sardonic submission entitled “How to raise a delinquent”. Dad took the list of 10 rules and did the opposite in raising us. I made a copy of the rules and sent it to your BIL and told him that the wisdom of the HPD submission still resonated today. I didn’t expect a response but was pleasantly surprised when I did. I laughingly thought of keeping the signed letter in the glove compartment just in case I got pulled over around Houston. Please tell the Houston Police Chief that I wish him good luck.
 
UHBlackhawk said:
I can understand the assumed name.
I played the part of a pilot in the movie "Forces of Nature". I'm not sure why they needed a pilot to play the part as we didn't really do any piloting stuff and I'm not sure you can see me (I never watched the movie).
During filming Ben Affleck and Sandra Bullock came up to me and the other pilot and ate lunch with us. Again, no idea why us other than we were dressed as pilots. They were very nice, but it was impossible for us to just have a normal conversation as people kept coming up and interrupting Bullock and Affleck were very cordial and polite, but in a way I felt sorry for them. They just wanted to eat lunch and have a conversation but couldn't even do that without people wanting something from them. It made me understand that they probably don't even know who their real friends are.
After that I never envied a famous person and, if I see one, I've always tried to give them space.
Click to expand...
Thought I'd tag onto this post since it has a similar theme with a different cast.

I was in New York with some friends to see "The Magic Show" or maybe it was "Evita". Anyway at intermission I went to the men's room. I ended up using a urinal next to Rodney Dangerfield. He was definitely slumming, a hole in the elbow of his jacket, etc. I never said a word to him, following the Code of Silence of the Urinal. Well, two teenagers walked right up to him at the urinal to ask for his autograph. I was waiting for his signature "I don't get no respect". Instead he was truly angry, and rightly so.

There is a time and place ladies and gentlemen. The urinal is not one of them.
 
A1Janitor said:
These guys put donuts out to trap the bear. And they don’t eat it.
Click to expand...
I’m not a fan of killing an animal not meant for food or self defense. Snakes included. Why do people kill giraffes?

Bears are about the most awesome animal on the planet. A rifle gives a human an unfair advantage. Man against bear with nothing but bear hands and bear paws is a match I’d pay to watch.
 
I have to add Adm Grace Hopper to my list. She came and spoke to the Comp Sci majors a couple times. I got to hear her tale of how , back in the day, when something went wrong with the computers it was literally a bug (insect) that caused the problem.
 
VelveteenR said:
Hmmm... Does family count? My BIL is the Houston Chief of Police. He’s on the news a lot and is a rock star in law enforcement.
Click to expand...
I’ve seen him on TV. Very impressive man. I bet when he was with CHP he was a motorcycle officer.D94C85E1-591C-4577-9FC0-554943DF0FCB.jpeg
 
Took me a bit to go through the mental exercise.
Redeye flight from SFO to ORD - I used to fly every week and studiously kept to myself in a window seat. Woke up in Chicago and realized I was sleeping next to Jesse Jackson. He’s much taller than I expected
Saw Billy Joel and Jimmy Buffett in the same bar in different years.
Smacked into Don King walking out of a dry cleaners in NYC
I live in a place that is popular with musicians- Bob Weir and Sammy Hagar had kids in the public grade school my sons attended so we’d see them at back to school night. Bonnie Raitt and Joan Baez were around as well. Dana Carvey just moved I think but the rumor is that Lady Gaga has been in town this past fall.

I am happy that I am only two degrees removed from @Capt MJ - Robert Merrell was my father’s long time patient and I used to watch him sing at Yankee Stadium.

the 2018 and 2018 first picks in the MLB draft both come from the same high school league my sons play in. I’ve been lucky to watch Andrew Vaughn and Spencer Torkelson for years

I’ve met Gavin Newsom several times in the 1990s. He never remembered my name.
 
Art's wife and my husband are sibs. He's an all-round upright guy and a lot of fun. He's made an art of riling up my MIL; I totally approve. I have plenty of stories but, because he's probably going to run for office in the future, I'll keep them to myself. ;)
Art.jpg

He attended our son's graduation and commissioning from West Point last year. He'd like to see his son at WP, but son will have none of it after I told him he'd have to buzz off all his hair and shower with 40 other guys. (I'm a bit of a riler myself.)
 
Last edited:
Skimming some old photos on my phone reminded me of this episode. At the 2012 Ryder Cup outside Chicago, my buddies and I were standing beside the 16th green, right along the ropes. A swell of noise rose while some staffers pulled the ropes back to make way for the next foursome, which included Phil Mickelson. As the applause hit its peak, a fired-up Phil approached my position. I, wearing my red Team USA jacket, raised my hand for a high five, He responded, raised his hand too, and we slapped! It was a cool and fleeting moment. An hour later, my BIL texted me a screen shot from the live national broadcast — and there it was, that very moment between me and Phil!

Aside: One of my buddies on that Ryder Cup boys weekend is a WP alum, former paratrooper in the 82nd, and Dessert Shield veteran. Two things he did while we were there: One, when we mentioned that he walked faster than we could jog as we rushed from hole to hole, he taught us the “infantry march.” Sure enough, we did a better job of keeping up with him, but I got a case of shin splints from it. Two, while strategizing how we were going to get from one green to the next to follow a certain foursome, he pointed and said, “That’ll be our point of egress right there.” My takeaway: Once an infantrymen, always an infantryman.
 
Eons ago I worked for a professional sports team. Part of my job was coordinating with security details for our famous guests, like directing Secret Service for a Supreme Court Justice to the most efficient door to get to the seating bowl. Crazy ratio of SS detail for a SCJ that no one would be able to pick out in the crowd (or not in a crowd), but a fun night for SS at a game. Lots of sports figures, singers for National Anthems. NY teams travel with a security detail for wives and girlfriends. Concerts were always interesting.

My little brother was at a game once when Charlie Sheen was in a Suite (90's bad- boy era). My brother really wanted an autograph, so I gave him the suite number and coached him on the ask " Mr. Sheen your work in Platoon and Wall Street was very moving." He knocked on the door, was met by Sheen's bodyguard The 15 yr old asked for Sheen and was invited in... I lurked in the hall since Charlie had a number of female companions with him, not the best environment for a teenage boy. He emerged a few minutes later with a big smile and his autograph from #99. I asked if he was polite and he said, "yes, I told him I really liked him in Hot Shots!" As is often encouraged on SAF, be true to yourself for the best outcome ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top