has a athlete ever lived close to you?

gradeddream

when i was 2-3 years old Bob Stanley (Red Sox) lived right next store to me & my family in Kearny NJ.

airjoedan

Last year, while working for Lowe's, I saw this very big and very tall black guy with giant knee braces and a hobbling walk buying lumber in the building materials department........I didn't have to look twice to realize it was Wes Unseld. In my two year employment at Lowe's, I met him and spoke with him 4 times.....asking kindly for his autograph 3 of those times with different items I brought in for him to sign. Wes is a very nice guy and acknowledges everyone who says hello. He is also a very gracious signer, never giving a thought to signing multiples for me. It was truly neat to meet someone at work, especially a basketball hall of famer.


- Joe

kingraider75

not really

puggy

I lived in the same town as don beebe.I used to see him about every day.I have not seen him recent.I see his brother,he coaches college basketball here in chadron neb. That is the closet I have been to a sports player.

Stingray

I went to High School with Pat Lafontaine, he was a year older than me. Kirk Gibson lived in a neighborhood across the lake from our house, also went to my school, years before me. He was and still is friends with old neighbor that lived across the street from us. Use to see Gibson out waterskiing on the lake during his playing days. Gibson's father was a teacher at the same high school.

schr1st

Around the corner from me on Huntington Ave is where Trot Nixon and Kevin Millar live during the season (or at least they did during the 04 season). I think one of the apartments in my building is used as temporary housing for Boston Bruins players, and on my street (Mass Ave) down on the other side of the river in Cambridge, former Boston Red Sox and St. Louis Cardinals pitcher John Tudor has a house.

softparade

I went to high school with Bonnie Bernstein (CBS NFL sideline reporter) She was an all state gymnastic athlete.

Allen

My buddy is from FL and lives next to Lee Corso and Tim Raines.


gradeddream- I didn't know you were from NJ- that explains a lot lol.

MooseDog

The closest I got was moving into a townhouse whose previous tenant was Goose Gossage.

eyebone

Didn't Jerry become friends, albeit briefly, with Keith Hernandez? And didn't George buy a car that used to belong to Jon Voight (not an athlete, but a celebrity nonetheless)?

Eyebone

julen23

When I lived in Los Angeles, I went to Playboy Mansion and took some photos of me and my friends at front gate. We were politely asked to leave by some security guard-type men soon thereafter.

I am still looking for my Halloween invitation from "Hef" every year.... never arrives.

Julen

larryallen73

No close neighbors but as of last year (different with trades) I had Peja, Brad Miller (they are direct neighbors), Doug Christie, and Bobby Jackson within 1 mile of my house. Webber was another 2 miles. They all lived in "Granite Bay" area of Sacramento. We see them at local restaurants, Safeway, etc... but I haven't had any in depth conversations. Prior to that we lived in Rancho Murieta (near Sacramento) on a tee box. Bill Russell used to live out there when he coached the King's and still plays golf there a lot. Saw him several times. Sort of stands out with all the 5'9" white guys that usually are out there golfing!
P.S. Oh ya, and I grew up in LA and a huge Dodger fan and now Steve Sax lives 5 blocks away as does his brother Dave (they live a block away from each other in same gated community).
P.P.S. I have a pretty cool "public" record database at work so I looked up exact addresses. Sort of fun. Oh ya, I looked up all the king's. Mike Bibby, for example, owns two houses next door to each other near Arco Arena (paid about $850k each).

Dand52261

Schilling is about a 1/2 mile from me, when he is in town which is somewhat never. We have the same mail lady

gradeddream

i also went to high school with the soccer player tony meola. he use to call me "ed too tall" because of being a ft smaller then him.

joeyuk

If you are going to mention Tony meola , who I think lived across the street from me, don't forget Tab Ramos and John Harkes.

zef204

<< <i>My buddy is from FL and lives next to Lee Corso and Tim Raines. >>

I didn't know they were a couple.

zef204

My wife grew up 3 house away from Michael Jordan.

Not as cool, but my sister lived next door to Jose Hernandez. She said he air conditioned the whole building.

thesplendidsplinter

Growing up Paul Westhead was our neighbor, he has daughters the same age as me, so I got to go to many Laker/Celtic games in the early 80's. We then moved & Chuck Norris lived down the street. Played baseball with his son who was my age. Now as a grown man, in AZ, Jenna Jameson lives not too far!! Woo-hoo!!

gradeddream

<< <i>If you are going to mention Tony meola , who I think lived across the street from me, don't forget Tab Ramos and John Harkes. >>



then u must know sal rosmailia to?

joeyuk

No. I grew up in Belleville and bought a condo on Forest St. In '89 a couple years after I married. 4 kids later we bought a house in Kearny in '01. My wife is a Kearny girl. Her name is Sue she graduated in '81.

Edit to ask:

I remember a pitcher from Kearny who pitched a no hitter agienst the Mets in the 70's.
They renamed the street he lived on for a year. Who was it?

jerster

My friends dad is Joe Koppe - played in 50's and 60's.

baseballfanatic

<< <i>No. I grew up in Belleville and bought a condo on Forest St. In '89 a couple years after I married. 4 kids later we bought a house in Kearny in '01. My wife is a Kearny girl. Her name is Sue she graduated in '81.

Edit to ask:

I remember a pitcher from Kearny who pitched a no hitter agienst the Mets in the 70's.
They renamed the street he lived on for a year. Who was it? >>



Gotta be Ed Halicki. Probably ate at the Arlington Diner afterwoards...........

joeyuk

Yes. That's him. Thanks

chicago111

Steve Trout

also

M.Ali's Daughter also lived very close...Can't remember her name now.

Bosox1976

Splendid Splinter seems to be winning the distinction of best neighbor. Calling Jenna Jameson's line of work athletics might be a reach though.

5STAT

lived next to Peter "The Hurricane" McNeeley at Bridgewater State College...
More remebered for what he didn't do against Mike Tyson...and that was put up a fight....lol

The dorm days were crazy to say the least...there was never a dull moment with Pete around...

wufdude

Lived in same town as James "Bonecrusher" Smith and went ot high school with his son. Funny thing is is that his son what a little nerd that got picked on by everyone...

CardCoreCollector

Mookie live in our town, not far from our home in Lakewood when he was a Met.

My wife was in the same class as his son Preston in elementary school

dgbaseball

5Stat,

Used to run into McNeeley in Brighton a few years back (he was dating a girl who lived nearby) We used to run in to him walking to and from her apt building out on Comm Ave. He was, to put it nicely, a tad slow. Used to enjoy chasing my friends' dogs around in circles, kind of as though he thought he was one of them.. Certainly one of the friendliest guys I've ever met.

Stone193

I opened an office in the neighborhood of Tim Duncan and Tony Parker.

He and his friends ate in the same places that we frequented. No one bothered them while they ate or anything.

Then they all moved over to the other end of town with their bud Robinson who lives in the Dominion and even has a street named after him. These are homes in the millions!

mike

RipublicaninMass

I actually went to a public high school with Ken hodge's daughter, Mike Milbury's son, Chris Ford's son, and Dwight Evan's son.
Hodges daughter is a few years older than me, but the other kids were all in my class. Their parents were great especailly Dewey. I never asked him for an Auto cause he was just too damn nice!

SDavid

Does prison count?

NewJerseyMeatHook

Tanya Puckett worked for my father - obviously BEFORE she became Kirby's wife. His ex-mother and -sister-in-law still work in the same office.

Used to get cool goodies from time to time. All the kids in the neighborhood had personalized Kirby autographed baseballs.

Downtown1974

Tom Brady sent people to look at a house for him in my town. Beautiful ranch on a huge lot, but decided not to buy it because it didnt have a helicopter pad. WELL EXCUUUUUUUSE ME!!!!

rbdjr1

Larry Brown (infielder MLB - 12 seasons in the bigs, mostly w the Tribe!), we worked together! (Both live in Palm Beach County, Florida!)


rbd

LARRY BROWN - MLB CAREER STATS


edit: Larry's brother Dick Brown, a good catcher with some power played from 1957-1965 (Tribe, White Sox Tigers, Baltimore), who's career was cut short from a brain tumor, he died a few years later. Dick Brown

DirtyHarry

I have a few anticdotes. I'm originally from the Bronx, NY. My dad grew up on the same block with Artie Donovan and Jake LaMotta. In 1960 (I was 6) my family moved about 20 minutes north to the Scarsdale/New Rochelle border. Quite a few New York Giants resided in the neighborhood - Allie Sherman (coach), Sam Huff (he was the guest speaker at a number of events at my school), Kyle Rote lived two blocks behind us (grew up with Rote Jr of soccer fame - snothead), and Frank Gifford.

When I was in 7th grade, the Garagiola's moved into the area. Joe Sr was hot on the Today show at that time. His son Steve attended my grammar school, and we were novice thespians in school productions. Always saw the family at sunday chuch services. A few years later, I played on the parish softball team with Steve and Joe G JR (now the Diamondbacks GM) for three years.

While I was attending college (was a townie), I drove a cab for Scardale taxi. I had a few regular pick-ups. Bill Mazur (had a sports show in NY) was one....clown, bad hairpiece and bad tipper. Bob Wolfe (sports agent - Arliss loosely based on him) was another...great guy. I'll never forget picking up Bob Love (Bulls - one of his clients) at LAG airport and taking him to Wolfe's home..the guy was unfortunately impaired with severe stuttering. I had Gifford's daughters many times on weekends...taking them to and from parties.

Julius Erving lived about a quarter mile away, next door to my best buddy. I don't know why he lived there, and we never saw him, but he owned the home.

When I got out of college, I worked as a supermarket general manager for a few years....right around my home. Gifford would come in every Saturday and buy two cartons of cigarettes, four six packs of beer and four humongous steaks. Like clockwork. I also used to service the Rockefeller estate in Tarrytown. They had a bomb shelter on the location that I would send a truckload of product to annually to replenish it. Happy used to come in my store, with her secret service sidekick, and fill her cart up like any other shopper. I am now wandering....regards.

ArnyVee

I lived about a mile and a half from the Strawberry home in Southern California. There were a few instances of Mr Strawberry yelling and Mrs Strawberry ...but, that's about all I noticed.

dallasactuary

I grew up in St. Louis right next door to Ted Simmons.



OK, he sold real estate, but his name was Ted Simmons.

DirtyHarry

I forgot about the Mara's. Went to high school with Wellington's son John. Lost a bet to him in 1972. Myself and a buddy would play anybody in the world two-on-two in a basketball half court match to 25 baskets. We used to pony up $100 a man. Only lost once - when we agreed to take on a three-on-two match that included John and two all county football players. Lost 25-24.

Mantlefan

Boomer Essiason lives here in Manhasset. So does Mark Parrish of the NY Islanders. I once did a medical exam on Brian Trottier.

MajorDanby

darryl kile lived a mile or two away from me. this was when he was an astro (and lived in CA in the off-season). i remember he once went to the local albertsons to do a small show.

pandrews

ive actually lived with a some Rusty Kuntz..

67standup

Lenny Dykstra went to my high school and dated my best friend's sister.
My ex girlfriend's brother is Dat Nguyen of the Dallas Cowboys.

Damn, that's it.

Robeson

Norm Larker lives in my neighborhood, see a write up about him and all his Dodger stuff and Colt 45 junk in my local newspaper. Lived across the street from the Dodger bullpen coach, Mark Cresse, who used to sell cracked baseball bats from Dodger players on his front yard on weekends. Every few weeks, he would be out there with some old torn uniform, usually a Candy Maldonado. I played basketball with Floyd Chiffer in about 1984. He pitched for the Padres in 1983.

I went to high school with Damien Easley, Chris Gomez and Craig Grebeck. Still have their high school poster for their games. I need to get Damien to sign that, I think he still plays for the Florida Marlins as a pinch hitter. Not sure what happened to Chris Gomez. Oh well.

Sweet Lou Johnson lived in the area and used to visit the high school back in 1984 or 85, I was able to get him to sign a 1983 Baseballs Greatest Moments book for me. Might be worth something in 20 years.

Tommy Davis, or is it Willie Davis, one of them that played for the Dodgers, shops at the local Stater Bros. supermarket. Then when I went to Frank and sons warehouse card show, he was there signing autographs for $5.00 and had nobody near him. It was very sad. I went up and talked for a while, but he kept trying to sell me an autograph.

When the old lady died next door when I was a kid, her daughter was cleaning out her garage and found all of these bats and balls and a uniform, seems that the grandson was Jim Strickland, who pitched for the Dodgers, Twins and Indians from 1972 thru 1976. We used the baseballs and mitts as kids, but I saved his bat and twins uniform and a team signed ball from the 1972 or 73 twins, not sure which team.

NickM

Not exactly an athlete, but a nextdoor neighbor growing up was the co-writer of the play Grease.

Nick

WinPitcher

Harry Carson lived 3 blocks down during the football season.

Peter Falk grew up here and comes back from time to time.


Back to Carson, he was a good friend of my sister in law's brother who died aboard TWA 800. Jack O'Hara was a producer of MNF.

SD

Ironmanfan

Chris Gomez is with Baltimore (actually played some first base while raffy was suspended)

digicat

Nick Johnson played high school ball a few blocks away. I probably played against him a few times since I played for a school in the same league.

smallstocks

Ronnie Grandison, a former NBA 12th man, lived in my condo complex and I occasionally watch some football with him.

Treetop

4 houses down and across the street from where I grew up the Los Angeles Rams owned a house that would be the home of new Rams for a year or so. Some of the names I remembered were Preston Denard and Elijah Pitts (coach) and his son Ronnie Pitts who went on to play in the NFL and is now a sportscaster for one of the big networks.

I also attend the same High School at the same time as Kevin Romine (Red Sox), Kevin Margerum (Bears / 49’s), Dual Love (Rams / Steelers) and my favorite Michelle Pfeiffer!!!

gregmadduxfan

From about 1990-1996 Andy Benes lived 2 doors down from me, I would babysit his kids and get to go to a lot of games. He would play catch with me every now and then, one of the nicest guys ever.

I played baseball and basketball with Tony Gwynn Jr. throughout high school and my aunt and Gwynn are basically neighbors. I am from Poway, CA......it's a suburb of San Diego and a ton of athletes live there. Here is a list below.

Tony Gwynn, Ladanian Tomlinson, Dave Stewart, Ryan Leaf (think he moved though), Randy Ready, Jose Vizcaino, Stan Humphries, Dave Justice, Jesse Orasco, Steve Young, Gary Templeton, Jay Schreoder, James Lofton, Rupert Jones........There are around another 10 guys or so but I'm drawing a blank now since I'm hungover. Not all of the guys above still there, but the majority of them do.

Our rival high school is Rancho Bernardo High..nationally ranked every year for baseball. I played against the Blalock brothers, Cole Hammels, Scott Heard, Matt Wheatland, Danny Putnam. That's all I really got now, nice topic.