Sports Stars You have seen in public

perkdog

Last Night Im at a local Bar drinking beers and listening to a Band and I look to my left and 3 bar stools away I see Ray Bourgue, I went over and said Hi Ray and extended my hand for a shake and he shook my hand, being drunk I asked him where his Ring was and he pointed to his wedding ring, I laughed and so did he, I then said Hey I bet that ring holds more weight than your Championship Ring huh, he laughed and nodded with a grin, I went back to me stool after that as I didnt want to bother him. He was a enjoying the music chilling out just like a regular guy, funny thing was the place was packed with kids in their early 20's and none of them knew who he was it seemed- Im getting Old!

Thats the 3rd Sportstar Ive seen in public, I was on my way to work one day and stopped at a Dunking Donuts and was right behind Jim Rice in line, another time Im in a Liquer Store and bumped right into John Hannah. Both guys I said hello to and they said hi back, that was the extent of it.

Brick

I've had the priviledge of playing a round of golf with Robert Warzycha back in his playing days with the Columbus Crew. He had just taken up the game and his natural talent was obvious on the tee. Booming drives long and down the middle. After that from 100 yards and in he had no clue. I told him that as he learned the short game he would become a fine player. Also one time at my golf club I showed up to play nine. The starter had me join a threesome coming off of nine. In that threesome was Eddie Whitson who played for the Columbus Clippers and later the New York Yankees. He was a very nice gentleman who constantly would interject "When I played for the Yankees" into just about every sentence. He had called me a few years earlier to get an estimate for some masonry work and one of the first things he told me was "When I pitched for the Yankees." Also in the group was a gentleman who looked like Don Mattingly only a bit older than I thought he would be. The last person in the group looked just like an agent would look like on a spoof on SNL. Short, bald on top with curly hair around the edges. Whitson and Mattingly were pretty good players. The agent was no better than me.

jdip9

I don't know how many of these are considered stars....and I didn't have much interaction with them, but here's mine....

On separate occasions in 2000, the entire Seattle Mariners team and Eric Lindros at the Toronto Airport.

Hulk Hogan at Logan Airport in line at a Dunkin Donuts about 10 years ago. He was being a real a-hole to the lady behind the counter, because they didn't have any low fat muffins.

David Ortiz at a restaurant in Baltimore grabbing lunch.

Derek Lowe at bars in Boston, too many times/places to count. The best was when he was at the Rack one time with Pete Schourek...and Schourek was rocking a Champion sweatshirt...needless to say the 4 girls hanging around them were all focused on Lowe.

Lawyer Milloy at a bar on Marathon Monday in 2002, a few months after the Super Bowl win, he was behind the bar and served me a beer. He appreciated it when I said "thanks for the beer, champ!". Gave me a fist bump.

halfcentman

1) The late Steve Howe on my honeymoon in Disneyland in 1995.

2) My friend has a coin store in Cranford, NJ, and Phil Rizzuto parks in front of his store (Cora is sitting in the passenger's seat). Phil gets out his car and asks Rich for directions. It is important to note that Phil is my friend's favorite Yankee along with Thurman Munson.

Goot

Steven Stamkos and Steve Downie at a restaurant.
Blair Jones and Dana Tyrell (not really sports stars at all) at a restaurant/bar after a game.
Josh Freeman at my school (his younger brother goes there).
David Price, BJ Upton, and Desmond Jennings walking outside of the stadium before a Bucs game.
Derek Jeter at lunch.
Chris Dingman and Dave Andreychuk at a bar.
A lot of pro surfers...most on here probably won't know any of them except for maybe 11-time world champ Kelly Slater.
Various athletes I've gone to school with that are now in the pros like Dominique Jones (Mavs), Jason Pierre-Paul (NYG), Nate Allen (Eagles), to name a few.
Ronde Barber, BJ Upton, Raheem Morris, Lou Piniella, Jon Gruden, Mike Alstott, and Wade Boggs at different USF basketball games.
Desmond Jennings next to me at a stoplight in his yellow Range Rover.
Evan Longoria at an ATM in downtown Tampa.


I wish I lived in Tampa when the Super Bowl was here...I heard it was CRAZY. A friend of mine saw Michael Jordan at the Hard Rock Casino. (what do you expect?)

57loaded

many of the San Jose Sharks, current and past

digicat

I've seen several around Sacramento:

Saw Vlade Divac (Sacramento Kings) shopping at the mall.
Saw Hedo Turkoglu (Sacramento Kings) walking out of a movie theater.
Saw Mike Bibby (Sacramento Kings) and his entourage at the Cheesecake Factory.

Saw Greg Vaughn (MLB, Brewers) at a TGI Fridays.

Saw Mark Eaton (Utah Jazz) at the Sacramento Airport, waiting for a flight.

Saw Tony "The Tiger" Lopez (boxer) around the Sacramento courthouse several times. He owns a bail-bonds company in town, so he was probably working.

Tedw9

Last month my wife and I were in NYC for a vacation. It was our last day in the city and we were looking for something to do, so we went to Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. There were some really cool figures in there, world leaders, musicians, movies stars and sports stars included.

We were almost at the end of our tour and we were in a room with athletes figures. They had a Troy Polamalu wax figure there which I was checking out. (Even though I'm a Patriots fan, Troy is my favorite non Patriots player.) So I'm standing there looking at Troy's figure and I comment to my wife how his helmet is filled with Head and Shoulders when I feel a tap on my shoulder. I turned around and an attractive woman is standing there and she points at the figure and asked me if I knew who the figure was. I replied, "Troy Polamalu of the Steelers." She then points over my shoulder and asked me who that was. I turn around and there is Troy Polamalu in the flesh!

I was totally taken off guard, I just stood there like a big kid who is star struck. Troy walks over to me, shook my hand and said hello then went up to pose with his figure. The lady who talked to me asked me if I would like to take a picture with Troy and his figure. Troy looked at me and invited me up with him, so I shot up there after giving my wife the camera. She snapped a couple of shots of us, he shook my hand again as I thanked him and he left.

I didn't know it at the time, but they unveiled his wax figure that morning, he was there to promote it and I just happened to catch him after all the press photos and such were done.

Needless to say, that capped off our vacation on a high note.

Barndog

I may have seen more, but back in the late 1970s I recall seeing Jim Craig at a Red Sox game in Fenway. Was there with my mom and my brother.

Justacommeman

Myself with Nick Lidstrom and Chris Osgood the day after their last Cup win. My best sighting was Kareem Abdul Jabbar in an airport lounge. MJ

calaban7

I've met many baseball stars over the years .

Being from Baltimore , I've met many , many Orioles . I've had lunch with Brooks Robinson , as at that time I was a landscaper at a retirement community and he was having lunch with a friend. I came in , saw him , introduced myself , told him about how much I admired him over the years. He asked me to sit down with them . We started talking baseball , when I realized it was Johnny Neun that he was with. From there I dazzled Johnny with detailed knowlegde about HIS scouting picks.

I met Jim Palmer at the movies. Mark Belanger argueing with his wife. I met Jim Presley ( Seattle) one night and helped him as his wife was home delivering their first child. He felt terrible , as he couldn't be there. He wasn't exactly a nice guy in real life , but he was down to earth that night.

I met Scott MacGregor selling christmas trees at his church. We went to pick up a tree late one night a few years back. This guy had a hoodie and wool hat on. He was very helpful and we said thanks. I remember telling the guy , " Hey I know you've probably have heard this before but you look just like Scott MacGregor ." He laughed . It was .

I met Ralph Houk in Florida , at his home. That was in the late 70's.

My favorite was Tommy John and Don Mattenly . They were both wonderful people.

I've had two bad encounters with Curt Shilling . Nice guy but very rude when he was young . A bit on the wild side.

I could go on and on , but then I would kill this thread. --- Sonny

gecko109

Bill Wennington at an IRL race in Joliet circa 2003.

Kenny Florian in a coffee shop in Cincinatti circa 2007.

Dwight Evans walking in downtown Chicago circa 1988.

fiveniner

Ted Lindsay at the store I was working at.Nice Man.
Dave Rozema Detroit Tigers Pitcher at my store where I worked.
Dave Bergman Detroit Tigers I was coaching against him in Federation Ball.
Ernie Whitt Blue Jays I coached against him also in Federation Ball.
Bart Star down in Kentucky during a buisness trip.
Steve Owens Detroits Lions Runnung Back.Sat next to him on a flight from Laguaria to Detroit Metro.
Andre the Giant back in 1990 on a flight from Detroit Mero to Charlotte SC.

Dboneesq

<< <i>Ted Lindsay at the store I was working at.Nice Man. >>


Tony, how about the time you went out for drinks with Shoeless Joe Jackson?

Brick

I've done business with Joe Carter and Joe Montana. Warren G. Harding was once one of my employees. None of these guys were the celebrity, just same name.

bigred1

Ray Lewis and Brian Billick at Mortons in Baltimore, before the coach got fired.
Ricky Henderson at an airport in North Carolina on a layover to the Bahamas, he dresses well.
Gary Cater in Chantilly, Va. at a steakhouse, I assume after he was finished signing at a card show.
Those are the ones I remember most. Was too polite, or scared, to approach any of them.

Connecticoin

When I was 12 years old, O.J. Simpson and Nipsey Russell passed us on one of the walking escalators at LAX (1977).

More recently, I have seen Kevin Ollie several times, as he lived in my town during the NBA offseason. Made a nice living as an NBA journeyman ($3 million per year with the Sixers at one point), is now a coach at UConn.

Tabe

Me and Wayne Gretzky at a Spokane Indians game this summer:



Tabe

gecko109

You'd think Wayne would be able to afford some new jeans.

SanctionII

Too many to remember, mostly NBA players, some of whom I played against in high school. The two most famous (or infamous) NBA players were David Thompson (aka Luke Skywalker) during his rookie season with the ABA Denver Nuggets in 1975 [whom I saw in a small bar with about 10 people one evening); and Michael Ray Richardson (aka Sugar Ray Richardson) during the 1970's [whom I played high school basketball against in the early 70's].

For football, the biggest star was John Madden. In 1987 my wife and I spent a few days in Carmel, Cal. Early on Sunday morning (about 7:00 a.m.) we sent to downtown Carmel to have breakfast at a local restaurant. We had parked our car and were walking about one block to the restaurant. We see this huge, dark Mercedes pull up and try to pull into a parking space, via parallel parking. The driver could not parallel park very well. The Mercedes backed into and out of the parking space about 5 times before finally stopping (far away from the curb and at an angle with its driver's side front fender and bumper extending out into the lane of traffic). We watched and laughed at how lousy the driver was. Then the driver side door opened and out stepped John Madden. We said hello, he said hello and we kept walking. Fast forward 10-15 years later and I see John Madden again, this time at a local restaurant having lunch with some friends. I was tempted to go up to him and ask if he had gotten better at parallel parking, but decided not to

prthd

I met Shaq at Houston airport and Mark Mcgwire at my old high school in California.

Here is a story for you, I took a BS class in high school, "gourmet" cooking it was called. Well im sitting there and this white porsche pulls up, mcgwire gets out and starts doing BP in the enclosed tennis courts.....I then asked to go to the rest room, went out met him got his autograph. I ended up selling it to Rich Altman at a show in Strongville Ohio. I wonder what ever happened to that thing. It was a one of a kind autograph.


I asked Shaq for his autograph, he kindly rejected my request, I shook and hand and said it was a pleasure to meet him and went on my way. (The dude is huge)

melvin289

I once saw Rick Flair at the airport in Charlotte. I saw Arnold Palmer at a Charlotte Checkers hockey game back in the 70's. I have seen several Nascar Drivers in restaurants I worked in. Buddy Baker, Buck Baker, Charlie Glotzbach off the top of my head. Once saw Tommy Helms (Cincy Reds) in a restaurant in Charlotte i worked at.

Ron

pmcollectour

Played blackjack with Mario Lemieux at the Lake Tahoe golf tournament. Saw all the big names in the casino.
M.Jordan, M.Schmidt, Hull, and many more who play that tournament. Had Mario sign a poker chip, and he was very
easy to talk to. His caddy was sitting next to him when we played, and the next night after a bad round of golf, his caddy
was sitting at a different table. I guess that speaks to the competitiveness that was in Mario when he was younger. We met
about 15 years ago when the tournament first was taking off.

baseballfan

darren mccarty surprise at a detroit watering hole and at a detroit local children event
steve carlton at an AC bar after the national
charles barkley at a golf course/wedding got to talk to him for a while, while waiting for his ride. great experience.
tim biakabutka at U of M


great pic with ozzy and nick...GO WINGS!!!!!!!!!!

larryallen73

A lot over the years but here are some I remember:

- I sold movie tickets to Magic and his lady, summer of '86, late show, Sly Stallone movie... spacing on the movie name, in Westwood;
- Mitch Kupchak came in another night to see a movie back when he played with Lakers;
- Group of St. Louis Cardinals were sitting at table next to us in Chicago, nice steak house, a few years ago;
- Jamal Wilkes at local golf course (Rancho Park) driving range back when I was in high school and he was still on the Lakers;
- Dave Stewart, during his hey-day with the A's, at a bar in SF, Marina district, and he was whooping it up making friends with everybody;
- Bobby Jackson at Galleria Mall in Roseville with big Louiv Vuitton shopping bags and also at a kid's basketball games as our kids are in same league;
- Steve Sax at the bar he used to own in Folsom;
- Lastly, Shareef Abdur Raheem's daughter is on my daughter's soccer team so I see him most every Saturday! Nice guy.

and the one that got away.... Back in college, in the 80's, I spent a semester in London. One night my friends went out to Hard Rock Cafe but I didn't want to go. Mistake. They all took pictures with Mahamed Ali that night at the restaurant!

RipublicaninMass

I had to opportunity to go to high school with Chris Ford's Son, Mike Millbury's son as well as Dwight Evans son and of course I had met their dad's many times. Met George Foreman back in 1991 and he give me my first fist bump but wouldnt sign a menu. Just recently worked on a film here in Boston and got to meet Rex Ryan, and talked at length with Bas Rutten as well as UFC announcer Bruce Buffer and UFC Doctor "Stitch" among others. Ray Borque has a restaurant in the North End of Boston and see him there quite a bit. Also, Big baby and Doc river as well has Chara and Lucic from the B's visit Borque's place when the Celts/B's are in town. Junior Seau on Newbury Street. Saw Joakim Noah after he was drafted at the Wynn in Vegas. Josh Beckett dining out (big surprise lol) More but can't think of them now

Tabe

Some others:

- Mark Rypien walking around downtown Spokane (he lives in the area). On a sidenote - he is GIGANTIC. It is unreal that he was a QB. I don't mean fat or anything either. He looks to be a good 6'5" or 6'6" and probably 275. He just seems HUGE. Have also seen him and his brother playing golf in the foursome behind mine.

- John Stockton - on campus at Gonzaga Prep. His son attended GPrep and played QB for the football team. I ran into John when I was walking into a football game one night. Said hello, got a hello back.

As a sidenote, Stockton was getting left alone by the crowd at the football game. Of course, seeing John around town here in Spokane is nothing unusual and people at GPrep are very definitely used to seeing him so they are not at all starstruck at the sight. Also, unlike Rypien, Stockton seemed really small, even though he's hardly a small man.

As for Gretzky & his jeans, a LOT of people have made that same comment. And yet I'm sure he paid more for those jeans than I paid for all of my pairs of pants combined And, no, his wife not around (booo).

Tabe

zendude

I saw Seattle Supersonic legend Fred Brown at a local park in the Seattle suburbs around 1979 or 1980. He was just hanging out with his family by the lake. When he walked to his car to get something, my step brother and I got autographs on the back of my Mom's business card. I was 11 or 12 at the time and totally stoked! Of course if this had happened today, I wouldn't bother any athlete for an autograph. I don't like all these idiots who hassle athletes away from the ballpark or stadium. (totally classless for an adult to bother a man spending time with his family).

Brick

Suprised you saw Freddy Brown in the suburbs. Isn't he usually DOWNTOWN?

drwstr123

I met Bobby Thompson at 160 Front Street in lower Manhattan back in '65.

72skywalker

I sat right behind Joan Jett at a Yankees game once.

PowderedH2O

I've met lots, but my favorites are Olympians. I managed a restaurant that had the US Women's Soccer team come in one night after a game. So, I got to mingle and get autographs from Brandi Chastain and a bunch of her teammates (circa 2002?). I met Billy Mills and Bruce Jenner at my college campus when they were giving speeches. I went to a national decathlon meet in 1995 in Sacramento. I met Bob Mathias, Milt Campbell, Dan O'Brien, and Dave Johnson at that event, all in the stands. I played in a celebrity golf tournament with a bunch of athletes including Spud Webb, Bonecrusher Smith, Rasheed Wallace, Jerry Stackhouse, Jeff Blake, and Matt Blair. At that tournament I met Kassie Wesley (now Kassie Depaiva) of One Life to Live. I swear, in person that woman is one of the most gorgeous and nicest women I have ever met. Years ago I used to run a shoe store in South Florida which was near where all of the players stayed for spring training. So, I met quite a few players (and wives and girlfriends) in there like George Brett, Craig McMurtry, Dale Murphy, etc...
When I was a kid I lived down the street from Wes Chandler of the Saints, so I met him a few times. And my dad did business with Chuck Muncie, Conrad Dobler, and Billy Kilmer, so I was able to meet them too. My wife was the veterinarian for several of the Carolina Hurricanes at various points in time, so I've met them, but nobody that was a star or anything.

Ahmanfan

at a Phoenix Suns game... very nice man.

Ahmanfan

<< <i>Last month my wife and I were in NYC for a vacation. It was our last day in the city and we were looking for something to do, so we went to Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. There were some really cool figures in there, world leaders, musicians, movies stars and sports stars included.

We were almost at the end of our tour and we were in a room with athletes figures. They had a Troy Polamalu wax figure there which I was checking out. (Even though I'm a Patriots fan, Troy is my favorite non Patriots player.) So I'm standing there looking at Troy's figure and I comment to my wife how his helmet is filled with Head and Shoulders when I feel a tap on my shoulder. I turned around and an attractive woman is standing there and she points at the figure and asked me if I knew who the figure was. I replied, "Troy Polamalu of the Steelers." She then points over my shoulder and asked me who that was. I turn around and there is Troy Polamalu in the flesh!

I was totally taken off guard, I just stood there like a big kid who is star struck. Troy walks over to me, shook my hand and said hello then went up to pose with his figure. The lady who talked to me asked me if I would like to take a picture with Troy and his figure. Troy looked at me and invited me up with him, so I shot up there after giving my wife the camera. She snapped a couple of shots of us, he shook my hand again as I thanked him and he left.

I didn't know it at the time, but they unveiled his wax figure that morning, he was there to promote it and I just happened to catch him after all the press photos and such were done.

Needless to say, that capped off our vacation on a high note. >>




Ted, lets see one of the pictures of you and polamalu and the polamalu wax figure!

57loaded

forgot to add the pro athletes who play at the AT&T (if that counts)

fiveniner

<< <i>

<< <i>Ted Lindsay at the store I was working at.Nice Man. >>


Tony, how about the time you went out for drinks with Shoeless Joe Jackson? >>



Doug, thanks for reminding me!!

Garabaldi

<< <i>Me and Wayne Gretzky at a Spokane Indians game this summer:



Tabe >>



That is rubbing elbows with greatness!

markj111

I rode on a plane with Bob Lanier, but did not speak to him. I sat behind Joel Youngblood on a plane. He was very pleasant, and we talked baseball. My son met Javy Lopez in an airport.

Estil

When I was at UK (1999-2003) I got to meet Tubby Smith (our coach at the time) a few times, but didn't have anything ready for him to autograph.

Tabe

<< <i>That is rubbing elbows with greatness! >>


Thrill of a lifetime. Only meeting Steve Yzerman would ever top it for me.

Tabe

Goodsport40

I met Dominique Wilkins way back in 1992.

Man was is tall!

Great guy but one of the worst auto's ever!


Robert

SanctionII

I saw tony la russa at a coffee shop two days ago.

Saberman

Ahmanfan,

You could pass for Wayne Gretzky's son.