Cool stories when meeting an athlete

72skywalker

I was looking at some of the wrestling threads and I thought I would share some experiences I had when I was able to meet WWE/WWF legend Bob Backluns. The first time I met him was when I was wrestling in high school in Connecticut. bob was a wrestling coach at another high school and during the state tournament he was wrestling with the kids and trying to see if they could break his arm down while he was in the down position. I tried and would of had a better chance breaking down a metal beam in a building. He was strong. The second time was when he was campaigning for some political office in CT a few years back. i was mowing my lawn and Bob was walking up my street campaigning. He stopped to talk to me for abourt 45 minutes. I told him how i wrestled him in high school at that state tourney and how I watched him on TV growing up as well and what a fan I was. The funny thing was i could not get rid of him. Everytime I tried to walk to the mower he would follow me and talk some more. Finally he asked if he could cut through my yard to get to the next street which I said sure.
Does anyone else have interesting stories about meeting athletes?

Dboneesq

Two fun stories to read! My guess is that if he stopped to talk with you for 45 minutes while he was campaigning door-to-door ... he didn't get to too many doors ... and he lost the election! LOL

orioles93

I met orioles pitcher Chris Tillman in the bathroom at the orioles fan fest a few years ago.

dennis07

To build on the bathroom theme mentioned above I once stood next to Ted Turner at the urinal at Atlanta Fulton Co. Stadium. When he finishes
and starts toward the sink some guy sticks his hand out wanting to shake hands. In Ted's typical drawl he says, " at least let me wash my hands first".

JHS5120

Me and a friend met Phil Niekro at a bar in Cooperstown once. We talked for a bit, but was interrupted by a younger group of men who wanted to take a shot with Phil off of a ski. Phil said, "give me one second" and proceeded to do the shot and then came back and joined us in the conversation like nothing happened lol

fur72

To add to the bathroom theme I have spoke to Bobby Hansen (Basketball, Bulls, Jazz) twice in my life both times were in the bathroom at urinals. It was two separate establishments as well. We talked about golf both times.

BLUEJAYWAY

Back in 1986 met boxer Marvin Hagler at Caesars Palace casino in Las Vegas. It was during a Rodney Dangerfield show. He was sitting at the next table over from us. No auto. just a handshake. Was personable. Rodney was very,very

lawnmowerman

I met Doc Gooden at a local Subway restaurant back in the early 90's. Great guy! He gave me an auto on a subway napkin lol.

I also met Mike Alstott at Petsmart. He said something to me because I was wearing a Dallas Cowboys hat. He was a great guy too. A lot smaller than his advertised 6' listed height though.

Mapleleaf

I met Gordie Howe about 25 years ago. He was in town and came out and played hockey with us at 63 years old. He spent about 20 minutes giving us tips on ice and then we scrimmaged for over an hour. It was unbelievable to be on the ice with a legend. One thing he taught us was the value of the wrist shot. He put his down and fired 10 pucks at the boards all hitting within a few inches of each other without looking once - all in the wrists.
After the game, he spent another hour chatting and posing for pictures with everyone.
I still have that picture on the wall and is now signed by him at a card show about 5 years ago. He broke into a big smile when I pulled it out for him to sign.
He's a class act all the way!

PSASAP

Several years ago, I was invited to a dinner at a friend's house. A mutual friend of ours was also invited, and it turned out that he invited two guests of his own, Mike LaCoss and Joel Youngblood from the Giants. They had been friends since making the bigs with the Reds. It was a great night, hearing stories about the Reds and Giants teams, who were the good guys and who were the jerks. I told Joel that he was the first player to hit safely for two different teams on the same day, but apparently he already knew that. :-)

svtPONY95

It was 1990 and a few friends and I went to the old Union Station here in Indianapolis to grab some grub and while standing in line I mentioned that the guy some ways up in line favored Charles Barkley. One of my friends commented that there was no way that was Barkley , he was not tall enough and reminded us that he recently led the NBA in rebounding. I persisted that it looked like him so my jovial outspoken buddy got in line directly behind him and stood back to back measuring up this guy and proceeded to yell " There is no way this dude is Charles Barkley ". My friend said "I'am 6"3'' and he is listed at 6' 6'' and we are the same height". Barkley turned around and started playfully trash talking and we thought he was serious and in trouble due to his reputation.
It turned out he was just joking around and we actually had a fun conversation about the Sixers playing the Pacers the following night and how he was going to crush Reggie Miller and the Pacers. He was a super nice guy to us and he earned my respect as he played a lot bigger than his listed 6' 6" but me and my friends know he is around 6'3".

itzagoner

best spontaneous moment was in summer of '82 right after the Lakers won the title. a group of buddies and i were playing pick-up basketball on Venice Beach when Magic Johnson and friends showed up for some action. Magic ran the court with us for a couple minutes and hung around to chat afterwards. a small crowd of maybe 30 or 40 people near the court suddenly swelled to well over 100 all just wanting to shake his hand or pat him on the back.

there was a noticeable lack of Sharpies.

burke23

<< <i>It was 1990 and a few friends and I went to the old Union Station here in Indianapolis to grab some grub and while standing in line I mentioned that the guy some ways up in line favored Charles Barkley. One of my friends commented that there was no way that was Barkley , he was not tall enough and reminded us that he recently led the NBA in rebounding. I persisted that it looked like him so my jovial outspoken buddy got in line directly behind him and stood back to back measuring up this guy and proceeded to yell " There is no way this dude is Charles Barkley ". My friend said "I'am 6"3'' and he is listed at 6' 6'' and we are the same height". Barkley turned around and started playfully trash talking and we thought he was serious and in trouble due to his reputation.
It turned out he was just joking around and we actually had a fun conversation about the Sixers playing the Pacers the following night and how he was going to crush Reggie Miller and the Pacers. He was a super nice guy to us and he earned my respect as he played a lot bigger than his listed 6' 6" but me and my friends know he is around 6'3". >>



Barkley was my favorite athlete interaction as well. My brother was the last guy cut on the Suns Barkley's first year there. We ended up getting locker room passes to both Wolves/Suns game that year (I live in MN) as he was still in contact with some folks on the team, and got to meet him both times. I even got his first pair of shoes from Nike as a Sun. I was 14 or 15, and he was my favorite player then. Could not have been a nicer guy - really everyone was on the team (Kevin Johnson, Majerle, etc). Barkley in particular signed everything I threw at him.

Met quite a few ball players through my brother, but the other one that stands out is Magic Johnson. Was visiting my brother when he was in LA, and after practice I heard someone shooting on the court. Turns out the Magic All-Stars (this was '93 or '94 mind you) practiced at the Forum when not in use by Clippers or Lakers. Talked to him for a few minutes while he was stretching out - he too was very nice and signed one or two things as well that I found on the spot.

EchoCanyon

Met Lenox Lewis at SkyBar in Mondrian Hotel, circa 1999 when he was atop the boxing mountain. My group and his group were buying each other drinks. He was really a nice guy.