Encounters with sports personalities

[sportstar1212]

I met Paul Henderson. One of my local rinks was being renamed after him, and my team was playing in a game there the day of the ceremony. I was out with a broken arm but I got an autograph and picture with him after he came off the ice from the ceremonial faceoff. He was in kinda rough shape health-wise, but was still a great guy.

[Needschat]

1. In 1981, I attended chapel service near the pits at the Daytona 500, met several crew members, drivers, and their families. I shook hands during the service and afterwords with Bobby and Donnie Alison.

2. In 1982, I practiced indoor soccer with several members of the Tampa Bay Rowdies in anticipation of an under-19 tournament.

[hailstateunis]

I've passed Brett Farve on a bike 5 or 6 times. Met Jason Campbell and have seen/met/been around Billy Hamilton countless times. Saw Gus Malzahn last month.

[gosioux76]

The day before the 1992 Super Bowl (Redskins v. Bills) at the Metrodome, my dad took me to what I think was the first NFL Experience event at the Minneapolis Convention Center. Redskins coach Joe Gibbs' first NASCAR vehicle was on display and as we were looking at it, I spotted Gibbs hanging out in the corner of the exhibit. I did a double-take, since this was the day before he won the Super Bowl and I figured he'd have more important things to do. I was sort of overwhelmed by the moment, but my dad is fearless in these circumstances and had no problem asking Gibbs to autograph a few of the event programs. He was remarkably gracious.

[tigerslionspistonshabs]

Kane (WWE). Didn't say much as he was in character, but shook his hand.

Gordie Howe- awesome guy, was great with my son as well.

That's all I can recall off the top.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

One time I walked into a building while Patrick Ewing walked out of a building singing "Move bitch, get out the way..."

I passed Marshawn Lynch several times on the men's floor of Nordstrom in downtown Seattle. I didn't say anything. He's also not very tall.

I saw 18-year-old rookie LeBron James stumble around drunk at Quincy Market during the 2003 NBA Summer League.

[DS729]

My Dad and I met NFL all-time sack leader and Virginia Tech legend Bruce Smith at a Burger King when I was about eight. I got his autograph and it was a solid experience.

[Tigers6884]

One time I walked into a building while Patrick Ewing walked out of a building singing "Move bitch, get out the way..."

I passed Marshawn Lynch several times on the men's floor of Nordstrom in downtown Seattle. I didn't say anything. He's also not very tall.

I saw 18-year-old rookie LeBron James stumble around drunk at Quincy Market during the 2003 NBA Summer League.

+1'd for Patrick Ewing. That's an awesome encounter.

[alxy8s]

I was in Orlando for the Capital One Bowl last year and stayed at the same hotel, apparently, as the Miami Heat. Rode an elevator with Keith Askins, Ray Allen, and Taj Gibson (guess the Bulls were around?). Saw the entire team in the lobby that night and Mike Miller and James Jones get on the bus the next day. I didn't say anything to any of them, but it was the first time I'd been that close to NBA players. Even the ones I think of as being small were huge. Cool experience.

Athlete sightings are pretty common on Georgia's campus. Only "encounters" I've had were downtown. It was a girl friend's 21st, so we came up with all these challenges for the night. One was to get kissed by 21 men. She saw Todd Gurley and approached him and he said he could do a high five. He was cool about it, considering he must get bothered nonstop when he goes out.

[ElwoodCuse]

Met Dale Murphy when I worked the '99 All Star game. Classy guy. Shook my hand, talked to me for a good ten minutes. And I grew up a Dodger fan.

Dale Murphy owns. I met him at a Phillies offseason function when he played for them and he was super nice. One of the best autographs ever too.

[3243]

In 1986, when I still lived in my hometown of Houston, I met Rocket backup forward Robert Reid at an ice cream shop. He was a nice, gracious guy. And I got his autograph.

A year earlier, I accompanied my mother to the nightclub where she worked at the time. There I met Dwayne Crutchfield, who was then a running back with the Oilers. He and I had a nice long conversation about football, and he gave me two tickets to the Oilers' game the next day against the San Diego Chargers. I and my stepfather at that time (not an American football fan) went to the game and I enjoyed seeing the Oilers win the game on a field goal with a few seconds left. Unfortunately Crutchfield did not play that much though.

But if you ever read this, Dwayne Crutchfield, THANK YOU for your conversation with me as well as for the tickets to my first ever NFL game!

[Dynasty]

In 2010, I met Dusty Baker at a Reds game in Cincinnati. I didn't even have to ask for a picture or an autograph, he was the one who insisted it. It was a great experience.

[Tigers6884]

Since this thread has been resurrected, I thought I'd add some of the encounters I've had this year.

I met Ted Lindsay and Alex Delvecchio at an autograph signing. Ted Lindsay was SUPER nice!

I met Jack Morris at a different autograph signing. Nothing really interesting occurred during out interaction though. He just signed my 89 Topps baseball card and I walked away.

I met current Detroit Lions Devin Taylor, Tahir Whitehead, and Corey Fuller as well as former Lions Rob Rubick, Cory Schlesinger. Tahir Whitehead was also extremely nice and Herman Moore was really cool when I thanked him for playing so many years for my favorite football team, even when they weren't really good.

John Vanbiesbrouck was also pretty cool when I met him. He was one of the supervisors at a hockey camp that my little brother attended (who, coincidentally is also a goalie). I got him to sign a hockey card for me and also had a nice conversation with him thanking him for signing my card and helping out with the camp, which is located in my small, basic Michigan hometown.

[2001mark]

Grade 6 field trip to St. Lawrence Market, back in the day, we spotted Cito Gaston & a group of us followed him a bit (if we weren't kids, it'd be stalking lols) & some of us waved hello. He seemed shocked that he was such a celebrity, but to us it was like seeing Santa Claus.

I've shot the :censored: a couple times with Greg Zaun at Rogers Centre. Jays home games, he mans a live desk for tv with Jaime Campbell in the 200 level outfield concourse. What you see on tv is what you get- loves talking baseball, & I don't think he feels like a celebrity at all.

[Jer15]

I ran into Mick Foley entering a restroom as he was leaving it. That's pretty much it.

I took an elevator with Big Boss Man.

I think wrestler encounters are more interesting than any other encounter. One day I'd like to meet Hulk Hogan; he did a book signing in the Seattle area a couple of years ago, but I couldn't get there.

Randy Orton and Maven asked me to go to a strip club with them in Buffalo once.

Sounds a little crazy (potentially unbelievable) as just a one off statement so here's the story:

A close friend of mine lives across the street from Edge's mom. He has for many years. Edge and him are friendly and whenever Edge comes to see his mom my buddy usually hangs out with him a little bit.

Anyway, WWE had back to back shows. A PPV in Toronto (Summerslam '04) on the Sunday and a Raw in Buffalo the night after. Edge gave us complimentary tickets to the Raw show so we went down to Buffalo to see the show and had dinner with Edge, Batista and, Christian after the show. (Side note, Batista was not in a good mood. He didn't want to talk to anyone).

Orton met up with Batista at the restaurant after eating and that's how we met Orton.

Anyhow, after shooting the :censored: for a bit, Maven showed up and the 2 guys decided they wanted to go to the strip club and asked myself and my friend if we wanted to go. I can only assume he thought we'd be so happy to hang out with him we'd buy drinks or something. But being 19 at the time, we couldn't get in anyways so we just took a picture and went back home.

[monkeypower]

If we're talking wrestlers, I routinely see Bret Hart. Though since I moved, it will be less routinely.

[smzimbabwe]

I sat in a luxury box at a Seahawks game in the early 90's with Harold Reynolds. Watched the 98 winter olympics in a bar with Brent Gretzky. Saw fans harass Barry Bonds at a bar in Denver, and got a kid in the elevator on the way back to my room to continue to bug him.

[Lumbergh]

Ran into Demaryius Thomas a few years back who was next door to my work at the time. I printed a large print of the guy and had him sign it. Really quiet type of person.

When I was a kid I was at a Gart Sports (now sports authority) Mark Schlereth was there, I got a birthday signature from him.

I used to live down the street to David Diaz Infante who was also a member of the 2 Broncos 'ships squads. I used to hang out next door and eventually helped him and his son moving some stuff one day.

Played against Elway's kid in one game in middle school, got to meet John after the game very briefly.

So even though I've always been a Niners fan, I've had many Broncos encounters.

-Side note: My grandpa was good friends with Stan Musial and had him sign me a personal baseball with my name on it, which I still think is the coolest thing I've ever been given.

[FiddySicks]

WOAH. A miltonANDlumburgh sighting. I feel like I haven't seen you post on here in years.

I've met quite a few pro athletes, and it'd take me awhile to name all the experiences, so I'll just highlight a few.

I used to know Braves outfielder Kick Swisher fairly well due to my time working in radio for the Oakland A's. Very nice guy. Still one of my favorite players ever due to the time I got to spend hanging out with him.

I've run into several Sacramento Kings players in the Safeway near my old (and now current) place in Roseville. Mostly guys like Scott Pollard and Bobby Jackson, but it was cool to know they lived in the neighborhood.

Johnny Bench is still to this day the BIGGEST douche I've ever met, celebrity or not. Bo Jackson is a close number two. Actually, he's just a number two in general.

One of my old room mates in junior college is Andre Miller's cousin. I didn't believe him until Andre actually showed up at our spot one day to pick him up.

[GriffinM6]

Met Phil Niekro at a restaurant in Cooperstown 4 years ago. He was a really nice guy and we talked for nearly 5 minutes.

Brian McCann and 3 other Braves personnel came to my school in 7th grade and he gave me an autographed hat.

Being in a popular area for athletes to retire/live, I've met several former pro athletes while umpiring. I met Jeff Keppinger when I called one his son's games, met Falcons kicker Matt Bryant because he was head coach of the team (and is a big douche), and also met former NFL RB Joe Montgomery because he was also head coach of a team.

Not me, but my father met Dikembe Mutombo on an elevator in Detroit back in 2010. The same week he was there, he met Steven Tyler and had dinner with Sammy Hagar.

Edit: I also met Taylor Heinicke at one of my high school's games 2 years ago. He is an alumni and will probably be the backup to Teddy Bridgewater this year.