Anyone got any funny or interesting stories they'd like to share about running into any famous people.
I heard when it was Deion Sanders time to run the 40 for the combine, they called his name and he opened the door. He walked in the building with a full windbreaker suit, chains, a hat and earrings. Handed his chains to some random person, without even stretching, immedietly got in his stance and broke the 40 yard dash record.
One I have is about running into someone. It was back in 1977 I was at the Frisch's on Olentangy River Road near the old Iceland hockey rink that I used to work at. Stopped to get a bite to eat while on break. Went to take a pee and in walks a guy who stood at the urinal next to me and he was whistling. I looked over and it was Wayne Woodrow Hayes! I did a double take, said "Hi Coach!! and had some small talk. Just think, you always wanted to meet Woody, and you finally do, when you're taking a whizz !!!!
I think this could be the only occasion where it is ok to break the cardinal rule of not talking to your urinal neighbor.
-The Aristocrats!
Question is, did you go for the handshake?
LOL, no I didn't. I would've washed my hands first if I did!!
My friend Pat and I always do the Predator handshake and ask each other if the CIA has the other person pushing too many pencils.
-The Aristocrats!
Ive had the honor to have the opportunity to have insider access during PGA events in northern OH over my 28 years. Got buddies that work the events and my family are members at Firestone CC. Ive had the chance to shoot the sh#t with Arnie, Jack, Tom Lehman and a few other great golfers. The best one though was when I got a chance to catch up with Tom Weiskopf former tOSU great after his final round at US senior PGA at Canterbury CC years back. Just a class act and straight shooter also very funny guy. Got to hangout and grab some drinks/bite to eat with him and my dad for about 2 hours talking about all sorts of topics. However, my most random run-in was when I met Kordell Stewart at an airport in ATL when he was "slash" for the Poopsburgh Poopers (yes Browns fan here :/) pretty cool guy was going to visit some family in NC.
Edit: Forgot to add that the best part of talking w/ Mr. Weiskopf was the fact we are both Benedictine HS alumni he got a big kick out of that :)
Well anytime I see a celeb/athlete I never go up to them and say anything... I can just imagine being a celeb/athelete and I would hate everyone coming up to me nonstop asking for pics, autographs and all that. No way I could be a celeb, I'm too private and hate conversating w/ random people on the street lol.
But I'll go w/ when I was in 5th grade and went to a Vikings game and after followed Cris Carter to his car, trying to get his autograph... telling him I was his biggest fan and that I loved The Ohio State... and he still shafted me of an autograph. Needless to say I was scared for a few years.
That is a shame. Unfortuately, I've heard some other stories about Cris Carter being a douche.
i remember working at TGI Fridays in the 80s while i was at OSU and Cris Carter and William Roberts, who were both in the NFL at the time (Roberts had just won a Super Bowl ring with the Giants), came in with a large party. They ordered a ton of food and went through a bottle of cognac, which they ordered by the glass, which resulted in a signficant bill (at least for a TGI Fridays 25 years ago). The wait staff was totally attentive to their table and gave them great service. They left something like a 1% tip!
*scarred is what I mean't. But yes, it was heartbreaking for me back then haha. But it was totally understandable.. they did just lose on a last second TD to the Lions. All was not lost though, I was able to meet, shake hands, take a pic and get Barry Sanders autograph. Denny Green bout shafted me too, but finally caved in. John Randle was probably the nicest out of everyone. Really good guy and stayed for hrs signing things for kids outside his SUV.
I worked at the Grandview Starbucks (now a graffiti burger) in college and Cooper came in all the time. All I ever said to him was "hello Coach" and he would order his tall black coffee.
I'm sure several of you can attest to #NYCproblems and the amount of random celebrity sightings that go one here, but I recently had lunch next to Michael J. Fox and just last weekend ran into Rod Stewart.
“The teams that don’t respect their coaches and don’t trust their coaches are the teams that go .500"
~Zach Boren
The only time I've ever been in the Ohio Stadium pressbox was for OSU-Arizona in 1997. Great game. Buckeyes won. Andy Katzenmoyer had a Pick 6. I rode the elevator up with Brent Musberger and Dan Fouts and accidentally bumped into Fouts hard enough that he winced. I apologized but he growled at me, kind of sounded like a bear snarling. Now that I look back at it, I didnt bump him on purpose but I wish I had bumped him a little harder for all his anti-Buckeye crap he spews LOL. Also, Musberger was talking about how he had just come from the Emmitt House in Waverly. Love that steakhouse :)
"Sherman ran an option play right through the south" - Greatest.Civil.War.Analogy.Ever
For the most recent KU-OSU game in Columbus, I was sitting a few rows up behind the KU bench and about a minute into the game two decently sized dudes sat down in front of me. My father (who provided the tickets as a Christmas present) whispered to me about how tall the guy right in front of me was (he was about as tall as I was despite me standing a row up). I hadn't looked closely, but after my dad said that I whispered back "I am 99% sure that is Michael Redd." Sure enough he turned around enough a bit later and that's who it was. Kind of a boring story, but fun to sit next to an OSU legend for a big OSU game. Although he also left and wandered around court side for about half the game, so I guess I didn't sit close to him for all that long.
I was on a SWA flight from St. Louis to Columbus and the last person to get on the plane was Jack Park (OSU Historian from 97.1) and the last seat available was next to me. Very polite and actually asked to sit in the seat. I recognized his voice right away and then turned to see him. Told him I had read his book (OSU Enclyclopedia) and then we had one of the best conversations I have ever had on a plane.
I met Clint Ingram (NFL linebacker) in a similar situation on a SWA flight. I had no idea who he was. We talked about real estate (my profession) for a while because when I asked him what he did he said he owned a restaurant in Houston. He must have thought I was the world's biggest idiot because despite him dropping tons of hints I had no idea he played football. Finally when I asked him if he ever went to any bowl games at his alma matter (OU) he said all four (light clicks on). Then we had a conversation about football. We talked Saints scandal (team he played for), former Buckeye who played for the Saints, Adrian Peterson (his best friend from college).
I was on a plane with David Lighty once and another with Jeff Boals. My sole conversation with Lighty was: Me "After you", Davd "No After You". Jeff Boals I recognized but didn't talk to. Jeff is a better traveler than all the others. He was first on the plane and I was shortly on there after so it would have been awkard to have just sat next to him.
Also had several oppurtunities to meet Archie but missed on all of them. Saw him in a restaurant and I was working at a retirement village that he came and spoke at, but couldn't get away until after he left.
As others have mentioned, living and working in NYC means seeing celebrities often. I work midtown so i have seen a bunch at restaurants and in the street. I saw Bill Clinton taking Hillary to lunch a few years ago. I was at a law firm one day and bumped into Al Gore. I almost walked into Paul McCartney in the street in London a few years ago (I just said hi and he nodded). I was staying at the same hotel as the Yankees in 2009 in Philly for the 2009 world series (i was actually there to see Pearl Jam close the Spectrum) and i shared an elevator with Posada, jeter and Minka Kelly, who was pretty impressive in person! I wished them luck and I think Jeter grunted. I dont bother them when i see them, so dont really have too many stories.
Best OSU sighting? Other than seeing Pete Johnson at an OSU basketball game when i was a kid, it would have to be attending a luncheon in NY honoring Eddie George's induction into the College Football Hall of Fame. Attendees including Archie, Gene Smith, Raymont Harris, Urban, Herbstreit and John Cooper. Sat at a table with Herbstreit, Urban and Cooper! Urban had just been hired and he gave an awesome speech! He said that when he looked at potential coaches for his staff, he didnt want to hear any BS about not recruiting because they were working on cover 2; they needed to do both and hit it hard!
This was a long time ago, but in the late seventies I was at the Memorial Tournament with my family. I was wearing a visor on from Cedar Point that had my name embrodiered on it. It was a practice round so we went to the range to see the players. A player came up to me and called me by name. I counldn't believe he knew my name...I was around 7 years old. He asked if I wanted his autograph. I immediately said yes, and he proceeded to go down the whole range and get me 12 other autographs. Some of the greats, like Lee Trevino, Ray Floyd, Sam Snead. He came back and chatted with me and my family for about 10 minutes. I still have the visor today in my collection. The player who did this was Fuzzy Zoeller. Growing up he was always a favorite of mine.
Back when Mark Price and Craig Ehlo played for the Cavs they would frequent a Pizza Hut I worked at in the valley while I was attending Akron U. Mark had the hottest wife and was a pretty religious kind of guy. I remember fantasizing about his wife and her hot southern accent many nights but we won't go there. Anyways, Craig was very down to earth. He came in one Sunday morning with a black eye and I asked him what happened and he said, "Isiah Thomas isn't as nice of a guy as some think." Craig even brought Larry Nance and his cousin up to the park where I would play ball every weekend with the intention of picking me up on their team to play. And of course that was the one weekend I wasn't there! He came in on another Sunday morning and asked where I was! He never made it there again and I have never let that go...I've met John Elway (not as big as I thought he would be), Herschel Walker (let's just say he didn't go to college for a degree), Ernie Banks (nicest guy ever) and I even did a shot with Ed McMahon so I've come across a few. At the end of the day they are all just like most of us - just more talented I guess!
Shared a plane with Nick Mangold, ditto Clare Danes.
Susan Sarandon had Easter brunch a table away in 2011... Waiter pointed her out.
At SXSW 2010, talked for about 5 mins with a lovely young lady named Madison at the Film closing party. When we moved on, a couple swooped in and were "OMG, you know her?" Me: "no". Turns out she was on Friday Night Lights tv series.
But I guess my biggest celebrity encounter was when I explained what the phrase "Indie music" meant to Glenn Close. She used to attend company functions when her hubby David Shaw was my CEO.
I've spoken to bunches of musicians over the years... Jonsi of Sigur Ros and Annie Clark (St. Vincent) are probably most recognizable of the lot.
I was at Ohio States practice facilities for my sisters aau basketball tournament. As soon as I walked inside I saw Scoonie Penn and Michael Redd. Got both their autographs, gave them to my mom for safe keeping (because I was about ten years old at the time), and never saw it again. Scoonie is still my favorite basketball buckeye!
Not sure if you consider him famous but Chris Fowler lives above me and before we had kids my wife and I would drink quite a bit more than we do now.. Which now, with number 2 finally here ,will prolly change.. but thats another story.. One day after drinking a little too much at a bar I saw him leaving our building as I was entering and yelled something about the bucks and espn.. not sure exactly what was said but he now avoids me like the plague many years later.. LOL.. His wife smiles at my kids though..
Hahaha. My favorite so far.
My uncle likes to tell the story of his Freshman year of high school on the basketball team. They were getting stomped by Cris Carter and his Middletown counterparts. The coach decided to give thr Freshman some playing time, the very first play of his high school career Carter basically jumps over him for the dunk, comes down and splits his lip open with his elbow requiring stitches. To this day the Cris Carter scar is still there.
This thread made me really think....I've actually had a lot of encounters....without going into too much detail per encounter:
(In no particular order):
1) Jim Tressel came to my dorm to speak with Reggie Arden after he got his second DUI
2) I was roomates with Ryan Hamby and Reggie Arden at Morrill Tower, which led to introductions and frequent sightings of Brandon Fuschetham, Matt Sylvester and Lydell Ross.
3) I met Gordon Gee at a Jones Day tailgate
4) I met Jack Morris when I was younger and he autographed a baseball for me
5) My uncle was the head golf professional at Boyne Resorts in northern (state up north) and I met Bill Lambier in the locker room, he and my dad briefly exchanged introductions.
6) I met Chris Martin after a Coldplay concert before they got big
7) I once served George Steinbrenner a drink at the Press Grill when I was a bartender there.
8) I saw Jared Leto walking down high street when his band was in C-Bus
9) My friend is a long time server at Hyde Park in Dublin, OH and during Muirfield week he got me a reservation in the main dining room where I ate dinner next to the likes of Freddy Couples, Ernie Els, Tiger Woods and Paul Azinger.....yes Elin was there. I sent my (now) wife around to get their autographs. Pretty surreal experience.
10) My wife is a ballerina for BalletMet and she was invited to go to Las Vegas to dance in the Victoria Secret Fashion Show. I got to go the rehearsal and sit front and center (as there wasn't anywone else there) and watch all these exotic models strut around scantily clad (I snuck a couple of videos with my iphone). Don't know any of the models names but this was pretty cool too. They put us up at the Palazzo. Good time.
11) I met Sparky Anderson at a baseball clinic when I was 8 years old....I got bitched out at for stepping on the foul line.
12) I was stuck at Laguardia Airport once and saw Robert Downey Jr. hanging out in a trench coat and a weird fedora behind a column in the terminal. I didn't approach him because when we made eye contact it was clear to me he didn't want to be bothered. This was a couple of years pre-Iron Man.
That's all I can remember for now.
"I'm One Bad Buckeye, and I approve this message."
You sound like a proud member of the class of 2005 with those names. Am I correct?
4-6 seconds from point A to point B and when you get to point B, be pissed off
You are correct sir! :)
"I'm One Bad Buckeye, and I approve this message."
I visited Disney World when I was 13 years old and saw Lou Piniella sitting completely alone on a bench. I was really nervous to approach him since I was wearing an Indians jersey and all I ever saw of him on TV was his poor temper. My mom encouraged me to go up, which I did; Lou was extremely nice, posed for a pic, signed my Disney ticket and even teased me about the Indians. It turns out he is afraid of roller coasters and let his grandkids go ahead without him. Really nice guy.
"Attack the Strong, Trample the Weak, Hurdle the Dead!"
-Former OSU S&C Coach Lichter
In 2002, i was finishing my last year at OSU along the way becoming pretty good friends with several football players lydell ross, ivan douglas, darion scott and ej underwood. I was closest with lydell and ej they actually came to my parents house in toledo for thanksgiving dinner all the kids in the nieghborhood came over to get autographs. Lydells family lived in florida so he gave me tickets to just about every game that amazing 2002 season in section 17AA. I was at the mich game that year with Alex Rodriguez, the FB for Eddie in the 90s not the baseball player, and went on the field like everyone after the win. We were walking thru the crowd and Alex used his Bigten championship ring to get us thru security up the tunnel and the next thing I know we are walking in the OSU locker room celebrating with Lydell and all the guys. lydell gave me the championship hat they got and had everyone sign it for me. It was an amazing experience that i didnt fully understand at the time.
In 1997 I ran into Jack Tatum in Redding, California at a card show. It was not very busy so after he signed his photo, we had a nice chat. He was pretty humble - not like I imagined him to be.
At the same show were Cliff Branch and Jim Plunkett. I talked to Plunkett about the Stanford v Ohio State Rose Bowl and how I hated him for years because of the outcome. He got a "big kick" out of that. The one thing that I remember about Plunkett is that he had extremely large hands - about the size of a catcher's mitt.
Cliff Branch was also nice. He was smaller than I thought - about 5' 11" and 175 - 180#.
Partied with Jim Furyk prior to Buckeyes kicking Michigan's ass (again).
That is one kick ass hoodie he's wearing. Too bad he ruined it with a Steelers hat and gloves. LOL
That's awesome!
Dude thats awesome always wanted to meet the Furyious One lol. The fact hes rocking a sweet Buckeye hoodie makes me wanna hangout with that man!
He has the same tailgate @ FF House. Dead center in the lot. Middle row.
http://www.footballfanatics.com/COLLEGE_Ohio_State_Buckeyes_Mens_Sweatsh...
"Don't put syrup on shit, and tell me it's pancakes"
No matter how sh*tty the tour is, it's always tough to leave.
I had the great fortune of playing baseball for several years with Jeff Staubach, son of Roger, and had many encounter with "The Dodger." He was/is a wonderful guy, and was very generous with our team. We had plenty of batting practices at their home batting cages, several trips to McDonald's for ice cream, on Roger, after games when we were young, and some post season parties at the Staubach home.
One of my favorite Roger Staubach stories took place at one of our baseball games against our arch enemies who happened to be coached by another former NFL'er by the name of Donny Anderson. Let's just say that Roger and Donny weren't exactly buddies, and Donny was really a jerk. During this particular game Donny was mouthing our third baseman pretty harshly (yes we were all of 12 and Anderson was a retired Packer-Hall-of-Famer). Roger wasn't a coach, but was always at the games. He had heard enough of Donny's mouth and from the bleachers he very audibly said, "Donny if you don't shut your mouth I am going to take you to the parking lot." Donny shut his mouth for the rest of the game.
vacuuming sucks
I've actually physically ran into Evan Turner outside of the Shoe, before 2011's Wisky game.
I've met Diamond David Lee Roth too!
The Villain's mom lives behind my brother in law. Really nice lady. He pops in from time to time and I've played some pick up games with the kids in the neighborhood with him. He's probably the nicest celebrity I've ever run into. I was in a regional touring band and ran into a ton of musicians in my time. I could start a blog with all of the crazy storys I have.
-The Aristocrats!
This football season I was with my friends tailgating at the Wapak @ St. Marys game. We're in little St. Marys Ohio and who shows up at our tailgate? Chad from the Alltel commercials.
I was also at cedar pt last spring and saw William Buford in line for the Maverick.
I do not have many encounters that would be meaningful here, but I did live next door to Ray Griffin from 3rd-5th grade. No really notable stories, but he is an awesome guy and was a great neighbor!
Summer of 2008, I went down to Eddie's and Ugly Tuna for a friend's birthday. I lived up on Maynard at the time so it was a hike. On the way home I went to McDonald's to grab something to eat, and Turner was in there with Walter Offutt (who transferred shortly after). Had I not been drunk I'd of never bugged him, but I went and introduced myself to ET and congratulated him on the NIT win. He could not have been a nicer kid. He made sure to introduce my friend and me to Walter and said how grateful he was for the fans. The kicker was after we'd gotten our food, we were sitting at a table and he walked over to the table once more before he left, just to say thanks for the support and shake our hand again. That kid is an incredible class act, the likes of I've never seen, especially at that age.
I'm a bit older then alot of you all (Class of 81) and I've been blessed to have had numerous encounters/meetiings over the years, such as - Caddying for Dave Thomas of Wendys and his guest Ray Nitchske ex Packer great at Muirfield; working a summer job in HS at the old Westside Dodge with Pete Johnson & Ray Griffin; Bumping into Jack Nicklaus getting off the elevator on the suite level in The Shoe; sitting next to Pat Summit on flight from Knoxville to Chicago; Meeting ex Heisman winners Billy Sims @ Detroit Metro and Eddie George @ Port Cols; Meeting Lou Holtz at a conference and Jim Tressel at another conference; Gayle Sayers; my wife and I sitting next to Huey Lewis at airport bar in Vegas; driving Nick Saban and Greg Norman from Don Scott airport to Double Eagle CC; Barry Switzer; John Daley at a party during Memorial week (who hasn't, lol); and others. Then last month ran into ex PGA player Bruce Lietzke and his wife while Christmas shopping in Dallas.
"Fate has cards that it don't want to show"
About 15 years ago I was sitting at the Halftime Tavern with a few buddies when Jim Marshall and Pete Johnson come in and sit right next to me. I had a few in me so I started a conversation with Jim Marshall about coach Hayes. He told me a great story about his last home Michigan game and how coach Hayes brought the entire marching band to the stadium which back then all the players actually dormed at. He said that coach had the band play 76 Trombones outside the dorms at 6am as a wake-up call. He said coach Hayes was one of the greatest men he had ever been around. I also remember shaking Jim Marshall's hand and could not believe the size of his hands and the power of his hand shake. Biggest hands I've ever seen and a really nice guy.
In the late '70's I was at The Lone Star Cafe in NYC to see Jerry Jeff Walker. The place was packed and we couldn't get anywhere near the bar. The guy in front of me asked what we wanted and proceded to get drinks for me and my friend. I handed him some money and he said don't worry about it. A guy taps me on the shoulder and asks me if I know who just bought our drinks. I said I didn't and he told me it was Goose Gosich. The whole team was there.
just remembered a couple more- i was at a David Bowie show at the kit kat club in nyc about 12 years ago. i was standing by the railing on the second floor and I heard the guy next to me say "boy, you what have thought i could have gotten a decent seat". I turned around and it was Lou Reed!
I was fortunate enough to see the Led Zeppelin reunion show in London in 2007 (they just released the DVD). lots of VIPs there- - Peter Gabriel was sitting directly in front of me.
My wife's sister was a Cleveland Cavaliers cheerleader, mid 1990's to about 2000. She was part of NBA All-Star game in Cleveland in 1997. Total M.I.L.T.L.A!
M.I.L.T.L.A???
"Don't put syrup on shit, and tell me it's pancakes"
No matter how sh*tty the tour is, it's always tough to leave.
1. Chris Jent walking around campus in high school
2. Rickey Dudley- I had a counselor who was friends with him when he played basketball. He showed us his Geo Tracker (which he thought was sweet, but is still the only one I ever saw with a hard top and it was ugly as all hell). I remember walking around campus in 95, and he saw me and beeped his horn...my friends asked who it was, and I was all like "Rickey Dudley"...they were pretty impressed.
3. Jimmy Jackson, Gary Trent, Greg Simpson, Derek Anderson (liar), Nick Van Exel and many more at the summer league...I got a pair of autographed kicks from JJ.
4. Dan Marino prior to the 04 NYC marathon. I was out for coffee and saw this sweet suede blazer being ruined by a Dolphins tee. I was in Giants gear, and I look up and see Marino...I didn't want to bother him, and ended up in 3 straight stores with him. I eventually talked to him, because I think it bothered him that didn't.
5. Wanya of Boyz II Men and Coolio at Northland Mall...way back in the day.
6. I congratulated Eddie George a few weeks after he won the Heisman at Northland Mall.
7. I am pretty sure I saw Shaun Gayle at a Craker Barrel in Newport News a few weeks ago. He was with family so I didn't bother him.
8. I was pretty drunk at a Navy function once upon a time and tried to convice Don Shula to coach the new Browns...I have a pic with him.
"Don't put syrup on shit, and tell me it's pancakes"
No matter how sh*tty the tour is, it's always tough to leave.
Also, Bernie Williams as a Clipper...complete ass.
Charles Nagy, pretty good guy.
"Don't put syrup on shit, and tell me it's pancakes"
No matter how sh*tty the tour is, it's always tough to leave.
I was at a bar down in Nashville and Eric Church came in and sat down and just shot the shit. Ended up doing a shot with him he was really cool and laid back just like i thought he would be.
Michigan Sucks!
I was eating lunch one day in the Baker Commons when John Frank asked me if I would keep an eye on his books while he waited in line for his meal.
So I did.
The most "loud mouth, disrespect" poster on 11W.
Delievered room service to Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson in 1999 when I worked at The Adams Mark Hotel. He ordered a pizza with extra pepperoni and 2 cans of pepsi. I was to starstruck to start a conversation and he tipped $5 on top of the room service auto gratuity.
your a lucky man
In the '86-'87 academic year, during the winter months, I was at a bar on south campus called Spring Break. There happened to be a "wet boxers" booty contest going on and Chris Carter was there right in the front row, no less than 2-3 feet away from the competitors (who were essentially nearly naked hot chicks pouring water on themselves). At some point in the evening I went to the bathroom and there was a Carter and a group of people passing around a joint - so I stepped right up and took a hit right after he did. (I inhaled.)
I was with Shawn Springs, at his and Stan's house, the day he got a call from the Seahawks. We were eating bw3's and he was holding out. We were watching the Seahawks exhibition game and their DB's were getting toasted. Shawn was holding out at the time. The announcers say "they've got to get Springs signed". Ten mins later his phone rings. He leaves the room for an hour. Comes back in and says "I've got the next round" with a big smile on his face. It was awesome.