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Who is the most famous person you have ever met? (6 Viewers)

Love this thread and hearing the different connections.

Mine are mostly sports related.

Bill Russell - my dad and I picked him up from hotel in Mpls and had breakfast before driving him to a basketball camp my dad owned.
Bill Musselman - same BB camp

Dr J when he played in the ABA.

Rick Barry - went with my dad to pick him up from the airport in Denver when he jumped from NBA to ABA.

Gordy Howe, Bobby Hull, the infamous Carlson brothers - WHA

Billy Jean King World Team Tennis (She owns it now)

Ozzie Smith, Johnny Miller and Rollie Fingers - Played golf (separate events). Won senior pro-am with Rollie in San Antonio.

Ed Whitacre ATT CEO - played golf with him

Sandra Bullick & Michael Caine - daughter was in Miss Congeniality and got to talk to them when some of the movie was shot at McNeil HS in Austin.

Michael Dell - had lunch with him.

Bill Clinton - My wife met him when she worked at GSDM in Austin.

 
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This isn't for me -- it's for my Mom.

My folks are originally from India, and my Mom grew up formally training in Indian classical music singing.

Youngster Mom was in New Delhi at the time and was in a small singing group (3-4 people?) representing her school.

She sang on 2 different occasions to, among others:

(1) Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi .... and Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles as a teen.

(2) Nehru and Nikita Khruschev.

 
Oh, here's an unusual one I didn't mention: I'm close friends with Sidd Finch

Remember the old SI by George Plimpton for an April 1st issue (reprint here of the 1985 original)?  The photographer asked a friend of his to pose as "Sidd."  Lots of people fell for the April Fool's gag.  Sidd, aka Joe Berton, was actually a middle high school teacher in my village.  He's now retired.  Joe and his wife have been friends for a couple of decades via our church.  [Side note: His wife is the curator for french impressionists at the Art Institute of Chicago.  She's very reknown and has some sort of official royal title in France.  Joe and his wife are super nice, down-to-earth people.]   Joe has been rather humbly amazed through the years with the recognition.  He's been in New York City and had people recognize him, although the original article never posted pictures of his face, only his profile (first pic is the classic).  He was invited to one of the big SI anniversary events, and athletes were coming up to him for his autograph. 

I think it was the former Yankee, Jim Bouton, who was involved with baseball trading cards, and he made one of Sidd.  From the back of the card: "One of Sidd's favorite activities is levitation....Hgt: 6'4", Wgt: 170 lbs (true) ...Hometown: Katmandu, Nepal ...'Sidd Finch spent years throwing rocks in the Himalayas under the guidance of monks.  Eventually he mastered the perfect pitch.  His fast ball has been clocked at 168 m.p.h.  Sidd will sign with the Mets if he doesn't dematerialize.'...Hobbies: French Horn, Sanskrit."

Several years back, I read a book by an author, Neil White, called In the Sanctuary of Outcasts.  White had committed white collar crime in Mississippi and got sent to a prison in Louisiana that also happened to house the last leper colony in the U.S.  White stated in his intro that he was a big fan of Plimpton, and so he decided to treat his jail time as participatory journalism and turn it into a book, which he did.  (It's a good read.)  I assumed, correctly, that as a fan of Plimpton, White was familiar with Sidd Finch, so I dropped a note to his email address on the book cover.  He responded, begging me for an autograph from Sidd.  My friend, Joe, signed one of the baseball cards and put it in a little laminated case he has for them, and I sent it to White down in Mississippi, who was thrilled.

 
John Stamos and Tom Arnold.

My son was on the second-to-last how of ER as an extra (2009??).  That show was based on "Camp Del Corazon," a camp on Catalina Island every year for kids aged 7-17, that have had open heart surgeries.

Tom is a Chairman for the camp and it's major spokesmen. He somehow convinced them to use the camp as the theme for that show.   50 kids from camp spent four days at Warner Bros in Burbank shooting the show.  Kids had to do the on site school thing also. They all got paid 2x min wage by law. They recreated several of the actual events they perform each year at camp for the show. 

I was there all four days for shooting. Was able to talk to John and Tom several times. Good times.

 
Bill Clinton a few times but when he was still governor is probably most famous.  Little Rock police played the state police in a football game every year and my pee wee team played at halftime. At one point I went to the bathroom and it was just me and Bill in the bathroom together. I was 9,  I told him I'd met him on a tour of the state capital the year before and actually took a minute to chat with me despite no one being around, not doing it for show.

Have met, had a drink or two, shook hands with a ton of famous athletes in Dallas topless bars over the years. Feels wrong to start naming them, don't want people naming me like that.

Most famous person I spent much time with was Anne Hathaway in Las Vegas several years ago. My company likes to have a big time in Vegas and will usually procure the best table at XS, big time club in Encore for those that don't know. We got a bouncer that works our table for us and he'll round up women and and that kind of thing since we got an awesome table, free drinks, etc. One year he rounded up Anne Hathaway and some friends. She partied with us for hours. Super humble. I was pretty hammered but frankly did not know it was her for about an hour until someone asked if I'd met Anne and I was like "Anne" who?

ETA- I completely forgot I got a friend who was an ex-NFL player. He's not famous but he played enough years in the league to get an invite to players only super bowl party. He's invited me a few times but I only went once, in New Orleans in 2001.  Met so many celebs that night it's hard to keep them straight. Tons of ex NFL players, Evander Holyfield, Snoop, P Diddy, Mariah Carey are main ones I made a point to at least meet. Wanda Sykes hung out with me and my friend for hours.
any good Wanda stories?  Seems like she would be a great hang.  

 
Two different buffet brushes with celebrity. One was with author William Styron while in college and the other was Robert Duvall after a movie premiere. Both gents complained about the crappy food. 

Ben Stein during his "Win Ben Stein's Money" years while at a Comedy Central upfront. 

I talked with the late Stuart Scott about Carolina basketball at an ESPN upfront.

I grew up in Nashville and connected to the music industry there. I've met dozens and dozens of songwriters and performers over the years. Most of them were pretty nice.
Saw him during the same time period in the Indianapolis airport.  Talked with him for a few moments.  Super nice. Got his autograph.

 
When I was little, I played one year of football.  Some might remember the story of how I feel I should be in the Hall of Fame for being the only person ever to block an opening kickoff.  

Well, we were like 10 or 11 years old, so there wasn't a lot of passing.  I played TE and did a lot of blocking, which was fine.  I hated getting hit.  But we did have one play where I would let the guy go by me and run out 10 yards, turn to the sideline and the pass would be there for me.  Now, I'm not saying our QB was Joe Montana, but he wasn't too bad for his age.  We ran that play once a game.  And every time, I'd run out 10 yards, turn and look back only to have the football hit me in my helmet and knock me over.  I hated that play.  Don't know if it was nerves or what, but for some reason, I couldn't catch that ball.

In the last game of the season, the championship, we're playing the best team in the league.  It's a night game under the lights and there are probably 100,000 people in the stands, give or take.  It's us, the Bears versus the Giants.  Late in the 4th quarter and we're down by a touchdown, back near our own 20.  The QB decided to call the play.  My play.  I can feel a knot in my stomach.  

The ball is snapped and I run out 10 yards and turn to the sideline looking back at my quarterback.  The ball is spiraling towards my hands and face and everything just goes right for once.  The ball lands softly in my hands and I tuck it down in my arm.  I make my cut just barely staying in bounds and look up the field.  There is nothing but the glorious endzone ahead of me.  Fortune and glory, kid.  I take one look back and see the defender near me had fallen trying to tackle me.  As I sprint down the sideline, I begin to think what I should do when I get across the goal line.  Spike it?  Do a dance?  I've never scored a touchdown before, I mean, so many options...  Then, WHAM!!!

The next thing I remember is staring up at the stars and hearing the whistle blow.  The defender from across the field had run full speed and hit me like a T-bone accident in an intersection.  It was painful and completely out of the blue. The kid that tackled me was named Aaron Beasley and went on to play Cornerback for the New York Jets.  So I like to say that it took pro football player to keep me out of the endzone.  

 
Have actually exchanged words with the following and I’m not sure who is more famous: 

Pete Rose - Vegas signing event

Mike Trout - golf course

Larry Fitzgerald - golf course 

BB King - blackjack table

DMX

Steve Jones - golf course

Matt Millen - sat next to him on a plane and talked the entire ride

Dr. Henry Lee - work 

Piper Chapman - work seminar 

Dwight Gooden - signing event as a kid

Forrest Griffin - Attended the same retirement party for a third party 

Sonny Barger 

Spoke with and interacted with Kevin Garnett, Mark Madsen, Gary Trent and most of the 2003 and 2004 Timberwolves when they did their pre- season training at my college. I’d frequently use the weight room at the same time and I’d get in to see their practices. 

Stuart Scott - played basketball with him on a Disney cruise when I was in high school. 

Ralphie Mae - Happened to sit next to each other at a bar later in the night after his show and we talked beer

 

Allen Iverson used the urinal next to me at a bar/nightclub once but we didn’t speak. I was looking down at my phone in the Vegas Four Season lobby and somewhat unknowingly stepped into an elevator with The Rock and his entourage/bodyguards. One of the bodyguards said, “this one isn’t your ride” and gestured me back of the elevator so I never spoke to the rock. Played softball against Jose Canseco but we didn’t speak directly to each other either. 

 
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This isn't for me -- it's for my Mom.

My folks are originally from India, and my Mom grew up formally training in Indian classical music singing.

Youngster Mom was in New Delhi at the time and was in a small singing group (3-4 people?) representing her school.

She sang on 2 different occasions to, among others:

(1) Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi .... and Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles as a teen.

(2) Nehru and Nikita Khruschev.
Its your mom but we have a winna.  

 
In terms of who I had 1:1 conversations with, or hung out with in some cases:

  • Christina Applegate (upgraded me many years ago to sit next to her in first, spent hours with her)
I remember you told that story in detail in a  previous famous people encounter thread years ago...such a great story. 

 
Oh, here's an unusual one I didn't mention: I'm close friends with Sidd Finch

Remember the old SI by George Plimpton for an April 1st issue (reprint here of the 1985 original)?  The photographer asked a friend of his to pose as "Sidd."  Lots of people fell for the April Fool's gag.  Sidd, aka Joe Berton, was actually a middle high school teacher in my village.  He's now retired.  Joe and his wife have been friends for a couple of decades via our church.  [Side note: His wife is the curator for french impressionists at the Art Institute of Chicago.  She's very reknown and has some sort of official royal title in France.  Joe and his wife are super nice, down-to-earth people.]   Joe has been rather humbly amazed through the years with the recognition.  He's been in New York City and had people recognize him, although the original article never posted pictures of his face, only his profile (first pic is the classic).  He was invited to one of the big SI anniversary events, and athletes were coming up to him for his autograph. 

I think it was the former Yankee, Jim Bouton, who was involved with baseball trading cards, and he made one of Sidd.  From the back of the card: "One of Sidd's favorite activities is levitation....Hgt: 6'4", Wgt: 170 lbs (true) ...Hometown: Katmandu, Nepal ...'Sidd Finch spent years throwing rocks in the Himalayas under the guidance of monks.  Eventually he mastered the perfect pitch.  His fast ball has been clocked at 168 m.p.h.  Sidd will sign with the Mets if he doesn't dematerialize.'...Hobbies: French Horn, Sanskrit."

Several years back, I read a book by an author, Neil White, called In the Sanctuary of Outcasts.  White had committed white collar crime in Mississippi and got sent to a prison in Louisiana that also happened to house the last leper colony in the U.S.  White stated in his intro that he was a big fan of Plimpton, and so he decided to treat his jail time as participatory journalism and turn it into a book, which he did.  (It's a good read.)  I assumed, correctly, that as a fan of Plimpton, White was familiar with Sidd Finch, so I dropped a note to his email address on the book cover.  He responded, begging me for an autograph from Sidd.  My friend, Joe, signed one of the baseball cards and put it in a little laminated case he has for them, and I sent it to White down in Mississippi, who was thrilled.
I'm a lifelong Mets fan and that article roped me in hook, line and sinker.   I was immediately on the phone with all my non-Mets fan friends bragging about the guy.  Ugh.  One of the best April Fools Day pranks ever.

 
Allen Iverson used the urinal next to me at a bar/nightclub once but we didn’t speak.
Not relevant to this discussion - but I did not see a better place to bring it up:

Iverson and Reebok just announced today that they will pay all college application fees for Seniors at Bethel High School (in addition to give everyone a pair of Iverson's new Reebok shoes).

Nice gesture, and somewhat ironic since Iverson did not get his own senior year at Bethel...

 
Jason Kendall - he was a guest bartender at an establishment my friends and I use to frequent,  along with quite a few other Pirates back in the late 90's. He irked me.  Didn't care for him.  Very arrogant. Might have been because of all the idiots lining up at the bar to try to meet him/them. So I give him a pass (sort of).

Fabiana Udenio - you might remember her as the foreign exchange student in the movie "Summer School". This was about 8 years after, and she was still stunning (and still is).  Shared an elevator with her, engaged in small talk.

Charlie Batch - sacked him during a high school game when he was a senior.

Metallica (whole band) - I missed hanging with them by about 5 minutes.  My sis worked at a radio station and told me to get there asap because they were there promoting their concert or something.  My buddy and I went about 90mph the whole way, only to realize we had just missed them.  Sis said they were super cool and just talked about normal stuff. I regret to this day not doing 110mph the whole way.

When I was little, I was sick at school.  They sent me to the nurses office to lay down.  Little did I know, the school had an event, and Gary Dunn (former Steeler) was there.  I was upset that I wasn't able to go.  But as I was led out of the nurses office by the nurse, Gary was leaving.  He picked me up like a rag doll and threw me on his shoulders.  I still have a pic (somewhere) of it.

There may be others..

 
Jason Kendall - he was a guest bartender at an establishment my friends and I use to frequent,  along with quite a few other Pirates back in the late 90's. He irked me.  Didn't care for him.  Very arrogant. Might have been because of all the idiots lining up at the bar to try to meet him/them. So I give him a pass (sort of).
Oh this reminds me.  I talked with Torii Hunter at a bar (he doesn't drink tho) for awhile.  It was after an Rangers-Angels game, the bar let John Lackey (who had pitched for the Angels, but was on the Rangers at the time) guest bartend.  Tried to chat him up but he was a jerkwad.  He actually tried to get my buddy kicked out for taking a pic of him.  :lol:  

 
My brother is now doing business with Roger Craig.  

Unfortunately, he is not as much of  a football fan as myself though he is enjoying Roger's stories about Nebraska and the 49ers.

 
Most famous people I have actually interacted with:

I sat and talked with Flavor Flav over drinks at the casino bar in Mandalay Bay about 10-15 years ago. Dude was a mess.

Road an elevator with Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge in NOLA when they were in town to play the Pelicans (or maybe the Hornets, at that point). Since I went to both Washington and Texas for school this was pretty exciting to me. I tried to be pretty low-key while chatting with them, but wasn't. 

When I was a kid I was in an Army Surplus store in Honolulu (I have no idea why) and Jonathan Winters was in the store. Winters had been a Marine during WWII and was sorta like Robin Williams in terms of always being "on" doing shtick in public. It was pretty entertaining.

I am personal friends with the least famous brother of an NFL quarterbacking family. He is a minor celebrity, I guess. Never met his more famous brothers, or father. Have met his mom though.

 
Fabiana Udenio - you might remember her as the foreign exchange student in the movie "Summer School". This was about 8 years after, and she was still stunning (and still is).  Shared an elevator with her, engaged in small talk.
Oh I remember  :wub:

 
My brother is now doing business with Roger Craig.  

Unfortunately, he is not as much of  a football fan as myself though he is enjoying Roger's stories about Nebraska and the 49ers.
This reminded me:  Back in the mid 90's, I was working as a bartender at Bennigan's.  I was 20 years old, going to school and living with my parents at the time.  Back then, there was a brand new thing called NTN at bars.  I'm sure it's all over now, but back then it was fairly new and allowed you to play trivia against others across the country.  I remember my boss had me fill out one of those postcards that you tore out of a magazine and send it in for more information.  I believe at the time, Bennigan's didn't want to purchase it but our GM wanted to see what the price was, so he had me enter my address and phone number.  I got the packet 4 to 6 weeks later and gave it to my boss.  It was outrageously expensive so he decided against it.  But I had put my parents' phone number down, so I kept getting the phone calls trying to persuade me to buy this thing.

Here's the kicker:  Rollie Fingers was the head of sales there.  I remember when I first talked to him, I was kind of in awe.  Rollie Fingers called ME!  But that dude would not take no for an answer.  I remember coming home one night and my dad asked me, "Sheik, why is Hall of Famer Rollie Fingers calling you and leaving 15 messages on the answering machine?" :lol:

 
Rob Zombie - Meet and greet. Got to chat with him for a couple of minutes.

Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Bill Walton - hanging out in Indy.

Some of the Bad Boy Pistons after they won the championship - in a Detroit night club. Also, ran into Vinnie Johnson at at least one strip club.

 
This is not the most famous person I've interacted with, already shared but a 'different' type of interaction with three minor celebs in 45 minutes in completely different locations back sometime in the 90s.

Family was out to visit the Portland Oregon area and I had to entertain/show them around.

It was during the Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan/Jeff Gillooly tabloid media frenzy.

Seeing Tonya around Portland was and probably still is not a thing but ...  well ... here's  the story.

I don't know exactly when but it was in that ####-show and the media was out trying to find Tonya so she went into hiding.

I decided to take my mom and sisters downtown to Nike Town which was a big thing back then when it first opened.  The bathrooms were located up on the second floor where you had to walk across an metal catwalk from the elevator.  I had to wait for the girls alone on the catwalk when a red head came up a few feet from me.  She never looked in my direction but had this 'evil' grin on her face as she looked down on the crowd below.  

It was Harding in a wig.  I'd seen her many times before,  it was her.  She must have ditched the paparazzi who were following her and was  gloating in a victory.  

She left before anyone else saw her.  

We left Nike Town when we 'literally not figuratively' almost ran into the former mayor of Portland Oregon Bud Clark who was riding his bike in a cross walk.  I had to slam on the brakes and shouted to my family, 'Hey that's Bud Clark'.  They looked puzzled since they had never heard of him as everyone reading this had never heard of him but he was a local  celebrity or sorts.

The next celebrity may be known by NBA fans.  We drove to Multnomah Falls and as we entered I saw a 7 foot (6'8 but looked taller) black man with what appeared to be his mother.  My mom was near me and I whispered that Buck Williams the center of the Portland  Trailblazers was standing a few feet from us.  

My mom LOUDLY said:  Who?

I whispered Buck Williams the center for the Portland Trailblazers.

Mom: WHAT?  BASKETBALLLL?

I whispered.  Shhhh yes.

My mom went up to Buck's mom and said:  Does your son play basketball?

His mom was really cool and said:  Yes he does.

My mom didn't ask but went up to Buck and put her arm around his waist which basically meant she had her arm around his ### and told me:  Take the picture.

I was embarrassed but got a great picture of my 5'0 nothing mom and an embarrassed Buck Williams.

Once I took that picture the flood gates opened.  No one was bothering Buck till my mom drew attention but kids came running from all directions shouting:  BUCK!  BUCK! BUCK! and bringing paper and pens for autographs.  Buck and his mom made a quick exit.

Three 'minor' celebrities in 45 minutes,  all in different locations.  Bizarre celeb day. 

 
Best real interaction for me was playing in a scramble with Wade Boggs.

As you would guess, he/we partied hard...but he also was sarcastic as hell and really easy to have fun with.

I've seen great athletes play great golf...David Price, Verlander, Bo Jackson.

Boggs had BY FAR the best hand-speed thru the ball I've ever seen, outside of Tiger.  Like a blur.

 
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Good thread - made me start thinking. Aside from Tiger..

  • When I was in college I coached Manny Mota baseball camps.  Tons of Dodgers would come to the camps and we'd coach the kids together.  Mike Scioscia, Bob Welch, Pedro Guerrero.  Lots of others.
  • When I was 10 or so my step dad took me to an Angel game and we met Don Drysdale in the booth.  They pitched together in college.  Spent 15 minutes talking to us. Great guy
  • I went up to Dr. J at a SuperBowl and asked for his autograph.  He was wearing a mink coat with his wife Turquoise I think.  He said he couldn't sign an autograph but would like to shake my hand.  Mitts came up to my elbows.  Very cool
  • Had Pete Rose sign a glove when I was a kid and basically threw it at me.  Could see signs of a jerk back then
  • Met lots of golfers through my Tiger connection.  Played in pro ams including with Scott McCarron.  Pulled out a USC hat and asked him to sign.  Then I pulled out the UCLA hat from his alma mater.  He busted out laughing.  Cool guy.  Met a bunch of the Senior tour guys like Bernhard Langer, Miguel Angel Jiminez and more.  All hanging out at the dinner the night before we played.  Some very cool guys. Coolest was Gene Sauers, who was getting an award from coming back from Steven's Johnson disease.  Terrible condition
  • Christian Yelich played with my son in high school.  Went to several of his minor league games as he was coming up and then spring training and pro games as he made it.  Could have had back to back MVPs and is signing a monster extension for $200+M.  Super quiet, respectful kid at the time.  Very happy for him.
  • Was boarding next to Jennifer Garner at LAX.  Stunning beyond belief

 
Cool thread!

Met a lot of Hollywood types -- Paul Newman, Tom Hanks, Catherine Zeta Jones, Antonio Banderas, stepped on Ellen Barkin's foot, and many more.

Also met tons of famous authors -- Rowling, King, GRR Martin, Paulo Coelho, Grisham, Dean Koontz, Tom Wolfe, and many many more.

Had the Queen Elizabeth wave at me.

But the loftiest of them all, the one who is at the absolute acme of fame and improtance, who I've ever had the pleasure of meeting was high-fiving Terry Fox on his historic run through lower/mid-Ontario.

 
I've had some rich/famous clients including a handful of billionaires I'm not allowed to name and Richard Donner and his wife Lauren Schuler Donner... both of whom were really great. worked on their house in HI- got to go fishing on the danny glover lethal weapon boat and smoke a j with him. very, very nice couple. my new office has some huge athlete superstars, but I'm not allowed to say (also haven't met them or worked on their projects).

went to HS and was friendly with courtney thorne smith- ton of respect for her as a stand-up, do the right thing type of person... as well as being gorgeous and talented.

my wife's best friend is a known actress from the 80s and 90s- meghan ward. have spent a ton of time with her... she probably knows more about my faults than I do at this point. 

have met and had limited conversations with a lot of different people over the years- my college best friend opened what was the trendy bar in NYC for a few years in the early/mid 90s, so ended up meeting most of the people who'd go to that kind of place back then... from supermodels (Elle, Frederique- hung with her a couple times more in depth... I've told the story here, christie turlington, etc)... to actors and musicians and athletes- I remember the 90120 girl with the freaky eyes was dating somebody in metallica and sat briefly with all of them there. Raquel Welch was the one that left me awestruck- even in her geriatric state, still gorgeous and gracious. lots and lots of industry names back then.

doutzen krose (sp?) was a mom at my daughter's pre-school. most beautiful woman I've ever talked to...and very sweet. dj husband who was also cool. ilgauskus sent his kid to a summer camp there when my son was little. there's tall, and there's ilgauskus tall. seemed nice enough.

when I was 17, I hung out over drinks in a soccer training facility in germany with Cameroon superstar Roger Milla, talking reagan and nuclear proliferation. got to play against him a couple days later- a highlight of my soccer life. my bar-owning buddy would alert me if somebody good was at his bar... but for the most part it didn't matter to me. but I told him he had to call me immediately if Pele ever stopped in. never did. although I think nelson mandela did... which seems odd.

 
my wife's best friend is a known actress from the 80s and 90s- meghan ward. have spent a ton of time with her... she probably knows more about my faults than I do at this point. 
Isn't it Megan?   :oldunsure:

And I know I've said it here before, but I had a MAJOR crush on her back in the day.  

Feel free to tell her that one of your innernet buddies wants her bad.  Still.  :lol:  

 

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