The Famous or Infamous You have Met

[Egg Shen]

I forgot about the guy from ZZ Top. He was nice, humble, smiling. He sat next to us at the food pavilion before a concert in Philly. We didn’t know it was him and my friend was actually talking crap about how all their music sounds the same. Fortunately I was making a well-articulated counterpoint. A minute later we saw him sitting there alone. We really only talked to him because we thought he was some wild old guy. He was wearing a USA colored 10 gallon hat and a matching vest or something . We realized it was him when he came on later wearing that same getup.

 

[ssjones]

Chuck Bednarik,

Though not an Eagles fan, I loved Chuck Bendnarik, I read a Scholastic Book about him, that sealed the deal. One of my plaza managers used to caddy for Chuck when he was playing for the Eagles. He said he was as mean on the golf course as he was on the field.

 

[ssjones]

Way too many to list here, but I'll offer a few that had some personal significance.


Fast forward to the fall of 1961 and this adorable tot gets picked to be a guest on Art Linkletter's House Party,

Collaborating with Ray Bradbury while working on Something Wicked This Way Comes was a high point, and later, the production threw me a birthday lunch, and Ray attended. We ended up shooting the shit over a couple of hours, just on our own. That was a nice treat.


As for sightings of celebs? Hundreds if not thousands.

Wow and Wow! I never me a Linkletter kid!

We worked with Cal Ripken Jr for a year when he was our restaurant spokesman for our 50th anniversary year. I'm not a baseball fan, so his fame was lost on me. But, after a few store appearances with him, I could see he was revered. Pretty down to earth guy. We share a similar hairstyle, but he towers over me. He would rub my head and say "great haircut" every time we met. His agent drove him around in a Silverado pickup. After an event, I always packed up some food for their ride. Once I said, do you need drinks, or do you have beer, and laughed. He said with a serious face: no,we're good, we do have a cooler with beer, but thanks.

 

[telescopes]

I forgot about Peter, Paul, and Mary. Peter and Paul were exceptionally nice and spent a long time just smooshing with the fan after a concert. Mary was a jerk and acted like it.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Though not an Eagles fan, I loved Chuck Bendnarik, I read a Scholastic Book about him, that sealed the deal. One of my plaza managers used to caddy for Chuck when he was playing for the Eagles. He said he was as mean on the golf course as he was on the field.

I am a big Eagles fan but not familiar with Bendnarik. What instrument did he play, and when was with the band?

 

[ssjones]

I am a big Eagles fan but not familiar with Bendnarik. What instrument did he play, and when was with the band?

He was always beating something, so I'll say drums.
This would be taunting now and likely an ejection from the game. He hit pretty hard, right Frank?

 

[woodsroad]

Here's a weird one:

I tried to beat the crap out of a soon-to-be famous guy once.

He went on to win an Olympic gold medal, then became the heavyweight world champion a couple years after that.

Did I manage to beat the crap out of him? Of course not. Was I an idiot to try? Absolutely. Was I drunk or otherwise impaired? No.

It came about because I was the "BEQ courtyard champion" of my unit at Camp Lejeune, and allowed myself to be talked into trying out for the Marine Corps boxing team via the 'walk on" route. An open cattle call sort of thing. Just sign up and give it a go.

I managed to beat my first two opponents fairly easily (but they were also walk-ons), so was feeling OK.

Then I got matched with a current team member: Leon Spinks

A bit of dancing, then some feints, and I managed to land one decent punch

Which pissed him off.

Ka-boom.

The same right hand that he flattened pretty much everyone with paid me a visit.

Bleeding teeth and a brutal three day headache convinced me of the folly of my ways, and I never touched a glove again.

That, my friend, is a world-class story.

 

[jguss]

I’m actually not very gregarious at all. I don’t enjoy meeting new people (famous or otherwise) and it can take months for a new name (faces are generally much quicker) to imprint itself on my brain. And that’s assuming I have reason to be close to that person on a more or less daily basis. People I see less often I can know for literally decades without being entirely sure of their names.

I also place a very high value on my privacy and extend the courtesy of assuming other people do too.

For all those reasons I can’t think of any human being I’d cross the street to meet. I’ve spent intercontinental flights next to “famous” people and not exchanged a word. I guess if I thought hard enough about it I could think of a few people I’d break my rule for but honestly they'd all be dead so the opportunity seems unlikely to arise.

“Old clothed, old friends, old books” is pretty much my motto.

 

[ssjones]

I bumped into Stuart Scott one time flying out of BWI. It took me a few minutes to sink in who he was. He was traveling with his wife, who was having anxiety over leaving their new born daughter. He looked at me exasperated, so I chatted with them about my wife and I similar experiences and that it would be OK. He whispered "thanks" to me. I whispered back "your Stuart Scott, right?". He winked and I said got it. I'm still sad when I run across a story of his passing too young (at 49 yrs) He was just a new dad trying to enjoy a getaway with his wife. He was "as cool as the other side of the pillow".

 

[woodsroad]

I am a big Eagles fan but not familiar with Bendnarik. What instrument did he play, and when was with the band?

Ron Jaworski had a restaurant in Sewell, NJ. Used to photograph him for the paper whenever he did charity events, which was frequently. A genuinely good person.

 

[snagstangl]

I walked by Alton Brown in Vegas on my honeymoon 15 years ago. I state the obvious "Thats Alton Brown" to my wife at the time. He paused, nodded and kept walking.

I saw Warwick Davis and family being transported on an electric cart in an airport in Florida.

 

[Lees65GTO]

In 1970 I was sitting in Rembrandt’s Paint Factory (a club in Houston) when Mickey Mantle came in and sat at a table next to mine. The club owner was trying to get him to invest in his clubs. I ask one of the girls to introduce me to him and she did, so I got to shake hands with “The Mick”.

But my greatest was in 1982 when Elke Sommer came to Houston to star in The Cactus Flower at TUTS. My wife knew that Elke was my all-time favorite actress and I was crazy about her, so for our 10 anniversary she had called and told them it was our anniversary and ask for me to meet Elke. She agreed to meet, I did not know anything about this. At the end of the play Elke came out to talk to the audience and ask for me to stand, and told the audience about what my wife had done. I was stunned to say the least. She told us to meet her back stage after the show. We met and all I could do when I shook her hand was just stare at her with a big grin on my face and giggle, I couldn’t say a word. She gave me a big B&W photo, which she autographed, and told me she did not usually do that. That photo is still in my bedroom.

 

[username]

I met Chuck Norris in the early 90s when I was a kid. He was doing a signing as part of a kick drugs out of America promotion.

 

[Piping Abe]

I have no idea who 98% of these people even are.

 

[sablebrush52]

I have no idea who 98% of these people even are.

That's fair. Probably none of them know who you are.

 

[Piping Abe]

That's fair. Probably none of them know who you are.

Same for all of us.

 

[Searock Fan]

As I've grown older I'm less and less impressed by celebrity. I used to do quite a bit of business with the Hollywood crowd when I was selling cigars and before in another business. I met dozens of "stars" and been a guest in some of their homes. I look back on it and it's no big deal to me now.

But, back when I was a kid I did have my heroes and got to meet a few including Roy Rogers, The Cisco Kid and the Lone Ranger.

 

[jpberg]

That, my friend, is a world-class story.

But I think George knocked his front teeth out, he’s just too humble to mention it.

 

[kcghost]

I knew a number of major bluegrass musicians years ago. I was truly lucky to meet them.

 

[sablebrush52]

As I've grown older I'm less and less impressed by celebrity. I used to do quite a bit of business with the Hollywood crowd when I was selling cigars and before in another business. I met dozens of "stars" and been a guest in some of their homes. I look back on it and it's no big deal to me now.

But, back when I was a kid I did have my heroes and got to meet a few including Roy Rogers, The Cisco Kid and the Lone Ranger.

When my family lived in Canoga Park, their next door neighbor was Jay Silverheels