Michael J Fox. At an admitted students day. How long does it take to get to Wash U from Chicago. My contribution:.It’s an easy fast flight
Al Molinaro from Happy Days. On a small commercial airplane. Should his kid go to law school? My contribution: Actual leangthy discussion of my experience.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg. At a wedding. What’s in the pizza appetizer that was being served. My contribution: " I think it’s Mushrooms"
Barack Obama. At the home of a friend when Obama was running in the primary for Illinois senate and not expected to win. Was it raining. My contribution: " I think it stopped" ( I know, I know I’m brilliant)
Michael Jordan. At a children’s ballet recital. Where were the kids going to exit from. My contribution: with helpful pointing: “Over there” ( now I’m sure you are impressed!)
Me: Woody Allent: Push this button to make a call. ( I was a park ranger, he was filming “Stardust Memories”) My childhood friend is related by marriage to Ruth Bader Ginsberg, so her kids refer to her as “Aunt”.
My friend was seated next to Michael Jordan on an airplane in the early 1980s, but did not know who he was. After seeing others ask for his autograph, my friend asked “are you someone famous?”
A few future Olympians and World Record holders… while timing at local age group meets. Me, checking the heat sheet, “Just making sure you are…” Them - nodding and getting on the blocks…
It was fun to cheer for those kiddos swimming to their Olympic and World Championships medals from the comfort of my living room later.
Joel Robuchon (famous to foodies, anyway) - he came over to say hi to us about 3-4 times on separate occasions over the years at his restaurant in Las Vegas. We had no idea who he was at the time, so we just did the usual “be polite to the owner” thing. He loved D, who was around 6-7 the first time we met him. He kissed her cheeks (which we still teasingly tell her was her first French kiss) and sent over one of each desert for us that first time.
JFK Junior and his friend (on rented mountain bikes, no helmets): “Where does this trail go?”
Us: “Um, you probably don’t want to take this trail–but that fire road goes all the way up to Mulholland, that’s a good ride.”
Harrison Ford - he came to my biotech office/lab when researching his role in Extraordinary Measures. I shook his hand & told him my name. He is much shorter than you’d think!
Magic Johnson - in the UCLA coffeehouse in the 1980s. He had a basketball under his chair. Asked for his autograph - he gave it to me without enthusiasm.
Several Broadway stars - Christian Borle, Brian D’Arcy James - by waiting outside the stage door.
Jack Hanna and Jim Fowler (who remembers him from Wild Kingdom?) back when I used to work at a zoo.
Like @BunsenBurner I “met” many future Olympian/World Record swimmers while timing at meets (often along with the future Olympians parents) that my kid was participating in…and I agree it was so much fun watching them go on to huge success. I’ve also met many famous tennis players including Stan Smith, Billie Jean King, Emilio Sanchez, Roy Emerson, and Chris Evert.
I sat next to Terry Bradshaw on a flight once. He was a very nice man. We talked about the history book he was reading (since I know nothing about football).
Doc Rivers, who was an All Star guard with the Atlanta Hawks at the time: I played him 1-on-1 at a junior high basketball camp in maybe 1989. There was lots of trash talk. I called him "honeysuckle" at one point and (he let me, I'm sure...) stole the ball from him. Other than that, he clobbered me. I think it ended up 5-1 -- he wasn't going to let me win in front of the onlookers. The one basket I scored was on an outside shot. Playing him was, to that point, the highlight of my life.
My favorite player back then was Dominique Wilkins, also of the Hawks, so to play against his point guard was just awesome. Even though I was about 5’3" at the time and Doc was like 6’5". lol
He is now an NBA coach.
Mike Singletary, Dave Duerson, Neal Anderson, Chicago Bears in the mid-80s. My grandpa and dad took me along with them to watch the hated Bears eat (we're Packers fans) at the Paper Valley Hotel in Appleton on a Saturday night before their Sunday game in Green Bay. I was about 10 and couldn't help but walk up to their table and tell them how badly the Packers were going to defeat them. This was the year after they won the Super Bowl, if memory serves, so no such thing was about to happen. Singletary gave me his pre-snap stare, my grandpa started laughing, my dad apologized for me, and the Bears chuckled too. Singletary said something like, "Time to eat, young dude," and we said thanks/sorry and left them alone.
We had a charity basketball game each winter between some Green Bay Packers and our high school basketball seniors and some basketball alumni. The year I played in the game, I bounced off of Packers center Frank Winters -- AKA Frankie Bag of Donuts -- trying to block his shot on one defensive trip. Others I remember chatting with were Mark Chmura (TE), George Koontz (LB) and Heisman Trophy winner Ty Detmer (QB) -- small talk, mellow trash talk.
The crowd was there to see the Packers, of course, and to see them dunk (there wasn’t much dunking going on in northern Wisconsin). At one point one of the Packers (a backup receiver) had a breakaway dunk opportunity and I chased him down and went up to block it – I did not block it, but I did foul him and prevented him from dunking. This was not a terribly popular move, but I was focused. lol. That also happened to be my 18th birthday.
Marco Rubio -- saw him speak here in Iowa on the campaign trail and got a photo taken with him afterwards. I introduced myself and my wife and we shook hands. He said something funny about the weather and we laughed and I wished him luck. He said thanks, he'd need it. Nice guy.
29 years ago, on a business trip, after flying from NYC to Tokyo, having some meetings, going to Sydney, having some more meetings, and then on to Hong Kong, I checked into the hotel and got on the elevator with Ted Koppel, who was covering the Tiananmen Square Protests.
By this point in the trip, I was completely exhausted and just wanted to sink into my bed. I looked at Mr. Koppel; I was slack jawed from exhaustion, trying to figure out why he looked familiar. As he was getting off the elevator, I realized two things: 1) he was Ted Koppel and 2) the smug look with which he exited the elevator made me think that he probably thought my dizzy look was because I was star struck, rather than being completely knackered.
On a flight into Chicago in 2000 or so, I had to take my toddler to the bathroom. It took a little while in the tight quarters, and when we came out, Dick Gephardt was standing there, waiting his turn. I’m sure I looked great, ha. I squeaked out, “Hi” and sat down. We ended up circling and circling over O’Hare because of high winds. The captain finally announced that we were going to be the first plane allowed to land. It was still really windy. I thought, “Well, if we go down, at least the story will make the news since there’s a famous politician onboard.”
