got to meet and talk with Toby Keith back in 2006 when i was on security detail for his visit to our FOB in Iraq. Pretty cool guy.
My wife and I met Jerome Bettis in Pittsburgh two years ago. Super friendly, and even took a picture with my wife.
The most famous person I had personnel contact with was Jimmy Carter. My brother in law in Georgia was his campaign manager when he ran for governor of Geogia. When he ran for president I was the outcast in the family tree. I was living in Americus, Georgia at the time( had a business there). Anyway, the rest of the family tree got on the "Peanut Express" and went to Vermont to campaigne for him. I said, "as a business man I can't in good faith vote for a Democrat. LOL BUT, I plaed on his softball team when he was in town. Election night a buddy of mine and I got drunk with Billly Carter in his gas station until it was obvious Jimmy was going to win. At that point the Secret Service started pouring coffee in to Billy. My buddy and I grabbed a six pack and went to the old railroad depot to wait for Jimmy's arrival. We drank our beer and then got put to work helping to clean up the beer cans on the street... big push brooms in a row. LOL When I moved from Maryland to NY in 2007 I through away the sweat shirt they gave to friends of the election that simply said, "Jimmy Who" on one side and Jimmy Won on the back. I've been to private coctail parties with him and about 40 people. My brother in law was offered a cabinet position but declined. He owned a successful business and said "What, run off an leave this for 4 years or maybe 8. What would become of it"? I've had dinner with Creighton Abrams after he gave me a bobble. His fist were the size of a dinner plate. Nice man. Jimmy was flaky. LOL Come on folks... he was left wing and hunted rabbits with a boat paddle. LOL
Back in the Late 70's, Early 80's, I lived about 3 doors down from Charlie Moore, the Milwuakee Brewers right fielder and catcher at the time. My kids and his kids grew up and went to school together, Charlie was one of the nicest people you would ever want to meet, down to earth and considerate. Of course, when you know Charlie, you got to know a few of the baseball players at the time because there was alwyas some type if party going on and if it was at Charlies house, he invited us and a few other freinds. Other Milwaukee brewers that I got to meet: Paul Molitor and his wife, very nice people. Gorman Thomas, pretty funny guy, drank a bit too much I think. Robin Yount, super people. Major league Umpire, Bruce Froemming, hell of a guy. One year when Charlie was playing in a charity softball game in Fond du Lac,Wisconsin, we met a few of the Green Bay Packers up close: Reggie White, sort of stuck up, thought he was superior to all. Gilbert Brown, that guy was BIG !!!! and he had the heart to go with it !!! Charlies agent was also the agent for Dionne Warwick, super lady from what I could tell !!! Many, many years ago I also met Dion, from Dion and the Belmonts ( I know , I am really aging myself now) thru a buddy that played in a band and got us backstage to meet him.
I met Roger Clemens at a golf course i worked at. Had to take his clubs from his car to cart and cart to car afterwords. He was kind of a prick, he was with Al Nipper. My hometown in Mass was home to a team in the Cape cod summer baseball league. If anyone here is familiar with that league they can tell you that alot of the players go from there to the bigs. It is basically all star teams made up of college ball players from the best schools in the country. My friends parents had a big house so they would house several players a season. In around 1985 my friend and i were invited to go with the team,(the wareham gateman) to a red sox game. We went a few hours early so that the players could talk with the red sox players and watch bp. My friend and i were able to meet the whole red sox team and get the whole team to sign a ball, except Jim Rice. He said i am working and walked away. Mike Easler was the nicest guy. He talked to me and my friend about staying off drugs and the importance of school.There were 2 seats that were about 4 rows behind the dug out that i got to sit in with Greg Harris . He signed a few days later woth the Padres and left, but he was a great guy as well. I forecaddied for Jim Ferree in a golf tournament. He was cheap and a dink.
Hunting wise....Harold Knight is my cousin and I've meet him many times, great guy!!! Meet Miles Keller once, he was a pretty cool dude. Meet Fred Bear a few times when I was a kid at our home, dont really remember much about him. Music wise....Meet Hank Williams jr. at Harold's a couple times and at Fat Cats (a bar on the lake) with Kid Rock. Hank is an awesome dude!!! Kid Rock is a **** head!!!! Meet Adam Duritz of Counting Crows in Nashville at a private party....very cool dude but strange. Meet Trent Reznor (Nin Inch Nails) at a party in Evansville one night....most awesome party guy in the world. Never even talked to the dude but I done a bunch of meth and got layed twice that night, lol. Actors...Minnie Driver is also my cousin, meet her at a family reunion and at my grand mothers funrial...she's OK but kinda better than every one else.
I have met quite a few over the years. Growing up my neighbor used to watch me all the time, his best friend was NFL wide receiver Don Beebe. I used to play basketball with them and ran the ghetto blaster for them. Don is a cool guy that has given a lot back to the game. Met Cal Ripken when I was in Middle school. Cal is a class act. Met David Coverdale, Adrian Vandenberg and the lead singer and guitar player from Great White while they were touring in the late 90's while racing BMX at Waterford Oaks outside of Detroit. Adrian and the lead singer of Great White were both cool, David Coverdale was a little full of himself. Walter Payton used to have a restaurant in Aurora Illinois, he came to the table dressed as a waiter and pretended to be from Nigeria. My ex girlfriends mother had no clue until he was gone and we told her the water guy was Walter. My wife worked for Walter for a couple of years and used to field calls at the bar from his wife looking for him, he wasn't exactly a faithful man. When I ran a snowboard shop I met a ton of cool people. I knew a lot of the pro's and company owners from the 90's and traveled to buyers shows in Vegas every year. Tom Sims was the coolest company owner in the sport and a down to earth and fun loving guy. There I met- Ron Jeremy-The guy is funny as hell and was driving a White Hyundai Excel Carrot Top- TOOL Foo Fighters- All were cool to meet Run DMC- Jam Master Jay was still around but they were all into Jesus, kind of weird but all were cool. Jenny McCarthy- Cool but she kinda ripped on us in a nice way for being "Snow Skaters" Emilio Estevez- The guy can drink and is cool as hell. There is a funny story that goes with meeting him. Offspring- I was pretty drunk but they were cool. I've also met Depeche Mode twice. David Gahan is the biggest jackwaggon on the planet, the rest of the guys were actually cool. Working in the clubs I met a lot of people. Rodman- guy was a prick Dan Hampton- Being a Packers fan I wasn't impressed He was cool and we ran into him in a local bar with his GF or Wife, I think she was flirting with us to piss him off. Ce Ce Peniston- Finally it happened to me! Not impressed, blah. Brittany Spears- At Crobar in Chicago on a week night, I think she was 17 and had a hug black bodyguard that wasn't friendly to us in VIP Paul Oakenfold- Cool as all heck, still my favorite DJ. ATB- Another cool cat Too many other Euro Trance DJ's to list, most are a pain in the arse. I've also had to deal with a lot of Chicago House DJ's, the coolest is Terry Bristol. I also used to train with a dude that was in Muscle and Fitness and was trying to get his pro card. He was friends with a lot of bodybuilders from the 90's and early 2000's. I've met and partied with Chris Cormier, Jay Cutler, Mike Matarazzo and several other guys. Most were a pain in the *** when they came to the club but Cormier and Cutler were cool. I've also met some hunting celebrities and country music peeps hanging with Justin and the bowhunting.com gang at the ATA show a few years ago. I've also met several MMA fighters.
In this area I've been blessed... Muhammad Ali when I was about 13 he was jokester he wrestled with several kids at a Memphis TN Community Center Jim Nabors in 1983 Some guys met him Yokosuka Japan brought him to the ship for a tour were he was introduced many of the ship complement......He doesn't like women. During a 3 week port visit in Hawaii our ship had boiler problems... 1985 Sylvester Stallone he was cool! Lee Van Cleef he was great! bought drinks and Pizza for everybody..RIP he was cool. Ralph Macchio he's a nice person but man he's was goofy kind of person. and David Carradine he was effing azz-hole. MC Hammer before he had his break out he was selling his cassette tape from the trunk of his car in front of OAB in Oakland CAl. We go overseas and come back and he's bigger than life. 1988 met actor Dorian Harewood he was married to Airforce Officer on Lackland AFB, he was surprisingly cool and love to play football. And Chris Rock at a San Antonio Club Called the Top Hat where we nearly came to blows. We asked him to take a Club Picture with us and he wanted to charge each person in the group photo $50.00 bucks each. James Doohan did a ship visit on the USS Philippine Sea CG 58 he was great personality. RIP. At at Star Trek convention in Charleston S. Carolina 1992 Denise Crosby FREAK! FREAK! FREAK! and George Takei if you ask him questions about the Movie The Green Beret with John Wayne he'll sign all of your star trek collectables. I've met many more but the last one that I took a picture with was actor comedian Jerry Lewis. Man What an AZZ HOLE!! Seen him in the Las Vegas airport where he was playing a slot machine sitting in a wheel chair I gave him a compliment and he cursed me and another guy out! Although he did allow us to take a picture with him, yet after that day I just don't think of him in the same way anymore.
I met and shook hands and spoke with Edward Teller, the father of the hydrogen bomb, at a Rotary Club meeting where he was the guest speaker on nuclear proliferation, back in the 1980s. I asked him how he felt about letting the genie out of the bottle. He said the Russians would have discovered the genie eventually anyway, if we had not first, because "it was obvious." Imagine someone that brilliant. Shook hands with his dear old but beautiful wife too.
Ive met A LOT of PGA tour golfers over the years. I'd say out of all of them the bigger pricks that stand out were Sergio Garcia (little *****), David Duval and Justin Leonard (surprisingly). And the biggest of them all Rory Sabbatini (guy walks on water according to him). Probably the nicest I've met was Matt Kuchar. Dude hung out with me at Jacks house for hours having a few beers and talking golf. Couples and Azinger stand out as being super nice too. Never met Bubba Watson, but some of my friends have and say he's a pompus ***. Never met Tiger either... maybe i'm not his type. Met a lot of other athletes and celebrities through my brother and his proffesion. He's one of the most famous chefs in the country. He's bounced around to a lot of elite country clubs over the years. I remember Roger Clemens being a complete jackass. Jerry Rice and Derek Jeter seemed down to earth and approachable.
i've worked in professional sports almost half my life so with that you get to meet a few people. i guess a few that stood out were: Jim Brown - one of the most intense individuals, he took sooooo much time with me to just sit and chat Lynda Carter (wonder wonman) - very sweet, we were at a wedding together and she granted me a few dances after i asked to dance with the only woman who could kick my ***. bad line i know Jesse Jackson - only reason why i say him cause the dude shook my hand after a game while i was butt naked reaching for a towel... dude can i get dressed first??? (only put this one down for Justin.... more randomness) Levi Lavalee (snow cross) - great person, one of the most dedicated people i know Chyna (wrestler) when Lesnar was trying out for the Vikes a lot of WWE persoanlities would pop in. Randy Moss - only put him down cause he has never been anything but great to me. made me feel like i belonged for that i am forever greatful
Tiger Woods....when he just started on tour. Seemed OK. I got to talk to him for a few minutes on the boardwalk in AC. Jimmy Houston...very funny guy
A few years back, me and a semi-famous bestselling author were banging the same chick. She said i was better.
Nothing super impressive to share here. My uncle plays the keyboard for the Moody Blues. Other than that I got to sit next to Krzysztof Soszynski (UFC Fighter) on a plane once from Orange County to Vegas. I love to watch MMA and was always a fan of his, he was a really cool dude and talked with me openly and didn't seem to snob me at all.
I worked for a Chiropractor that treated most of the MN Vikings for a few years. Met lots of great guys and not one of them that I had met were anything other than great. Cris Carter, Orlando Thomas, Lemanski Hall, Robert Griffith, Randy Moss, Jim Kleinsasser, and many more, but one of my favs...Matt Birk, he was also my grandpa's neighbor.
I drank a few beers and ate lunch with a guy and his family that was worth over a Billion dollars at one time. Had a very attractive daughter, to bad my game at that time stunk.
