The Most Famous Person You've Met

Greg Almond

Dickie Betts

Billy Gibbons

Paul Simon's mother

Mean Gene oakerland

Creator of Garfield the cat




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I am not much into politicians or actors/actresses, though I certainly would separate Bob Hope, and Ronald Reagan, from that crowd, what little I know of them, and would consider it an honor to have met them.

Meeting people you will never see again seems generally a dubious honor, though it can be fun for a few moments. Maybe that’s not the right way to look at it? I once met Isaac Stern and, later, Mario Andretti. I had nothing in common with Maestro Stern since I had never even handled a violin, though I could try to appreciate his talent. There was no real opportunity to speak with him - maybe it’s just as well.

Mario Andretti was another story! At that time he was the new World Champion driving the John Player Special (Team Lotus). We had a brief chat in a restaurant in Indianapolis. I think he was amused to find a Hoosier who knew a small bit about Formula One, and of course I enjoyed a few of his comments that one would not have read in the newspapers or magazines. ;)
 
You NASCAR fans will appreciate this one. Cale Yarborough and his entourage at my Uncles funeral. Then I learned from my mother that she dated him once when they were in their teens. She said it was the worse date she was ever on, she sat in a chair while he worked on his car in the driveway...needles to say, no second date. Barbie Benton pinched my cheek once, and I still haven't washed it. And does Boxcar Willie count as famous?
 
greyhawk178 said:
Playmate Patti McGuire....just before she was named Playmate of the Year. My signed copy of her issue Playboy has , somehow, disappeared. Nice gal. We, my ex and I, talked to her for about 1/2 an hour on her break at an auto show.
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Miss October. My 14th birthday playmate from '76. Still married to Jimmy Connors, I believe.



I used to work on Dan Pastorini's copier at his post Houston Oilers drag racing shop in my younger days. Also got to meet Evander Holyfield at City Hall when I was working on a copier there many years ago.
 
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I’ve met a lot of MLB players and all the owners of the Dodgers (current), likewise Florida Marlins & Miami Dolphins (work related stuff).
Moto GP world champs Freddy Spencer, Mick Doohan, Kevin Schwantz,
Movie stars? Robert Preston was my favorite (in Belize of all places), I surfed with James Arness and Rolf....
Pop culture? Jimmy Buffet, Stevie Ray Vaughn etc etc.
....and politicians oh yeah.
Has it done me any good? Well, some were good tippers....

All in the line of work, except for the Arness family.

Oh yeah, I met Miki Dora in Biarritz. forgot about that.
 
Former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and SC Governor Nikki Haley.

Former lieutenant governor of South Carolina Nick Theodore.

United States Senator from South Carolina Strom Thurmond.

Former Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina Andre Bauer.

Darius Rucker

Cale Yarborough

Bert Reynolds

Johnny Weissmuller swimmer and actor known for playing Tarzan in films of the 1930s and 1940s. I met him in the 60s.
 
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That would have to be President Nixon.:) I met and got to talk to him one on one in,
of all places, The Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, Turkey.:eek: It would have been around 1984 or 85.
 
Jon Huntsman Sr, founder of the Huntsman Cancer Institute. Mr Huntsman has donated over $1.5 billion to the Institute and left another $1 billion when he passed away.

I credit this man for saving my life and countless others.

I met him on a few occasions while volunteering at the Huntsman Cancer Hospital. A true gentleman.

His personal body guard was the son of one of my closest friends and mentor. He went thru the academy to become a Salt Lake County Sheriff's Deputy with my brother.
 
Neil Armstrong. Twice.

Once in the mid-1980s, when the hotel where I worked at the time hosted a golf tournament and he was one of the “celebrity golfers” invited. I got to check him in.

The second time in 2005 at an aviation event in Nevada with which I was involved. That time I actually got to talk to him as a normal person; needless to say, he did not recall the hotel check-in ;)
 
Doug Koenig, Bruce Piatt, Rob Leatham, Jerry Miculek, Julie Golob, Max Michel, John Pride, Mickey Fowler, Jesse Harrison, Rob Vadasz, Vera Koo, USAMU team, many more. Invented a new front sight for Jerry M. Shot the match and practice with all of them, had dinner with some a few times. These people are famous in the handgun shooting world, but most everyone else wouldn't know of them.

I see them for a week every year at the Bianchi Cup. Many are using my Bianchi shooting gear. Anyone who goes to the match can talk to them one on one, not just me. It's like a big family.
 
When I was a teenager I met Pat O'Brien on a TV service call. He was staying at the home while he was working at a dinner theater. Many of the younger group here probably don't know who he was.
Pat O'Brien (actor - Wikipedia)

I was in a commercial with Hacksaw Dugan and Junkyard Dog back in 1987. Again you young ones here probably never heard of them either. They both were well known wrestlers at the time.
 
Chuck Norris and Christy Brinkley at a book signing at a Costco and they were well protected by very large body guards, was a bit surprised that Chuck looks much larger in the movies.:D:cool:

Randy Weaver at a book signing at a Ks. gun show. Was hard to look him in the eye, after all that happened to him and his family, just felt so bad for him.

Ray Martinez, the off duty police officer with officer McCoy that killed the Austin Tower shooter in 1966 at another book signing. Ray was very pleasant to talk to.

James Drury, the Virginian at a gun show and barely recognized him, but also very pleasant.
 
President Reagan - I led a work group that raised $3 million for his first election, and was invited to the inauguration and two of the after-parties; attended all, and spent about 5 minutes talking to him directly at one of the parties. Wonderful guy. :)

William Hopper (played Perry Mason's investigator), the night he walked through my parents' sliding glass patio door during a party (he had a bit of a drinking problem, but was lots of fun). :eek:
 
I worked for many years as a stage and audio tech, so met or sometimes worked shows with a variety of people. Kathy Mattea; Arlo Guthrie; blues giants B.B. King and Taj Mahal; all members of R.E.M.; MoJo Nixon (first MTV v-jay); Julian Lennon, many others come to mind. On stage shows, mic'd up Jennifer Garner as a teenaged star-to-be in local musicals. Others included the tag team of Nick Nolte and Leslie Neilsen - both fans of my C&W band (Nolte was dating a local lady, and Neilsen came to town to relax and play golf with old friends), and I helped Neilsen load Nolte into the back of his limo after gigs all too often. At my museum, met astronaut Jon McBride, and General Chuck Yeager (who may be the toughest old man I ever met - and he verified he broke the sound barrier with broken ribs after losing a bar fight the night before).
 
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I'm from Outstate Michigan. That means not Detroit, and not the U.P.
I have a friend who once encountered Charlton Heston while out for
a country walk. That's about it, except I once shared an elevator with
Jack Lemon in Las Vegas. We did not speak. Nice eyepatch. He died shortly after, but don't think I was a suspect.
My wife encountered the Pope's cavalcade three times the same day in Chicago once, but she was raised Episcopal so it might not count.
 
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