Iggy Pop.
Hands down.
Iggy Pop.
Hands down.
Sydnee Maree. Saw him run my freshman year in high school at the Jumbo Elliot Invite at Villanova. Ran into him in the parking lot after the race, asked for his autograph, he signed my program and gave me a Reebok Racing Club tee shirt. I wore the shirt ALL the time!!
Billy Mills. Has never failed to be super nice in all the times I've spoken with him.
I have met some cool runners, But I must say Brad Bennett was by far the coolest. He has dug out seats when ever he is in town.
Generally, runners are a cool class of sports figures -- down to earth, sincere, fun. I had the good fortune of meeting Khalid Khannouchi at Chicago. He said, "If you believe it you can do it." Didn't work. Best of all was meeting Steve Jones in a Chicago hotel bar around 1:00am. Total legend and stud. Drinking beer with the consistency of molasses and making fun of everyone else's. Also met Abdi at Stanford. He thought I ran in the 10K that night, perhaps mistaking me for Scheibler. I thought about playing it off but I could only chuckle.
I haven't met many, but I did have the pleasure of spending a bit of time with Webb. Although he gets a lot of crap, and people think he has a bad attitude, he is actually a really nice guy. Talkative, funny, all around pretty chill. And nice enough to run slow for me to keep up on a cool down.
Met Steve Scott a couple of times. Nicest guy. Also, Ron Tabb. I ran with him for a few miles at a race. Made it an enjoyable race.
Eddy, hands down.
Ronnie Harris.
Frank Shorter(at an expo)...Inspiring.
Rod DeHaven(Park Forest Scenic 10M)...Inspiring as well, though he has never received the credit he deserves, I am a huge DeHaven fan.
Those two along with all other committed runners help provide a great amount of motivation and example-setting inspiration in the event I am ever blessed to run elite-standard times...as runners, we should be about encouraging each other. Well, yeah... those two were Cool. Take-Care...
G-d Bless,
RunningTheRace
Ed Eyestone- very cool- remembered me from year to year at the same race
Bill Rodgers- as nice and as friendly as everyone says- really takes an interest in you.
Mark Plaatjes (sp?)- very friendly- loved to talk about Colorado.
Kevin Sullivan- always nice and willing to talk to you
Kevin and Keith Hanson- very loyal to the local runners as well as their own elites
Always wanted to meet Bob Kennedy...
Ted Corbitt. Ultramarathoning great; member of 1952 Olympic marathon team and pioneer in course certification.
Sat next to Ted for the 1992 Olympic Trials in New Orleans and was thrilled to have met this quiet, dignified man. I understand that even now in his 80s, he's still walking 24 hour races and going farther than more than a few runners.
Also had a nice conversation with Billy Mills at a coaching clinic once. A great man with a powerful message.
Had a class in college with Herb Lindsay. Great guy! Remembering him coming back from NCAA XC talking about some new guy named Rono at Washington State who'd just won the race.
And I've met (and coached against) Solomon Richards! :)
I have to agree with the Kevin Sullivan post...too bad his wife is the absolute opposite...what a witch
Yeah Kevin is a very nice guy but I wouldn't call him the coolest (not exactly an exciting personality you'd want to have a beer with). I'd say Steve Cram for a pint. And you're right about Kevin's wife!
Go Navy wrote:
Ronnie Harris.
i'd second that.
tom fleming and bill rodgers rank high too.
Sam Bair.
My high school training partner and I did an eight mile run with him about 5 years ago at a running camp. Very talkative...he was interested in our training and told us some cool race stories. A nice guy.
Hanson fan wrote:
Jim Jursevich, Clint Verran, Brian Sell, Trent Briney, Richie Brinker, Nick Cordes, Monica Hostetler, Leigh Daniel,Carl Rundell, Jeff Campbell.......
I obviously agree, with all of these choices, plus MANY other people we've had and currently have. But I must be a jerk and correct you. It's Jim JURCEVICH. He's still the only Hanson's athlete who's wedding I've attended (sorry I missed the Verran wedding, I was at outdoor nationals in '02), so I have to spell his name right.
I have also had the privilige to know some other world class athletes like Darnell Hall(Olympic Gold Medalist '96 4x4), Carl Brown(former college teammate, now the US best at the discus), I kinda sorta know Paul McMullen(rabbiting for him officially once but off the record a few other times, great guy tough as nails,and all you suckas talkin' crap on the other thread better HOPE he is just running now just to stay in shape 'cause if he wants it...), Todd Black, (shoulda beat you at Hillsdale in '95, bruh!!).
Then there's the countless athlete's I've met or said hi to at meets, from Boaz to Dathan. Come to think of it, any elite athlete, from top class US to world record types, are all class acts. It's the great thing about our sport, we have no true idiots.
For the most part every elite runner I have bumped into were at competitions and all were extremely pleasant except for:
Frankie Fredricks
The most down to earth polite ones were:
Johnny Gray
Pattie Sue Plummer
Catherine Ndereba
Sandra Farmer-Patrick
Samuel Matete
Darnell Hall
Jim Spivey
Julius Kariuki-former steeple WR-extremely humble
Carl Lewis
Mike Marsh
Leroy Burrell
I put them in order of the ones that went out of their the most or cope with demanding fans and still be polite.
Vipam
The blood did'nt get all the way up to my brain when I posted this.[quote]DJ wrote:
I have also had the privilige to know some other world class athletes like Darnell Hall(Olympic Gold Medalist '96 4x4)
Well, Darnell won that gold in '92. He was also World Indoor Champion in the 400 in '95, 5th outdoors the same year.
anyone mentioned Eammon Coghlan yet...legend in every sense