And most of them don't talk about any kind of interaction beyond just meeting the person. I think the point was about how you interacted with the elite athlete, not just what elites you've met. No mention of non-running celebs.
And most of them don't talk about any kind of interaction beyond just meeting the person. I think the point was about how you interacted with the elite athlete, not just what elites you've met. No mention of non-running celebs.
I met Miley Cyrus at a sports bar in Miami once. We played pool for a bit before she had to go. She apparently ran a marathon in 4:54 once. A bit slower than my 4:10 but pretty impressive for someone who doesn't train all that much. We talked for a while. Apparently she used to be able to run a 100m sprint back in high school in under 13 seconds. Pretty impressive. I can barely break 13.
She is the sweetest most down to earth celebrity runner I've ever seen.
reading comp 101 wrote:
And most of them don't talk about any kind of interaction beyond just meeting the person. I think the point was about how you interacted with the elite athlete, not just what elites you've met. No mention of non-running celebs.
Fine. I met Jenna Jameson and Janine a couple years ago at the AVN Awards show in Vegas. I "interacted" with them three times that night. It. Was. Fun.
I trick or treated at Eric Montross' house when he was with the Celtics. He handed out full Snickers bars and my cousin asked if he could slam dunk. He said yes.
Sadly, I believe the celebrity bar on this thread has just been set. By me.
dean moriarty wrote:
Sadly, I believe the celebrity bar on this thread has just been set. By me.
I'm not so sure about that. The bar's not that low. I've seen worse. There might be someone popping along that further lowers the new low you've set.
When I was about 12 or 13, I went to the Palestra to watch a Big 5 game between St. Joe's and Temple(maybe LaSalle). I was picked out of the crowd to do ref/TV timeout shooting contest against another kid.
The two of us were put back from the court and given basketballs to hold. In front of me was Allen Iverson and John Calipari(asst. coach for the 76ers at the time). Iverson turns around and asks for a pass. Questions me why I'm down on the floor, asks me a few other questions about if I play basketball, what position, so on. As this is going on we are chest passing/bounce passing to each other for a minute or so. Myself and the other kid go out on the court for the contest. I end up winning(my section also won free BigMacs for my victory).
After I was shuffled off the court, Iverson high fived me. Pretty sweet, considering he was the biggest athlete in Philly at the time. Also to note, I was about 5'7 at the time, and he was eye to eye with me. So much respect for a guy his height to be playing in the NBA.
I met roger clemens and andy pettite one time when I was 6. I was at a golf camp and they were playing 9 on their off day. They were friendly and signed my tiny golf glove.
My dad was friends with Calvin Hill, the back from the Cowboys in the 70's. I saw Grant Hill (NBA dude) when he was a newborn and was freaked out by his enormous belt button.
Have seen Erin Donoghue probably 30 or 40 times. Works out at my school's track (private school) and at the public school where she went to high school. Also she spoke at a running seminar I attended and she was in the elevator with me on the way down. Had a nice conversation, she's very nice. Also jacked.
my freshman year, brian sell visited our campus for three days and spoke with our team about his 2007 olympic trials run (among other things). even cooler, i was one of the guys that picked him up from the airport - this dude refused to let us carry his bags, hahaha. even cooler than that, he watched me win the 1500 in my first college track meet, he's an all-around awesome guy.
the next day he did a long run with our team and i was sick with food poisoning, so i sat out and pouted. my teammate/roommate had a conversation with him about tattoos, guns, and the boondock saints.
one of my teammates also met famiglietti before the '08 trials in eugene, there's a video on flotrack where fam talks about it himself. he even gave him a ride to his hotel! after winning the steeple, he removed his headband and gave it to my teammate. that headband's since been lost, but methinks talking thrash metal with fam as he drops you off at your hotel is kind of a big deal.
Caddied for Tom Heinsohn and KC Jones in a charity golf round. Both Celtics champions are Hall of Famers as both players and coaches, amongst other achievements.
I always liked caddying for pro athletes because whether they had good games or not, you would see moments of greatness which made them part of that tiny percentage of the world's greatest athletes. Heinsohn's game was pretty erratic, but on a par 5, with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth, the guy went for the green in two and launched a 3 wood shot most pro golfers back then could not have made.
Famous runners I've interacted with:
Rob DeCastella - Boston Marathon
Paula Radcliffe - Running store in Albuquerque
Kenenisa Bekele - World Champs
Haile Gebresalaise - World Champs
Deena Kastor - California
Joan Benoit Samuelson - Boston
Moses Kiptanui - Worlds
Bill Rodgers - Road race
Jim Ryun - Ran with him, Western NY
Frank Shorter - Road race, Athlete's dinner, Olympic Trials
Billy Mills - Indiana
Dick Beardsley - Drove him to a hotel
Alberto Salazar - Western New York
Todd Williams - Boston
Bob Kennedy - Indiana
Khalid Skah - Worlds
Moses Tanui - Italy
Meb Keflezighi - Southern Cal. Trained with
This of course is what I consider my "A" list. Kinda helps that I was also an elite level runner, but of course, nowhere close to these runner's level since few are.
I was in the friends car whipping shitties during a blizzard. We were in a cul de sac and flew off the road into somebody's front yard. The headlights are aimed right in the front windows, around midnight. We get out to push and are all frantic like typical high school kids. Out of the house walk Randy Moss. He was totally cool about it all. He did not help push though.
More importantly, spoke with Billy Mills at a restaurant in Kansas. He looked deep into my eyes and recalled his entire race. Very moving and awesome of him to really "invest" in some young runners. Thanks Billy
When I was in high school, I sat behind/held the blocks for Carl Lewis at the old Jumbo Elliott meet at Villanova. He ran the 200 and I had to go to the finish to bring him his sweats while he was being interviewed by the press. He was already the biggest name in track at the time, chatted with me and seemed pretty cool.
At some point later in high school, when working at a hardware/home improvement store, I sold a couple of ceiling fans to Sydney Maree.
Right after my oldest son was born, I was doing a fartlek workout at Memorial Park in Houston. Bill Rogers was out there and I had met him briefly previously as Elite Athlete Coordinator for Houston Marathon. I needed about two miles to complete my run but had stopped to say hi when my wife walks up and hands me Jake so she could start her run. Bill offered to hold Jake so that I could finish my fartlek and did just that while talking to runners at Memorial Park.
As a 10 year old pop warner football player I would play my games on Saturday morning and my family would then take me up to Giants Stadium before Jets home games. At the time (I'm not sure if they do this now), there used to be a spot just outside the stadium entrance where the fans would be able to interact with the players and get autographs and what not. Being a life long Giants fan I still think these were some of the coolest events of my life as I was able to meet a lot of my idols in the NFL. Gonna list a few of them below.
Wayne Chrebet: Probably one of the nicest people I've ever met. Every week without fail he would walk up to the crowd and no matter how long it took would sign every autograph and pose for every picture that people wanted. I guess coming out of Hofstra and being an undersized WR in the NFL keeps your head of straight.
Keyshawn Johnson: Huge a-hole. Used to walk as far away from the barriers as possible and when people would holler for him to sign something he'd say something to the effect of, "show me the 50 bucks it'll cost you for it." Eventually did so and the guy still didn't sign it.
Jumbo Elliot and most of the offensive line were immensely cool to me as I was playing Center and Guard at the time (I was big for that age, my how times changed). I have a picture of the entire starting 5 with me on the shoulders of the Center. The next week, each one of them picked me out of the crowd and signed it for me.
Ray Lucas was one of the reasons I ended up going to Rutgers. Just a fantastic person, left his mark on me.
One day we got to the stadium early and were the only people there. We see a limo pulling up past security and as it rolls toward the stadium it stops. Out pops head coach Bill Parcells who would spend the next 15 minutes talking to us and would eventually pose for a picture with my cousin and I. I never got the chance to get it signed as I never saw him before a game again.
Finally, one of the coolest moments of my life was when the Dolphins came to town. This was when Dan Marino was shattering records left and right. The Fins bus stops right in front of us and some players get off, including Marino. Marino ends up essentially right across the barriers from me so as aI budding center I say, "Mr. Marino, can I snap the ball to you?" He picks me up over the barriers, hollers for one of the trainers on the team to get him a ball, hands the ball to me and then says, "let me see what you've got." I had a picture of me taken snapping the ball to him and then he coached me up a little. Just as he was leaving he pulls out a sharpie and signs the ball for me. Unfortunately, that picture and ball were recently damaged due to flooding when the hurrican rolled through Jersey earlier this summer. May be my favorite athlete related memory.
Curtis Martin: Very similar to Wayne Chrebet.
When I was warming up for this year's Falmouth Road Race, I had access to the elite pre-race area because I have some fast friends. I was surrounded by a whole bunch of fast guys, Acosta, McNamara, Gotcher, Kogo, even Shorter.
As I did my dynamic routine, Kogo was next to me doing his. He turned to me and said "Goodluck", as if I were some type of competition (I am just an 18:02 5k guy).
6 years ago was at a running store and the lady getting my shoes told me that her boyfriend was coming in the store in a week and i should meet him. Just simply said, he's a pretty good miler and I should come in to see him, ask him a few questions type a deal...Just for kicks when in to see who it was.
Turned out to be Alan Webb, spent a good 2 hours talking to him about running, school, and just really whatever. Was pretty sweet. Super nice dude. Goooood times
Steve Slattery accused me of stealing his luggage off of the baggage carousel in the Sacramento airport at the Trials in '04.
In retrospect, I should have snapped him like a twig.
No real interesting stories here, usually just leave people alone, but people I've run into:
Athletes:
Jerry Rice (I win)
Alan Webb
Shalane
Bernard Lagat
Muggsy Bouges (it was fun being taller than an NBA star)
Dell Curry
David Thompson
Sleepy Floyd
Abdi Bile
Nonathletes:
Drummer from Yellowcard
Lead singers of Go Radio and Man Overboard
All of Simple Plan
Dennis DeYoung
All of A Skylit Drive (But you guys probably have never heard of them)
Corey Glover