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OT: Celebrities you’ve met and impressions

little a

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Jul 4, 2001
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Ok, off-season has begun- I’ve met Don Johnson at Texas-TTU game. Dude was very standoffish with me and my 2friends (skybox area) and then got stuck in an elevator with us. He was very short (not that there is anything wrong with that), couldn’t have been taller than 5’6” but had a hot and young Latina with him. Later found out she was some heiress to a fortune in Central America that bailed him out of bankruptcy so good for him, well done!
 
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I was once seated on a plane next to Sir Yacht.

After the plane pushed back from the gate, and the flight attendants were done with their safety checks, he said:. "My sources confirm we are about to take off. Most likely 15 minutes from now but certainly within the hour".

20 minutes later we returned to the gate and deplaned due to a mechanical failure. Once that announcement was made, he said "sources confirm we are about to be delayed".

He seemed nice enough, but smelled like flintstones vitamins and applesauce.
 
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Once shook hands, short conversation, with Senator(soon to be president)Obama....very cordial...

Spent an hour with Bob Dole, the year he ran for president(1996)...

George Brett married one of my high school basketball players( I coached girls, in case you were confused...:)...hung out with him twice...

Had a nice talk with the BobFather at and FCA meeting once, where Dr.Tom was speaking....
 
While in college at UNK, I worked at a local restaurant & had the opportunity to meet John Madden. He stopped on his way to Canton for the Hall of Fame game. Very nice & personable, could have sat & talk to him for hours.

Speaking of impressions, I also met Rich Little there. Again, very down to earth.

The best celebrity that I met while in Kearney was Zane Hickey. Very personable, great story teller, & a dry but hilarious sense of humor. I was surprised at how tall he is. He told me a story about how he tried to ride a horse one time but it was too challenging because his own feet touched the ground 😉
 
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I rode in an elevator with Magic Johnson at the Final Four in Detroit the day before Mich St played North Carolina for the title.

he was very cool to me and my buddies (insisted on getting in w us instead of waiting for the next one), and obviously pumped for his alma mater. he's also an absolute giant.
 
I once served Greg Norman a diet coke at a charity golf event hosted by Tom Watson. He is intense. But, he had reason to chew out our club pro who was a real *** , much to our delight.

Met Pat Buchanan, Jan Stenrud, Tommy Morrison, George Brett and Frank Thomas in my travels around KC. Brett is not a nice person.

Traci Bingham from Baywatch got married to the son of a couple of Iowa State professors. He was a musician of some sort. Never heard of him. A few of the Baywatch gals were at the wedding which was at the student union. Carmen Electra came into the back room where we were filling water glasses. I handed her a napkin. We were all stunned and didn't say a word. At the time, she was dating Dennis rodman, but he didn't show. Talk about a missed opportunity. I should have gotten an autograph at least.
 
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I guess the most famous person I've met has to be Ndamukong Suh. I waited on him when I worked at Lazlos in the Haymarket. I wanna say it was his soph or junior year, he had just started to break out to where I knew who he was. Nice guy, drank a lot of water.

McKeon and his girlfriend used to come in pretty regularly, I know this board doesn't love him but they were always fine to wait on. I waited on Bobby Newcombe there once as well. Couldn't figure out why he looked so familiar til he handed me his credit card. I'm sure there were other players, I just don't recognize most of them without their number on their chest.

Chuck Liddell came in there one time with a big group, they weren't my table, this was shortly after he bought Mickey's.

Waited on Jerry Taggae at Granite City once by I didn't know who he was at all til he handed me his card, he was before my time.

Oh and LOL one time (I worked at a lot of different restaurants) Melissa Midwest--then Melissa Lincoln--came into Famous Daves and none of the dudes on staff could place where we knew her from...until we could.
 
I've pissed next to a few celebrities:

NU Men's Gymnastics coach Francis Allen (quasi celebrity) in the alley behind "Vern's Cornhusker Club and Suds Pub" in Fullerton, CA. We were both intoxicated after a NU-UCLA game in the early 90's.

Rick Springfield at LAX (in a restroom this time).

Martin Short at the Second City Comedy Club in Chicago (he wasn't performing, he was in the audience with Steve Martin when they were doing their comedy tour a few years ago).

Didn't form any impressions of any of them, because that would have been damn creepy. In hindsight, I could have started a photo collection titled "inappropriate selfies with celebs".
 
I've met Ted Nugent in passing at Fat Jacks. Eddie Vedder, Stone Gossard, Dave Abbruzzese, Flea, Al from Ministry and various other musician types in a hotel bar in St Louis before and after Lalapalooza. I was too drunk to remember much of it and I don't so impressions.
 
Got pictures and autographs with Johnny Cash back in 1974 when he was in Colorado filming Ridin' the Rails. He even came over to us kids when he saw us laying pennies on the track and then watching them get flattened on the rail, he pulled out change and set down some coins and also gave kids who didn't have coins a few pennies so they could get in on it. Met his wife June as well.

Met a lot of musicians when I worked venues like Fiddler's Green and Red Rocks in the Denver area.
 
Not much of anything to brag about. Had some personal encounters with people that were reality stars in California at restaurants, clubs, and a park. I was in line behind Warren Sapp to board a flight back from Kauai. I didn't talk to him but he also seemed a shade shorter than me and I'm 6'1.
 
The most interesting, but I didn't meet him...but having coffee with my sister and her best friend called who had been out the night before and brought Geraldo Rivera home (in Omaha), she wakes up next to him and calls my sister cracking up about it (yes he was married and yes he is a well known hound)...that was a funny convo to hear.

If you are not a mountain biker the name Tom Ritchey might not mean anything, but if you are, then you know he is on the Mount Rushmore of pioneers that invented mountain bikes and their evolution was much of his doing...rode past him in Moab Utah while on a kick ass mountain bike ride in the mecca of mountain bike trails there.
 
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I've pissed next to a few celebrities:

NU Men's Gymnastics coach Francis Allen (quasi celebrity) in the alley behind "Vern's Cornhusker Club and Suds Pub" in Fullerton, CA. We were both intoxicated after a NU-UCLA game in the early 90's.

Rick Springfield at LAX (in a restroom this time).

Martin Short at the Second City Comedy Club in Chicago (he wasn't performing, he was in the audience with Steve Martin when they were doing their comedy tour a few years ago).

Didn't form any impressions of any of them, because that would have been damn creepy. In hindsight, I could have started a photo collection titled "inappropriate selfies with celebs".
 
I've met lots of Husker athletes and coaches over the years, and even coached a couple of them in youth sports and watched them grow up into great players. Had Dr. Tom talk to our sunday school class a few years ago. Just a few of us in the room and he was smiling and telling all kinds of stories I hadn't heard before. It was awesome.

Met Bob Gibson 3 times over the years-- he was super nice in person. He talked to my 8 year old for several minutes at the airport in Omaha on the way back from beating Tennessee for our last national title.

Sat by Jim Morris, aka "The Rookie" on a plane a few years back. Really friendly and a big Michigan fan. I'll put it nicely- he looks nothing like Dennis Quaid who portrayed him in the movie.

Met Dick Vitale and Jim Valvano at the 1990 Final Four in Indianapolis. They were super friendly to everyone and joked with people asking for autographs. Really left a good impression on everyone they met.

Keanu Reeves sat right ahead of us at the USC game in Lincoln a few years back. Didn't even recognize him at first as he had a scruffy beard on and I was enjoying the game for about 10 minutes. He was quiet but the group of 4 of them were very nice. He went down to the field at halftime when some girls started to notice him and ask for photos.

Luckily I haven't met any celebrities who are jerks.
 
Shook hands and chatted a bit with Hugh Jackman and his wife. Very gracious (he even remembered my name) and his wife was a regular-looking person. I give credit to Jackman, marrying for love, not for looks (married for 24 years now).

Rode an elevator with Rasheed Wallace, who was skinnier than I thought, but I certainly would not mess with him. Shook hands with Jesse Jackson, but was interrupted by some doofus who rushed up to him and hugged him. Had dinner with Jeff Koons (famous artist for you who only know sports). No, his porn star wife was not there. I was in a restaurant when Kenny G came in and used the bathroom. My girlfriend used the bathroom after him (there was only one) and noted how stinky it was. I guess everyone poops.
 
Spent a night co-hosting an event with Adam Sandler (pre-SNL). He was shy and quiet, not what you would expect.

Played pick up basketball with Poison during their 1991 (?) tour. Bret was great. We rode back in the hotel van with the group (my roommate was the driver) and when we got back there were a bunch of high school aged girls waiting for us for autographs. I got out of the van behind CC and a girl ran up and asked if he would sign her ass. He turned, looked at me, and said "what ya gonna do?"

Spent a night drinking with Olympic gold medalist in Skeleton Jimmy Shea. He did a corporate speaking event with us and then went out drinking with about 10 of us, great guy and an even greater story. We kept in touch for a few years after.

A friend of mine is George Wendt's cousin and he came to her wedding. Very quiet guy, unexpected.

Grew up with Andy Roddick's brother. Andy was in diapers at the time and was a holy terror.
 
I guess the most famous person I've met has to be Ndamukong Suh. I waited on him when I worked at Lazlos in the Haymarket. I wanna say it was his soph or junior year, he had just started to break out to where I knew who he was. Nice guy, drank a lot of water.

McKeon and his girlfriend used to come in pretty regularly, I know this board doesn't love him but they were always fine to wait on. I waited on Bobby Newcombe there once as well. Couldn't figure out why he looked so familiar til he handed me his credit card. I'm sure there were other players, I just don't recognize most of them without their number on their chest.

Chuck Liddell came in there one time with a big group, they weren't my table, this was shortly after he bought Mickey's.

Waited on Jerry Taggae at Granite City once by I didn't know who he was at all til he handed me his card, he was before my time.

Oh and LOL one time (I worked at a lot of different restaurants) Melissa Midwest--then Melissa Lincoln--came into Famous Daves and none of the dudes on staff could place where we knew her from...until we could.
About a year ago I got Mike Madigan to press the elevator button for my floor in our shared building's parking garage. I didn't have the heart to ask him about that day's Tribune headline. I still laugh at the concept of Mike Madigan being my bitch, just for a moment. Mike freaking Madigan.
 
I remember my wife and I got to the 1998 Nebraska-Arizona Holiday Bowl game a little later than we wanted...we were hustling to an alumni party and we were running as fast as we could - rounded a corner and bumped into a guy really hard, almost knocking him down. I apologized profusely and the guy was really cool - turned out it was Greg Kinnear, he was really short.

Met some other celebs over the years, John Elway was kind of a douche at a Harvest House bar in Boulder during the 1995 Colorado-Nebraska game, but to be fair the place was packed with drunk morons. Trev Alberts was kind of standoffish in a random encounter as well....
 
I have met dick vitale in siesta key at the broken egg, I also played hammer shlaughen with the rook from super troopers/beer fest at a beer fest in Minneapolis.
 
Ok, off-season has begun- I’ve met Don Johnson at Texas-TTU game. Dude was very standoffish with me and my 2friends (skybox area) and then got stuck in an elevator with us. He was very short (not that there is anything wrong with that), couldn’t have been taller than 5’6” but had a hot and young Latina with him. Later found out she was some heiress to a fortune in Central America that bailed him out of bankruptcy so good for him, well done!

Met Jay Leno. Was a guest participant on the “tonight show”. Had to finish the song “Monster Mash” on halloween. Got a hat.

Met N. Suh at the Outland ceremony. My son worked for Husker Vision and created a video for him at the event. He said my son made him cry. A proud papa moment.

Met the late great Don Shula at a Broadway play. Was very rude. Said he refused to shake my hand. Of course maybe that had something to do with the fact that we were standing next to each other at the urinals. Saw that he He was very short. 😂
 
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Shook hands and chatted a bit with Hugh Jackman and his wife. Very gracious (he even remembered my name) and his wife was a regular-looking person. I give credit to Jackman, marrying for love, not for looks (married for 24 years now).

Rode an elevator with Rasheed Wallace, who was skinnier than I thought, but I certainly would not mess with him. Shook hands with Jesse Jackson, but was interrupted by some doofus who rushed up to him and hugged him. Had dinner with Jeff Koons (famous artist for you who only know sports). No, his porn star wife was not there. I was in a restaurant when Kenny G came in and used the bathroom. My girlfriend used the bathroom after him (there was only one) and noted how stinky it was. I guess everyone poops.
I also had a close encounter with Jesse Jackson on a flight from London to Chicago. I was loitering outside the bathroom waiting my turn when I sensed someone behind me kinda crowding my space. I looked over my shoulder.... Jesse Jackson. Didn't speak to him.

I shot the shit for a couple minutes with Andy Roddick waiting to board a flight to Lincoln from Atlanta. I'm fairly certain no one else recognized him at all. I broke the ice by telling him how much my wife loves his wife, he got a chuckle from that.
 
Not much of anything to brag about. Had some personal encounters with people that were reality stars in California at restaurants, clubs, and a park. I was in line behind Warren Sapp to board a flight back from Kauai. I didn't talk to him but he also seemed a shade shorter than me and I'm 6'1.

Weird - I was behind Warren Sapp and what I assume was his young daughter in a line at Disney World. I remember being surprised he wasn’t taller. I’m 6’1”, as well and he sure seemed shorter than me.
 
How could I forget this one. Back in 1995 we took the kids to Disneyworld. Walking off of Splash Mountain and coming through the side entrance was the gorgeous Kathy Ireland, in the prime of her career. She even smiled to my two kids, who were 6 and 3 at the time. I said to my wife "that was Kathy Ireland". Who? "Kathy Ireland-- a sports illustrated swim.....". My wife was not impressed, but my friends I told about it later were. :)

Talked to Rain Wilson (Dwight Shrute) a few years ago at game at Lambeau. He was standing right next to me on the aisle during a timeout. Asked if he was Packer fan. He said it was a bucket list item and was there with three friends. He seemed to be talking to other people throughout the game in his seat and was really friendly.
 
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I've met quite a few UFC fighters. All were super humble and down to earth.
 
I shook johney cashes hand at the sidney iowa rodeo in the 70's...it did'nt give me time to make a profile
 
Played pick-up basketball with Barry Sanders.

Went to Wichita State. One day after class one of my buddies said that Barry Sanders was in the Heskett center playing pickup ball. This was either in '94 or '95. We went up there, sure enough he was there with some of his guys playing. There were just a handful of other guys waiting for a game. Played several games, was pretty cool. He mostly talked a ton of shit and shot threes. Pretty sure he wanted to keep someone like me from falling on his knee. Way smaller than what you would think an NFL back looks like. Every bit as fast as you'd think Barry Sanders would be.
 
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In the mid-90s I won a contest for Miller Lite beer that I didn't know I had even signed up for. My Gf and I were at Brewsky's and the radio station was broadcasting from there. I put my name in thinking I was signing up to win the "prizes" they had on the table...CD's and coffee mugs. One morning I get a call from the radio asking if they can put me on the air. I had won the Miller Lite contest to go to New Orleans. The morning guys got a kick out of me not knowing that I'd even signed up for it. I got to go to New Orleans and make a commercial with the cast of MAD TV promoting the Super Bowl. I was a Miller Lite Delegate to the Super Bowl convention. There was one winner from every state and we had to hold up a sign like you see at political conventions with our state on it. So we hung out with the MAD TV cast. Arti Lange was probably the most memorable member. He got absolutely trashed both nights we were with them. After we filmed we all took a riverboat up the Mississippi and there was a party at the mansion where they filmed "Interview With A Vampire". Dishwalla played for about 150 people.
 
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Many years ago I was leaving the AZ Capitol building in a windy snowstorm. As the sidewalk from the Capitol merged with the sidewalk next to the street (due to poor visibility) I almost walked into Bob Hope, who unbeknownst to me was performing that night in Lincoln. We exchanged hellos and I spent the next 30 minutes saying to myself, ”No, it was probably just someone who looks like him — and if it was him, thank God I didn’t knock him over and hurt him!”
 
I have greeted Dr. Tom a few times years ago at church and met Solich once after he was at Ohio. Both were extremely polite and gracious as one would expect.
Jim Tressel as President of Akron U. Nice guy but we all know better. Laughing

Family had a connection to former Coach Sanders back in his days as a player(if they ever ended?). He got me my football cleats for my last couple years of high school at a locker room discount. Very charismatic also as one would expect.
Met lots of players from the late 80s early 90s despite attending Doane rather than UNL. Steve Taylor, Will Washington(super nice guy), Dana Brinson, etc for reference of years.

Craig Morton was a 3rd cousin of a classmate of mine and met him when he visited.
Met all 3 Heisman Huskers at a trade show where they were signing autographs. Rozier was the friendliest but nobody was rude.
Emmitt Smith at an airport and he was gracious to a lot of people shaking hands and autograph requests.

Had a backstage meet & greet with The Little River Band. They were ridiculously nice. Invited 4 of us to stay and eat dinner with them and we ended up hanging out with them for about 3 hours. One was a huge Cleveland Browns fan for some strange reason.

Famous only in Rock Radio circles was long time DJ Jeff Kinsbach who worked at Cleveland's WMMS which was pretty big deal in the 70's and 80's(sister station to Z100 in NYC.)

Met Lynna Lai(Cleveland anchorwoman) in line at a food truck and she was very hot. It was about 115 heat index! Attractive woman too I suppose it you wanted to google...
 
Ok, off-season has begun- I’ve met Don Johnson at Texas-TTU game. Dude was very standoffish with me and my 2friends (skybox area) and then got stuck in an elevator with us. He was very short (not that there is anything wrong with that), couldn’t have been taller than 5’6” but had a hot and young Latina with him. Later found out she was some heiress to a fortune in Central America that bailed him out of bankruptcy so good for him, well done!
define "celebrity" George Burns, Fuzzy Zoeller, Marty Schotenheimer, Dr. Tom, Sal Bando, Kareem, Rollie Fingers, all very nice except Kareem. He was signing autographs at the MOA and you could tell he didn't want to be there. Had drinks with some of them. Not going to list them all. Ran in to George Burns in the lobby of the old downtown Hilton in Lincoln. He was very cordial and as usual had his "nurse" on his arm. I'm sure there's more. Most people once they're out of the limelight turn out to pretty good dudes.
 
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Had a beer with Evan Felker (Lead singer of the now defunct Turnpike Troubadours). This was before he had affair with Miranda Lambert. Very down to earth and polite person. Well, not as polite to his wife, in retrospect.
 
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