Off-Topic Forum

Rick Tocchet, at Cascata Golf Course near Boulder City Nevada.  About two months after the Penguins won the cup in 2016.  Nice guy.

several years ago, i won a contest where the winners received a luncheon with jerry rice as the guest spearker, that was hosted by former ram d'marco farr.

Wayne Gretzky, Jason Arnott and Eric Lindros (who was playing in that tournament) all together hanging out in a restaurant lounge in Saskatoon. They were in town for the IIHF World Juniors Tournament in 1991. We were in that restaurant that day and a friend of mine knew the owner. He (the owner) came over to our table and told us those guys were in the lounge (which was closed to the public at the time) and asked us if we'd like to meet them. Of course we said YES! Sat and talked to all 3 of them for about an hour. Had a BLAST!! 

Saw Mike Tyson on a flight, saw Randy Moss at the Minneapolis airport, spoke with Phil Niekro briefly at the Atlanta airport, saw Małgorzata (Margo) Dydek at a Walmart in Salt Lake City. 

I met Joe theismann at a bowling alley in Osceola, Indiana. Vince Evans at the Fields museum in Chicago. Shawn Kemp at a bar in Elkhart, Indiana. And Rick Mirer at a gas station. I live near Notre Dame so alot of sports guys come here. Shawn Kemp and Rick Mirer are from here. And theismann's daughter went to high school here.

Tug McGraw - early 1980s.  There was some kind of touristy ship thing in Philadelphia.  He signed my Phillies hat and posed for a picture.   

My high school track coach was Nick Eddy. 

I met Marty Lyons (New York Sack Exchange, NY Jets), and Bobby Nystrom (NY Islanders) at a Golf store grand opening on Long Island. Got both of their autographs, and had about a 15 minute conversation with them. This was back in the "80's. I still have the auto's

I also met Dennis Byrd of the NY Jets, at Shea Stadium(different sport venue, does that count?), Opening day for the NY Mets 1993, about 5 months after breaking his neck in a game in November of 1992. They had a ceremony for him, and he walked out onto the field.  Bumped into him behind the stands, where they sell refreshments and souvenirs. Had about a one minute conversation with him, before everybody realized who he was, and rushed him. He actually asked me if it was OK, that he didn't give me an autograph, because of the throngs of people closing in on us, and he didn't feel up to the challenge of signing that many auto's.

I also met Mike Bossy of the NY Islanders, at my friends card shop on Long Island, he was there doing an autograph session. Back in the '80's. I used to make deliveries to all the sports venues in NYC, and the Island back then. I was given a game used stick, with a cracked heel on the blade. Back then they didn't really save broken equipment to much. A lot of it got tossed, or given to the workers. When I laid the stick on the table, he looked up with a smile, and said, I've seen this before. I told him the story of how I got it. He just smiled again, and nodded, as he signed the stick, then inscribed it with his #22, and Stanley Cups 80-81-82-83. I still have the stick.

I met the 1960 Olympic javelin winner at a car show in Lake George NY. His car won best in show the day I met Chuck, but I actually spoke to him -about the car- last year. He had a 1912 electric car, unrestored and running, which is probably one of 5 left in the world if that many. 

For non-sports people out their venue, I am 99.9% sure I met musician Trace Adkins at a car show in Rhinebeck NY in 2009. I was there in the vendor room as my model car club had been running the model car contest for the Goodguys club. This guy comes by, stops to look at the cars. I was behind the table, he stopped by one car in particular, says to me "that's cool" or something along those lines, and keeps going.  Looked just like Trace Adkins, sounded like him, even had a scar in the same place from his surgery after being shot...and Trace Adkins was having a concert at Bethel Woods later that night...about an hour away. (Bethel Woods is the music center at Woodstock) Realized after the fact that the two guys with him were probably security. If it wasn't him it would have to have been an amazing coincidence. I believe it was him. If you don't know who he is, look up his song Arlington on YouTube. Yes, it's about the military cemetery.

In the 60s Joe Namath bought my mom a hot dog. The Jets used to practice at Peekskill, and my uncle really wanted an autograph. But he was sick or something, so my mom got it. Namath and a couple of his teammates stopped for lunch, and brought my mom with them. They ate sitting on the curb by her house. I actually have a slide my mom took of Namath. Of course, they all knew who she was because they knew her uncles. One uncle fixed their cars and one handled their real estate. Bill Bradley was a frequent visitor as he was friends with her uncle. She has also mentioned Burgess Merideth, Jackie Gleason, and others, coming by for dinner. Before she was 12 she already met more famous people than I have in 36 years, lol.

I used to work for a cable / internet / phone company just outside of Boston. We had a lot of athletes as customers in the higher-end apartments and condos we serviced. I met a number of Celtics and Red Sox but my favorite by far was Bill Mueller for the Red Sox. He was such a cool down to earth guy I meet his wife and kids as well as his 2 giant dogs also. We talked for like a 1/2 hour just hanging out in his living room.