Name-Dropping for Fun...

[timchar]

Originally Posted by Don Ro

OK, that wasn't so hot...tennis bums, listen-up.
.
A hundred yrs. ago, I played USTA tournament tennis and through various introductions I met and hit with Hank Pfister several times.
He was ranked #10 World at the time.
Two things I took away from that acquaintance:
- He lost to Borg at the US Open but took a set off the champ.
Pfister said that how Borg's game would dishearten most players was that no matter how penetrating your shot was, Borg would be there waiting for the ball.
- I couldn't believe how much better I played as a result of hitting w/Pfister's level of skill.
Forever grateful, I was (am).

I'm a tennis fanatic..Must of been a very special treat to hit with Pfister...They hit the ball with such velocity and heaviness..I met Johnny Mac in Tahoe in the 90s. Do you still play any tennis? Tim

[madmmac]

It must have been 6 or 7 years ago when I went into a restaurant in Lahaina after golfing before the wife and kids showed up. I was way early for our reservation so I went out to the deck to partake in an adult beverage whilst waiting for the family to show up.

Our reservation was for 5 so there was a lot of time to partake the great views and beverages. If you have ever golfed, you always say it will take much longer, just in case.

Anyways, knowing I was way early and not having a car to go back to our condo, I figured I would just settle in out on the deck. I proceeded out to the deck and at this time of the day it was empty except for 1 other person. Give it another 90 minutes and it would normally be packed.

I sauntered by and asked the gentleman if it was OK to join him? It's the kind of guy I am, it bugs the crap out of my wife, but it's just me. He said,"Please do".

The guy is wearing a bucket hat and looked like everyone on the island. We have a glorious discussion of life, religion, marriage, kids, sports and pretty much anything and everything. I thought this is probably the most intelligent, insightful and self depreciating person I have ever met in my life.

My wife and kids finally show up around 5 and after introducing my new friend to my wife and kids, he asks me if I really know who he is, and I said, "Do you really know who you are"? He just cracks up laughing and said that may be the best answer he has ever heard when he has asked that question.

About that time my wife says, don't you know who he is? I of course answer, "That's Wayne." Yes, she said, that's Dr Wayne Dyer.

Probably the most sincerest and heartfelt person I have ever talked to in my life.

[intakexhaust]

The late Mr. Red Skelton

[intakexhaust]

Louis Farrakhan.

[intakexhaust]

Car dude and long time Porsche enthusiast Michael Jordan.

[intakexhaust]

Oprah

[Don Ro]

Originally Posted by timchar

I'm a tennis fanatic..Must of been a very special treat to hit with Pfister...They hit the ball with such velocity and heaviness..I met Johnny Mac in Tahoe in the 90s. Do you still play any tennis? Tim

.
My business blossomed and I had to leave the game...played only sparingly back then. 'Not sure I could hit a backhand drop shot anymore.
.
Yes, the ball would be heavy...but when he hit with his and my friend (Kim Purcell) I got to watch him better.
So smooth and graceful with his weight transfer = power.
.
Happy hitting, Tim.
.
ps I miss the game.

[Don Ro]

Just remembered:
.
In the military, my roomie took me back to his home in Milwaukee for a week. His father was associated w/the GB Packers somehow...childhood friends w/one of the coaches, I think.
I think we went to GB or at least to a practice field and I actually saw and heard the man, Vince Lombardi.
Standing on the side lines, Lombardi was just a few feet away, we heard him yell at the defensive back (paraphrasing), "Do not let him catch this ball!"
Then he grabbed the jersey front of a receiver and said, "Now you catch that ball, son, do you hear me!?"
We were impressed. He had a booming voice, I remembered.
When he just spoke in a regular voice, he could be heard from the far corners of the field.

[Cajundaddy]

We were karting at K1 Ontario one night when in walked team Falcon Tire for a little spirited R&R before the Long Beach Grand Prix. Porsche factory driver Wolf Henzler and Karting champion Bryan Sellers got us that night with Bryan setting a new track record. My brother and I managed to outrun all the pro drift team drivers though.

[speeder]

Had a fun time hanging out with Joe Strummer and his lady friend for an entire evening once in 1991. I was eating at the bar of the restaurant I worked at the time, we got a lot of music royalty and I was not going to bother the guy even though I practically worshiped him. Long story short, they started chatting me up and invited me to tag along with them to go see a friend's band at a club in Hollywood.

I had heard that he could be moody but he was in high spirits that night and various Clash fans were freaked out and delighted to see him at the other club. We talked quite a bit and at the end of the night when they dropped me off at my car at the restaurant, he gave me a big hug and said, "Denis is a good rocker!" Granted, he'd had a few but it was a high point in my rock fan life.

[Don Ro]

"Granted, he'd had a few but it was a high point in my rock fan life."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And that's why we're all posting in this thread...for the fun of it all.
At one level we feel silly telling it, and yet we were thrilled at another level.

[imcarthur]

With a career in high end hifi & Pro audio I have met a few. Many of whom I didn't even recognize – I am a lousy celeb spotter.

But one story I have told before: In 1985 I was a partner in a hifi shop in Toronto. One of our customers’ people phoned & asked if we could send someone to fix a hifi for Gordon Lightfoot. I jumped in the car & headed to his house – a large Victorian in the swanky Rosedale area. He answered the door & showed me his very modest system – a Dual turntable, Harman-Kardon receiver & a cheap pair of bookshelf speakers. He wandered off & I did some trouble-shooting. It was just speaker wires that had fallen off. I fixed it & went to find him. He was in his kitchen lighting a joint. He thanked me & said: “Don’t tell anybody” & waved the joint around. But he didn't offer me any . . . and I have never forgiven him. And his production company didn't pay the bill for the house call.

Ian

[Don Ro]

" “Don’t tell anybody” "
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
How silly...this line always cracks me up.
Yeah, Anne Frank is in the attic, don't tell anybody.

[Lothar]

Talked to Brian Redman on the phone once. A friend and I had a question about the 908-3 and the friend knew Brian. He said, "Let's call him".

Met Jim Valvano on a plane one time. I quietly said hello and left him to settle into his seat. He was quite ill at the time.

April 2004, day of NFL draft in San Diego, I made a connection in Dallas to return to Raleigh, NC. Philip Rivers sat down next to me and he proceeded to tell me about being drafted by the Giants and subsequently traded to the Chargers that day. Very cool guy and he was very excited about starting his NFL career.

[speeder]

Roy Orbison sat at my desk in the showroom of Westwood Porsche in 1986 and talked to me for almost an hour while waiting to pick up his 911 from service. I swear, time stood still.

[Por_sha911]

Well, no one has jumped on the opportunity so I might as well:
Celebrities are always bragging about having met me.
I've met a few folks but mostly my life is uneventful. When I was a teenager I had the chance to talk with Walter Matthau (one of my favorite actors) but choked at the opportunity, just smiled and moved on. I had a chat with Bobby Rahal for a bit a few years back.

[techweenie]

You reminded me of a time back in the late '80s I was going into a gallery in Santa Monica, and on the steps, Cheech Marin was chatting with George Harrison. I couldn't bring myself to do anything other than smile and nod at George and got the same in return. I did meet one of my favorite actors, James Coburn on the day the "Flint" movies came out on DVD. I acted like a stupid fan and interrupted his coffee to congratulate him. He was gracious, but seemed a bit out of it. And sadly, he was dead only a few weeks later.

The only actors I ever spoke with who were grateful for the attention were David Clennon, who was in The Thing (Palmer) and Thirtysomething, playing a role based on a guy I once worked for, and Joe Turkel, who played Tyrell in an all-time favorite film, Blade Runner. Both nice as hell.

I lived in Malibu for 2-1/2 years and rubbed shoulders with a lot of folks from Pearce Brosnan to Paul Walker to Pam Anderson.

[Zeke]

As I said reading this thread precipitates memories. Another couple went with us to the Stardust Grand Prix. This was a time when people from Vasek Polak drove sports race cars from L.A. to L.V. to race and back. As we were leaving in my friend's Lotus Cortina in very slow post race traffic, my friend all of a sudden opens the door and hops out. I grabbed the wheel and managed to get into the driver's seat. Here my buddy is yelling back at us that, "It's Stirling Moss!"

Well, yeah, it was, driving in the next lane in I don't remember what, but is was an open roadster. Here is my buddy walking and trotting alongside Moss chatting him up. He (my buddy) might have been a bit drunk. I think everyone was except maybe SM.

I think the circumstances upon which you come up on someone famous have every bit as much to do with the story as the person themselves. Like techweenie, if I see someone famous that is otherwise busy, I don't intrude. Well when aren't they busy?

My wife sat across from Sandra Bullock in the waiting area of the airport terminal. SB never looked up from her phone in the 15 minutes they sat there. Like me, my wife didn't say a thing and probably therefore didn't tip off a bunch of idiots.

We're still waiting for the tin of macadamia nuts as a thank you.

[mikesride]

Originally Posted by speeder

Roy Orbison sat at my desk in the showroom of Westwood Porsche in 1986 and talked to me for almost an hour while waiting to pick up his 911 from service. I swear, time stood still.

DUH.......WINNER!!!!!!!! You can close the thread now.........I gotta admit I haven't recognized 80% of the "celebrities" listed here....no offense folks, but this here is a brush with a LEGEND.... WOW!!!!

[mikesride]

OK.....These are lame compared to Roy Orbison.....But these are some of the "big name folks" I have had conversations with.
Dillon McDermott (spelling? tv actor guy in a small town airport)
Jacques Villeneuve (Paddock at the Vancouver Indy was a real nice guy!)
Ken Dryden (Goaltending Icon from the Montreal Canadians....super smart guy)
Wayne Gretzky (hockey god....Edmonton airport super quite nice guy)
You end up meeting all sorts of folks in brushing by or "meet and greet" kinda things at concerts and races and such....but they don't count.....these are real conversations with the people, not the celebrity.