NewMexiKen’s request to for you to write about seeing/meeting famous people outside their natural habitat, or better yet, actually talking to them, generated 43 comments. (Above link, and here.)
Now that Tom and SnoLepard are — you think? — finished, maybe there are still others among you who would like to mention an encounter or two with “greatness.”
NewMexiKen once was able to attend a small conference with many, many notables. As I remember three Rockefeller brothers were there (Nelson, David and Lawrence), Lady Bird Johnson, William Paley and Frank Stanton the founders of CBS, Pat Weaver the creator of “The Today Show” and “The Tonight Show” (and Sigourney’s dad), Herman Kahn the thermonuclear war theorist, and Edward Teller one of the physicists that made thermonuclear war possible. I saw Nelson Rockefeller stirring his coffee with his glasses end piece (the part that extends to the temple).
But my favorite those two days was Bess Myerson, Miss America 1945. She was extraordinarily lovely nearly 30 years after her reign.
As for those I’ve spoken to…
As Tanya mentioned in a previous post, I did indeed meet Jaleel White, aka Urkel. In fact, I seem to sort of accidentally stalk him. First we ran into him atop the Space Needle in Seattle, where his proud mother vigorously encouraged him to pose with me for a photo. A couple of years later, I ran into him again at a football game in Charlottesville, Virginia. What are the odds on not one, but two chance encounters with Urkel?
I went to high school with and knew vice lesbian Mary Cheney, and went to junior high school with soccer star Julie Foudy.
Jon Stewart went to my college (years before me), and I’ve seen him back in town, twice eating lunch and once giving a talk, and was introduced to him once.
Joe Gibbs, coach of the Redskins, came to my college several times to watch his son’s football practices in the early 1990s. He was always quite pleasant to us lowly student staff members. I also met several big-name NFL players during our summer football camps, including Dan Marino, Troy Aikman, Sterling Sharp, Jerome Bettis, Rod Woodson, and Kordell Stewart. Marino was the nicest and Aikman was the most aloof.
All-Pro cornerback Darren Sharper of the Vikings was one of the students in my study hall, and the new head coach of the Steelers, Mike Tomlin, was a player when I worked for the football team.
I met volleyball player Karch Kiraly twice and have a few letters and postcards he sent me (volleyball players have more time to correspond with fans than other more high-profile athletes, I think).
As for those I’ve seen…
During college and graduate school, I attended speeches given by Prince Charles, Margaret Thatcher, George H. W. Bush, James Bakker, and Antonin Scalia.
I saw Salma Hayek at a movie premiere in London. She’s gorgeous and tiny.
I saw Norm MacDonald gambling in Las Vegas, Jeff Goldblum on an airplane (better looking in person), Jason Biggs from American Pie in Central Park, Tom Waits at Yosemite, Brit Hume at our golf course, Colin Powell in the audience at my college graduation (his daughter was in my class), Bruce Hornsby many times at basketball games during college, George Will walking by in Williamsburg, Dan Quayle at a golf tournament (I saw George H. W. Bush there, too – my only president but I’ve seen him twice), and Laura Bush at an event in Washington.
At show tapings, I’ve seen Alex Trebek, Richard Dawson, Bill Maher, Ron Silver, Jon Stewart (again), Joe Lieberman, and the Barenaked Ladies.
I know someone said sporting events don’t count, so I won’t mention seeing Michael Jordan score more than 50 points (oops, I just did), but I’ve been less than a foot away from Tiger Woods at the President’s Cup and I think if you’re that close to someone it counts as a sighting, even if it’s not outside the usual realm. I also saw his wife and she’s…not bad looking.
My favorite, albeit saddest, sighting is from 1988. That June there was a memorial mass at Arlington National Cemetery to mark the twentieth anniversary of the death of Bobby Kennedy. All of the Kennedys and many other big-time Democrats were there. After the service I was amidst the masses walking towards the parking lot. I looked to my left and saw that John Kennedy Jr. was passing me on the side. He had hopped up on the divider at the side of the sidewalk to skirt the crowd. He was alone. He noticed me looking at him and he smiled at me. I said to him, “I really enjoyed your remarks.” (He had read a poem during the service.) He stopped walking and replied, “Thank you.” Then he stuck out his hand and said, “I’m John.” I shook his hand and introduced myself and we made a few moments of small talk whilst everyone around us noticed him, stopped, and took pictures. (I’ve always regretted not grabbing someone afterwards and begging for them to send me a copy.) The friend I was with also introduced herself. By then the crowd had grown and he seemed to realize he needed to escape, so he did.
I think it was two or three months later that People named him the Sexiest Man Alive and he became an adult celebrity. He was very nice and so down-to-earth. And super dreamy. Anyway, that’s my favorite celebrity meeting for sure.
That is a very impressive list!