Anyone who's been to SHOT has met some gun celebs, I'm sure. Julie G, Gunny, Gary Q, Randy Couture, etc. They are all great folks.

Though not the most famous, my favorite was probably Craig Sawyer. I saw him on the floor talking to an actor who I still can't place. When they were done talking, I approached him and asked about his current projects. This was before his work on child sex trafficking. He is the most genuine guy. We spent about 15 minutes talking before he had to go do a meet-n-greet thing where people stood in line for an hour to talk to him.

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Originally posted by Patrick-SP2022:
When I was learning to fly back in the 1990s, I went to a meeting put on by the FAA FSDO (Flight Standards District Offices) featuring Al Haynes as a speaker.

He was the pilot of United Airlines Flight 232 which crashed in Sioux City after a major engine and flight controls failure.

I seem to recall he was really down to earth and a genuinely decent guy.

It was amazing there were any survivors at all in that incident.

One of several men who taught me to fly was once a B-24 & B-29 pilot in WW II, and his career took him through crop dusting, working for Capital Airlines, and then onto finishing his career as a B-747 Captain for United.

We were standing around near the hangar and shooting the breeze when talk turned to the recent Sioux City flight 232 crash and Capt. Al Haynes. My friend, retired by this time, beamed like a proud papa when he told us how Al Haynes used to be his co-pilot and how he had a hand in training him in his early flying years, and what a remarkable pilot he was. He couldn't say enough good things about him, and from interviews I've heard with surviving passengers and crew, they felt the same way and mourned his passing last year.

Tom Piston, Mc Lean Stevenson, Dee Wallace, Julia Child, William Daniels, Beau Bridges, Larry Wilcox, Donna Summer, Heather Locklear.

Oh, and Kathleen Freeman

This message has been edited. Last edited by: bendable,

Luckily, or sometimes unluckily, I have crossed paths with several famous people in my adult life. As many of you know, sometimes meeting "greatness" as an adult isn't always a great experience.

The best experience for me was as a young boy because it included all of the awe that one might hope for.

In the early 1970s, we happened to be eating in Jack Dempsey's restaurant in NYC on The Manassa Mauler's birthday. I knew all about him long before we ever went there, so I was very excited about this opportunity. Mr. Dempsey was standing near his table on the window at the front of the restaurant and was entertaining several friends during his celebration.

I was never shy and, with my parents' blessing, I walked to the front of the restaurant, right up to the big man himself, stuck out my hand and introduced myself. Dempsey and his group laughed, in amusement (not derision) and the big man himself bowed at the waist to shake my hand. I promise he looked like he was 7 feet tall even then and his leaning down in one great swoop had me in total awe. Upon shaking his hand, I became suddenly speechless as I headed back to my table. I had just shaken the hand of one the greatest champions to ever enter the boxing ring.

Later that evening, as Jack Dempsey was having one of his famous cheesecakes for his birthday cake, he sent a slice over to me with his compliments. Guys and gals, that was one of the great nights of my life.



.

Chuck Yeager came to our flying club to give a talk years ago. The public was invited. The club asked me to video tape the talk, but I needed to ask Yeager for his permission. He said yes. The tape was shown to high school kids and future pilots.

I was the official photographer at a football camp for 14 years. Two of those years, Drew Bledsoe was a coach on one of the schools that came to camp. His son was on the team. What a super nice guy and the size of his hands! Good Grief! The kids just flocked around him and he was always the one to give a talk to the team after a game and not the head coach. Last time he came to camp was just before Johnny Football’s first NFL season and I asked him if he thought if Johnny Football could be successful in the NFL. He laughed and said yes. Guess he got that one wrong.

quote:

Originally posted by bendable:
Tom Piston, Mc Lean Stevenson, Dee Wallace, Julia Child, William Daniels, Beau Bridges, Larry Wilcox, Donna Summer, Heather Locklear.

I too have stayed up and watched all of Nick at Nite.

I met, shook hands with, and briefly talked with Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke during a late night after work trip to a grocery store. Very down to earth man.

The other person I met, I never knew his name (at least don't remember).

When Top Gun was in theaters, we lived in Colorado Springs. I was in fifth grade. My best friend and I both had dreams of becoming Navy fighter pilots. Well, in what I presume was a decision by the Navy to take full advantage of the best "recruiting" film made, an F-14 was sent to Peterson AFB for public display.

Dad took the two of us, our hair done in that long flattop style, to see a Tomcat in all its glory. The Navy did not disappoint! Not only could we ascend the roll up mobile stairway too look into the cockpit, we were allowed to climb in and sit in the pilots seat.

Friggin wow, for a kid that age! I don't remember the pilots name, just his instruction on what I could touch, which IIRC was the stick and throttles.

If anyone knows that particular pilot, give him my thanks. VF-124 Gunfighters. Still have the squadron patch Dad bought me.

My uncle is good friends with Jerry Lee Lewis. Got to hang out with him a few times.

I’ve met countless music celebrities when I was in the music business. Some were ass holes, but some caught me off guard how nice they were. Too many to list. Highlight was Chuck D from Public Enemy. I thought he’d be this hate whitey guy, but he was actually one of the nicest people I have ever met. Also met Sammy Hagar a few times. He was friends with some mutual friends. He was cool but a bit of loud mouth.

Met Brad Pitt at a MotoGP race. We let him and his sheriffs (bodyguards) bump us on the helo flight out of the track. Met Vanessa Marcil the same weekend. She was in front of me in white pants and I was staring at that rear. She turned around, busted me, smiled, and we had a small chat. Nice lady.

Ball players met a few. Don Mattingly, Jim McMahon, Odibe McDowell.

MotoGP riders, met most all of them, had dinner or drink with many. Kevin Schwantz, King Kenny, Wayne Rainey, Valentino Rossi and Marco Simoncelli were the highlights. Oh and Loris Capirossi and his hot wife, Ingrid. Got many a photo with her.

Greatness, Valentino Rossi.

During the mid 1970s, we were stationed at Patch Barracks in Stuttgart Germany. My mother was the bank manager’s assistant. One day, while in my mother’s office, she introduced me to General Alexander Haig. He didn’t wait in line to see a teller, he would have my mother handle his transactions at her desk.

Around this same time, in my early teens, my best friend was Marty Friedman. Yes, the former lead guitarist for Megadeth.

A few pages back I was reminded from another post that I did have another "Greatness" moment.

When I was teaching middle school every year another teacher and would take our kids to the Holocaust Museum in St. Pete, FL then to the Dali museum after. I have met and spoken with five different Holocaust Survivors including Elie Wiesel (three times).

Survivors would meet with whatever groups were there and because we were in the first group of the morning it was very frequently less than 25 people. (Mostly students) When the Survivors would ask for questions they were often met with silence. That's when I would get to ask questions.

I will also add to my previous list the father of another teacher with whom I taught. Brad was a history teacher for the same group of kids I taught. Brad's father fought in the Battle of the Bulge. He had an excellent memory for detail and could reduce the most jaded middle schooler to tears. I heard him speak many times and teared up every time the man spoke.

Many of those "kids" are in their thirties now. I would be willing to wager NONE of those kids have forgotten those stories. I'd also wager nearly none sit for the National Anthem or the Pledge of Allegiance because of the influence of that veteran and his willingness to share the heroics and horror of that day/days/war.

"I too have stayed up and watched all of Nick at Nite."

Searched Nick at Night as I am not on cable.

Please tell me you don't pay a monthly fee to watch 25 y.o. tv shows

This message has been edited. Last edited by: bendable,

I was in cub scouts with Allen Funt's (Candid Camera) son. I went to high school and was in the boy scouts with Admiral Kimmel's grandson. When I sold cameras I regularly sold Alan Arkin camera equipment.

I was a goalie and got to play hockey with Dave and Don Maloney NYR, and Doug Sulliman NJD, for two weeks one summer. I played on a team for five or so years with Tim Robbins and a guy named Jay Grossman, who was Brian Leetch's agent. Jay was a mensch, you'd never know he was a real player as an agent.

I played rec hockey in the mid late 1980's with one of the NYR's dentists, and he brought a different pro each week. Off the top of my head I skated with Nemchinov, Zubov, Kovalev, and a bunch of players that were good enough to make the NHL but never made it big. Marcel Dionne was a regular on Tuesday nights when was on the Rangers.

I met Manny Malhotra one summer at a hockey camp in Guelph Ontario. Being a Rangers fan it was super cool to be able to pal around with one of the players I watched on a regular basis. As luck would have it I used to bump into him on a regular basis outside MSG, and he always remembered me and made time for chit chat.

I filled up Billy Barty's car with gas when I worked in a full service gas station in high school. He was in a rental car sitting on a phone book.

When Bobby Kennedy came through Oregon (before he went to Ca for his Sirhan Sirhan moment), as he was leaving the auditorium I walked up to get his autograph. The 4 burley dudes around him caught me off guard and I was pushed down. Ethyl Kennedy stopped, helped me up, then signed the autograph for me.



The end.