Out of the multiple sports stars you met...

hakeem used to be a family friend back in the day. back in either '87 or '88 him and his girlfriend at the time came over and spent all day with us (my fam and my cousins' fam). came early afternoon for lunch and stayed past dinner. i didn't really know who he was back then, but i remember that he seemed to be having a good time. now that i think of it, i actually remember very little of that day. i do remember him hitting his head while trying to duck to get into my cousins' room and all of us laughing. that was cool.

my dad owns a business in a field where he's gotten to meet all sorts of famous athletes (amongst other wealthy/famous people), so i guess i'm a litlle lucky in that regard. i've met a whole bunch of pro baseball players (especially stros of course) and a fair amount of NFL players. only a few NBA players, although A. Hardaway, Francis, Magic, and Ewing have all visited my dads' business, amongst others. haven't met any of them though.

edit: and i didn't even answer your question....

 

I was watching that classic fights show too. George Foreman looks like a big puppy dog today compared to how he looked in that fight. Ali must have really got him angry before that fight.

 

Horry was one of the nicest guys I can imagine, although I never personally met him. My mom was picking up dry cleaning one day about 9 or 10 years ago and there he was. So she didn't know a thing about basketball, but knew he played for the Rockets and the dry cleaner owner or whatever insisted that she get an autograph. So my mom shook his hand, marveled at his size (no, sickos) and he signed a pad of paper to my brothers and I.

Then I was in Elie's basketball camp once (waste of time really, but something to do in the summer) and one day Cassell showed up and he was a nice guy. Also Coop and Tina Thompson showed up another day. Both very nice. I also had plenty of conversations with Anthony Goldwire.

Best was when I met Holyfield at IAH when he came off a Delta flight from ATL. I didn't think it was him, but then I saw another person getting his autograph so I got a picture with him instead. Nice guy.

When I first moved here (AL) 5 years ago, there was a Legends game (coincidentally with Horry) and all of a sudden there's a big rush of people crowding around me and there's this rahter large black guy sitting next to me signing autographs for people. It was Shaun Alexander and I had no idea who in the world he was at the time. Definitely one of the best people in sports though.

Ahh, my dad was in China maybe 8-10 years back and there was either the World Champonships or players touring or whatever. ALl of a sudden he gets aboard a subway (I guess it was Beijing or something) and there are only 3 Americans on board -- him and two tall black guys. They ended up being Joe Smith and David Robinson. He said both were very cordial and even got a picture.

 

I used to live in Utah and when the Rockets would come to play the Jazz I would got to their hotel to see them and to get some autographs. I do not think that any of them were jackasses, but some were definately beyond what I expected (in terms of niceness).

Cuttino Mobley was always awesome. I met him his rookie year and took a picture of him (Dickerson, and Brent Price) with my digital camera and they thaught that was neat. I had screan captured pictures of Cat and Dickerson for them to sign and they asked if I had extra, which I gave to them.

For those of us that are sick that is an extremely cool fealing to have an NBA hero ask you for something that you did. I've met Cat multiple times after and was always awesome.

Stevie, Rudy T, Calvin Murphy, Dream, Charles Barkley were also always an admirable people.

I also went to see Seattle when they had Payton and Payton was a standup man...while Patrick Ewing was more of a Jerk, but he's had a long career and I was intruding on their personal time..so no bad feelings.

When the Lakers were in SLC for the playoffs, some years ago, Kobe Bryant was also an awesome guy.

If you meet a player and they go beyond what could be expected from them you will probably be a die-hard fans as which I am for Cat, Francis, Barkley, and most Rockets.

 

Very Favorable:
Hakeem
Mo Tay
Sleepy Floyd
C. Biggio
Kenny Smith

Above Average:
Robert Horry
Jeff Bagwell
D. Strawberry
Jermaine O'Neal
Luis Gonzalez
Tom Glavine

Indifferent:
Frank Thomas
Jason Taylor
Jerry Stackhouse
Shawn Kemp
Warrick Dunn

Below Average:
Juwan Howard

Horrible:
Doc Gooden
Barry Bonds

 

Drew Pearson was very nice and outgoing when I met him and got his autograph. Jack Kemp was, as well, but by the time I met him, he was pretty well purely politician and hadn't played football in a long time.

Robert Jones was strangely indifferent. It was his rookie year with the Cowboys, though, and he may just have not yet adjusted to being a Dallas Cowboy just yet (or he may just be shy. I don't know).

 

Charles Barkley was a funny guy. I met him when I lived in New Territory (Sugar Land). He was nice and was willing to give me a sig.

Brent Price, the guy was wearing a nice suit. I met him at the AMC 24 in First Colony in Sugarland. The guy was really nice and was willing to talk about the Rockets. ( this was back when he was on the team)

Kenny Smith, met him when I was playing basketball with his brother who runs a camp. The guy wasn't playing anymore (professionally) but damn, he can still ball.

 

i met otis thorpe in a bowling alley one time. good guy and he gave me an autograph

one of my friends was at a strip club in houston and he saw jermaine oneal and jeff foster there. and he went up to them and said "HEY! you're jeff foster!!" and he said he was completely surprised and said "Yeah I am" and jermaine oneal looked confused as if he didn't know what to think that he recognized foster but not him. i thought it was a good story.

 

I haven't met any players who weren't polite...yet

My buddy sat next to Evander Holyfield on a flight and said he was great

Served Sir Charles dinner once at a gala, he was loud, funny and nice. Drank alot of Vodka and Cranberry's

Chatted with Doc Rivers when I lived in SA and he was on the Spurs, It was around 94-95 and I said something like, "you guys are great, but I gotta tell you I'm a Rox fan" and he said something like "I hate Hakeem" he was joking, kinda. This was just after the series when Dream destroyed Robinson and if I remember correctly he was on the Knicks when we beat them in the finals. Anyway, he was a very nice guy

Also ran into Art Howe and Clyde at parties I catered, both were good guys, The Glyde was kinda quiet though

Met Nolan Ryan a few times, always a nice guy, very down to earch & gave my dad a few autographs

Have seen Biggio/Drexler/VanGundy at the church where I coach kids BBall

Only negatives, My roommate in SanAntonio (working at Champs) ran into Elie and said he was quite a punk, talking trash and what not

Sam Cassell was also at Champs on his birthday, nice guy but not the sharpest tool in the shed.

steve

 

Hakeem - Met him when he was a spokesman for my dad's company. He was very standoffish and pretty much an a-hole. But then again, it was back in the early 90s, before he softened up a lil

Larry Andersen - Got the chance to meet him in the Astros's clubhouse before a game back in 1987. Suprisingly, he was very quiet. I went up to him and asked him if he had any good one-liners and he said "Did you know if you take left shoe off, your right one is left???" I giggled like a school girl. He was very cool.

Glen Davis - He was flat out weird. I stayed clear of him. I thought he was going to hit me when I wanted to shake his hand.

Jim Petersen - Met him after a Rockets game in the tunnel. Pretty nice guy, kind of shy.

Ricky Williams - Met him at an autograph session with my friend. It was funny, while we were standing in line, one of his reps went down the line and told everyone not to talk to Ricky unless he talked to us. However, he actually ended up saying a few words to my friend when he signed his jersey. Seemed pretty nice.

Elvin Hayes - Have actually met him several times when doing business over at his dealership in Crosby. He smiled alot and I always ask him how business is, which he seems to like.

 

In the last three years, I've met a bunch of rookies from both the NBA and NFL Rookie Premiere events. The only surly guys I've run across are Roy Williams (the safety), Dejuan Wagner, David Terrell, and Joey Harrington (actually, he was only a dick to me). The absolute nicest guys were Carmelo Anthony, T.J. Ford, Luke Walton, Jeremy Shockey (no joke!), Jason Kapono (indulged me in a game of "HORSE"), and Justin Smith.

 

And now, to prove I really am an old b*stard!

Very Favorable...Hakeem Olajuwon, Craig Biggio, Rudy Tomjanovich, Calvin Murphy, Elvin Hayes, Ben Davidson, Ernie Ladd, Jimmy Wynn, Garland Boyette, Jerry LeVias, Earl Campbell.

Indifferent...Walt Williams (prolly cuz I met him in a Gentlemen's Club), Antonio McDyess (ditto).

Notes:

1. When I was a young teenager (14-15), one of my friends lived next door to Rudy T on the southwest side of town. This was in '74-'75 or so. Rudy T.'s house had a basketball goal setup in the driveway, and he would let the neighborhood kids play pickup games in his driveway. If he was home and he wasn't busy, he would sometimes come outside and referee the games. Funny part was, he wouldn't call a foul unless there was blood involved!

2. Met Ben Davidson in a bar in the Galleria area in 1979 or so. I was out with a couple of friends and I said "look over there, that's Ben Davidson from the Oakland Raiders". He was by himself. So me and my friends bought him a drink to say "welcome to Houston" and had the bartender deliver it. He came and sat with us the rest of the night and bought our drinks for the rest of the night. We closed the place down, and the old AFL stories he told were amazing.

3. Met the old time Oilers (Ladd, Boyette, LeVias) and Jimmy Wynn because their kids were enrolled in a Nursery School that my Mom ran at the time. Often when the parents couldn't pickup the kids in time, my Mom would bring the kids by our house to play with me and my sister and the parents would come to the house later in the day to pick up their kids.

 

I went to a political fundraiser at Magic Johnson's office a few years ago when I lived in LA.

There were all kinds of bigwigs from politics and business there, but who did Magic hang out with?

He hung out in a corner with me and some of the young campaign staffers talking hoops.

We were talking about the Lakers (of course). IIRC Kobe was in the middle of one of those stretches where he averaged like 35 points over 10 games. But Magic was saying it was bad for the team in the long run. I made the point that Kobe's going to have to trust his teammates to take shots because in the playoffs the defense is tighter and Kobe wouldn't get 25 good looks per game.

So Magic goes, "Exactly! That's what I'm talking about!"

I remember thinking I could die happy after having Magic Johnson agree with something I said about hoops.

Also, a friend of mine was once at a urinal (I forget where -- some restaurant probably) and Hakeem walked up to him at the neighboring urinal. My buddy actually greeted Hakeem and shook his hand while they were taking care of business! I always thought it was cool of Hakeem that he didn't punch my buddy in the face for trying to shake his hand while he was going Number One ...

 

You know, that's EXACTLY how I imagined him being in person!

 

I met Jeff Bagwell. Very cool dude. I even drank some grey goose vodka with him at a dinner party. Very nice so is his wife. Met Moises Alou also at the same party. Jeff was really wanting Moises to come party with him and he was even telling me that he was going to make a push to try to keep him an Astro. So much for that. But Moises was real rowdy being loud and having fun. Both very nice folks.

 

I think that was the day after he got his infamous perm. So I could understand the bad mood.

Anyone else remember his hair job?

 

I hope you didn't shake his hand

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=1793091

"Alou says the secret to hitting without batting gloves is to harden your hands and prevent calluses. One of his methods might win someone the prize money on the TV show, "Fear Factor." He urinates on his hands."

 

The notables:

Hakeem Olajuwon - Extremely nice, kind of quiet and reserved. But very friendly with everyone, adults and kids alike.

Larry Bird - Another great guy. Very friendly. Signed autographs, and plenty of them. However, he did refuse to play HORSE with me by advising me, "You don't wanna play horse with me son." Grrrr....he was probably right.

Clyde Drexler - He was probably the nicest, most humble prof. athlete I have ever met. Picked up the kids and babies, took pictures, signed everything in sight, and stayed an hour over the time he had scheduled.

Charles Barkley - He was just funny. I met him at a Mavs game his last year in the league. He was talking to another guy, and I just walked up behind him and waited. When he was done, I just said, "Hey Chuck.....tear 'em up tonite." He turned around and came back, shook my hand, and we chatted for a minute. He asked my name, said it was nice to meet me, and told a few sarcastic jokes about Shawn Bradley. GOOD STUFF!

Dr. J - Not as many smiles and laughs as the first four, but still a cordial, professional guy that seemed to enjoy the fanfare. Had the biggest damn hands....his hand swallowed mine when we shook hands. WOW!

Roger Clements - Jerk, jerk, jerk. Didn't smile once, seemed irritated and anxious being there, and left early. I was very happy to have tipped a friend off about where he parked his Porsche, as my friend, a huge baseball fan (he played pro ball later on), stole his license plates ("SUPER K") and the brackets ("Mr. Cy-Young" on top, "Mr. MVP" across the bottom) around them - front AND back. The look on Clements' face when we walked him out the back door was priceless.

Sleepy Floyd - probably the biggest jerk athlete I have ever met. Everyone that eagerly waited in line for hours for an autograph was greeted with a happy, stone-faced, "Name?" and then he signed and slid it back across the table. He didn't respond to any "hi" or "hello" or anything else.

 

Mario Elie - sat next to him at Miyako sushi bar, signed an autograph for the wife. Friendly.

Sam Cassell - met him at Bennigans back when the players all used to go to the Bennigans near the Summit after the game. He was pretty nice for the 2 minutes I talked to him. I agree that he seemed a bit daft.

Oscar De La Hoya - we had the VIP suite / balcony next to his at Rain at the Palms hotel, I think he was screwed up out of his mind....but so were we. I accidentally walked into his suite intstead of mine (its really dark up there) and his goons were less than cordial, he said something like "no man, thats one of the guys next door, let him go." So he kept me from getting my ass beat so he's ok in my book.

Barkley - met at bar, talked to my brother and his girlfriend and me, really really cool. Some drunk guy came up and interrupted my brothers girlfriend by yelling "HEY CHUCKSTER!!" and Charles berated him for interrupting a woman in the middle of a sentence.

Mad Max - met him at that old surfer bar next to Sams Boat, I think it was called Yaga's (?). He signed a "Clutch City" sign from the Chronicle for our friend Pat who had backed out on going out with us at the past minute. Max signed it "Dear Pat - You are a big pu**y. Mad Max" Funny guy, too bad he flaked on the team later that year.

Rudy T - got drunk with him at The Pig (rip) and the Gingerman back in 95. Hillarious, he played darts with us. Very nice, loved the young ladies.