OT: Your stories of a brush with famous people.

[Rutgers NJ]

Story of a brush with famous people. List yours if you'd like. My neighbor owned a restuarant in Manhattan called The Madison and he got tickets to The Diamond Club at Shea Stadium and he asked if I'd like to go and help with his then 3 young kids. You had to take a private elevator up and just before the door closed Bob Murphy the voice of my baseball youth got on. He was so nice. It was amazing to hear his voice in person. My other brush with famous people was at Resorts Casino in AC, back when it was the only Casino with a license. The Honeymooners were filming a reunion show early 70's and Jackie Gleason was playing Baccarat behind a velvet rope and any were standing around watching him. We decided to take the elevator back up to our room and when it opened Art Carney was standing there. He must have seen the look on my face, pressed the button and went back up, lol. Just remembered after reading a post below. My sons, wife and I met The Rock before he was a big name, my sons were into the wrestling and believe it or not he was promoting an event at The Mid-State Mall in East Brunswick. Very friendly and signed a couple of items for them, for free. Talked with Roy Campanella as a 9 year old All Star for Bloomfield, NJ, where, I can't remember. I remember him being so soft spoken and not bitter by the accident that crippled him. A very humble classy man.

 

[RocktheRac]

Way back in the day of The Sopranos I was at the RU bookstore and I left to go to the Feron Deck by that Mexican restaurant. There were three people ahead of me getting on the elevator and when one of them turned around it was Michael Imperioli. I didn't know what to do so I said nothing lol.

 

[R1766U]

My two most well known:
1. Won front-row tickets to a concert in AC in the early 2000’s . After the opening act, heard commotion behind me, turned around and it was Donald, Melania and Ivana. Turned around to him and said “Nice to meet you”, shook his hand. Then, after being dared by my buddy, I said “How does it feel to sit in the second row of your own casino?”
He laughed and said “I don’t know how that happened, I’ll have to make a few phone calls about that”. My buddy went to the bathroom and grabbed a couple Taj Mahal flyers and we asked him to sign them to commemorate it, which he did.

2. Waited on Bill Belichick, Steven and his now (ex) wife while working at a restaurant in Piscataway. He was exactly as you’d expect. Witnessed him turn away a 7 year old kid politely asking for an autograph as he was leaving “Not now kid” lol.

 

[knightfan7]

I was on a plane surrounded by the '06-'07 RU Dance Team. Does that count?

 

[Joey Bags]

Back when Trump was building his course in Bedminster my dad and I decided to ride our bikes up to the estate and see how construction was going. They had just paved the cart paths but the fairways were still all dirt and being sculpted. It was around 7PM in the summer so we said what the heck lets bike the cart paths. About 5 minutes later we see a lone golf cart coming at us so we pull over to let them go hoping not to get ripped for trespassing.

The cart stops next to us and Trump, Melania, and the head of golf operations get out and shoot the shit with us for 5 minutes. I was 13 or 14 at the time and recall Trump saying to my father that he though it was awesome we were spending spontaneous time together and that he had wished his father had done more of that with him. Was a very nice conversation and in true Trump fashion he left by telling us we had to spread the word about how nice his golf course is going to be.

 

[m1ipabrams]

Kirstie Alley crashed my daughter's Bat Mitzvah. She was staying in same hotel and wanted to record some dancing for some social media thing she was doing(she asked first). Very gracious and hung out talking with people and taking pictures for a good 45 min.

 

[Njbound1]

Was sitting on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, and a husband, wife and two children sat right next to me; Pierce Brosnan. Pat Sajak: super nice guy, talked baseball. Vanna White, also very nice, talked about her golf game.

 

[jaydogsmooth1]

WWE - The Rock backstage at a house Show, Brett Hart while he was signing autographs at Bound Brook Ford, Dolph Ziggler at Jacksonville Airport, Eric Bischoff at an MSG house show

Rutgers - Schiano, Pike, Uncle Bob, a bunch of football and bball players, Jim Calhoun and the 04 Uconn team, Rick Pitino and the 05 Louisville team, Al Skinne and the 05 Boston College team
FSU - Jimbo, Ham, Norvell, Gene, Peter, Charlie, bunch of others from all different sports
NCAA - Jim Boeheim at Pastabilities in Syracuse

Music - Trech from Naughty by Nature on a plane
ESPN - Marty w/the blonde hair in an airport, Steven A. Smith at his old show

MLB - Darryl Strawberry, Jimmy Rollins (short), Julio Franco (massive hands), Don Mattingly, Gerald and Bernie Williams, Luis Polonia, Jack Cust
NHL - Henrik Lundquivst at EWR, Ken Daneyko signing autographs at both Verizon and TD Bank in Bridgewater
NBA - George Muerseon, Jason Williams (buddy played AAU w/him in 8th grade)
NFL - Ndakiaman Suh (scary dude), John Mara, Jim Nantz, Pat Summeral, Mike Tannenbaum, Antonio Perace, Hakeem Nicks, Jesse Armstead, John Mara, Steve Tisch, Ahmad Bradshaw, Matt Ionnindis and Jason Cabinda (NFL guys that played for HC), bunch of late 80's Giants players

Random - Welendez family at Church, Vanilla Ice at Tallahassee Airport, Chris Sims at EWR, Soap Susan Lucci in NYC and at Garden City Hotel, John Stewart and Montell Williams on their shows, Doc Emerick, Ian Eagle, Larry Janeski (Basement systems inc.), Bill Raferty and Lou Carneseca at MSG, Marlins Man at the Orange Bowl

 

[ashokan]

I went into a local dive bar one night and it was empty except for a black dude in an Army jacket.
I started talking to him and he was pretty cool (you never knew in that bar).
He knew a lot about sports training and supplements.

It turned-out he was a pro boxer (Renaldo Snipes) who had fought Larry Holmes for heavyweight title.
He had scarred hand and I asked what it was.
He said that was where Holmes had stabbed him with scissors after the fight.
He ended-up testifying to Congress about some crime problems in boxing.
He told me some things I was made to swear to keep secret.
He was supposed to fight Tyson but broke his hand (HUGE!) in another fight

At football camp as high schooler I met Terry Bradshaw, Willie Lanier, Bubba Smith and some others.
Bradshaw was great and just like the TV guy.
Bubba Smith was plain mean cruising practices in his hat and sunglass while smoking cigarettes.

One day he came over to our lineman workout and he was unhappy with a big kid (high schooler 6' 3" 240lbs about).
Bubba went over to him to explain the proper way to throw a "forearm flipper."
He had the kid (in pads) come at him from a stance - Bubba hit him so hard with his forearm that he lifted him off the ground.
You could hear the air leave his body and the kid collapsed on the ground holding his chest.

On a more positive note, Elton Brand (Bulls, Clippers, 76ers) was a local guy from my club and he's a great guy.

 

[knightfan7]

I don't think these are A list but all I got

Worked shows -
The Turtles
Marshall Tucker
Dave Mason
Jefferson Airplane
Poco
America
Carol King or Judy Collins (always get them mixed up)
among a few others

Many NYG from the 60's

Bumped into (literally) Harvey Korman at Dodger Stadium
Lorraine Bracco
Danny Aiello
Lloyd Bridges
Pat Cooper
Zap's Dad
Arturo Gatti
Ron Jaworski
Darryl Dawkins
Brian Scalabrine
Hubie Brown
Jerry Reuss
Bob Ley

Partied with one of the original MTV VJ's

Most of the above were brief.

 

[ClassOf02]

My dad took me to my first Giants game…can’t remember the exact year, but I was young, six or seven so had to be mid-late 80s. It was an absolutely freezing game against the Seahawks and our seats were mezzanine level a few rows in front of one of the suites. I must have looked like a pathetic shivering kid and the people in the suite apparently took pity on us and invited us in. Among them was Joe DiMaggio. I was a bit too young to fully appreciate it, but my dad was starstruck.

Back in the mid-2000s, I played in a golf even up in Montclair. My company was a sponsor which included a celebrity playing with our foursome. It was Ken Daneyko. So got to play nine holes with him. Good guy, very good golfer, and even this Rangers fan appreciated it.

 

[Morrischiano]

I’ve been fortunate to run into lots of celebrities. The biggest one; I was on the Oprah Winfrey Show. Met her in the green room. Got pictures with her.

The next biggest one: I got to sit at a fundraiser table with Bill Clinton back in 2015. My boss was hosting a dinner at his home in Chappequa for the Clintons.

Another random one:
New Year’s Eve 2003. We went to the Shore Club NYE party in Miami Packed with models and celebrities. I look to my right and there was Derek Jeter 5 feet away from me in a $3000 suit. I went up to him and introduced myself like he might know who I was. Then at 1:30 in the morning I was taking a piss at the urinal and Jeter walks up to the urinal next to me. I look over and say “shouldn’t you be banging a supermodel right now?”. We both chuckled.

Most recently went to game 4 of the world series and rode the elevator up with the Ryan Fitzpatrick, Andrew Wintworth and the blonde host from Amazon Thursday Night Football. Rode the elevator down with Andrew Mackey (the Falcon) and the guy who plays Carmine on The Bear and the actress who plays his girlfriend (they’re dating in real life).

 

[ruinac]

My first brush with a famous person(s) was around 1966. My uncle was given box seats to a NYY game and took me, my older brother and my cousin. We were a few boxes behind the Yankees dugout and I was 8 years old and a big Mickey Mantle fan. In the middle of the game an usher asked if my 10 year old cousin and I wanted to sit with a nice lady in her box for the next inning. She had the first row box right next to the dugout and Mickey was due to bat. We were shy but my uncle told us to do it. When Mickey came out of the dugout the lady yelled for him to say “hi” to us, and he did with a wave and his trademark big smile. Fantastic!

A great day for me. My mother was more impressed that me and my cousin got to sit with some lady named Pearl Bailey.

 

[RUforester72]

While managing the Jackson Hole airport Forest Service aviation facility during the Yellowstone Fire in '88, I met Harrison Ford (the actor who is also a pilot that had just landed and parked his plane). Later that day met Senator Alan Simpson (R-WY), who came over to encourage his federal employees on the job.

Senator John McCain (R-AZ) came to my office to get a briefing during a very bad fire season in 2000. A great man. His first question to me was "How are the pilots holding up? Are they getting enough rest?

Met a lot of self important people during my tenure in DC, many sincere and some not.

Had a gin and tonic with legendary pilot Bob Hoover (the Right Stuff) after an air show here in Oregon in the 1980's.

 

[RUsundevil]

I saw Dramarama in concert standing feet from the lead singer. After the show I saw him walking around amd talked to him from a bit. We bonded over being from jersey and he invited me to an after party but I was too chicken to go.

 

[colbert17]

I took my wife (ex wife #2 ) to Sunday Brunch at Tavern on the Green. I went to the men's room and standing next to me at the urinal was Peter O'Toole. As we both zipped up I said to him how much I loved his work. His response was "Thank you but obviouly I'm not shaking hands right now."

That same day Leroy Neiman was sitting two tables from us.

 

[colbert17]

Went to the Cutting Room in Manhattan to see the John Corbett Band. My wife (ex#2 again) was a big fan of Sex and the City and Corbett was in it along with the Cutting Room's co-owner Chris Noth. After the show everyone was hanging out at the bar. Noth was putting a move on my wife. Didn't bother me since I had been introduced to Corbett's girl friend........Bo Derek.
She was very gracious and posed for a picture with me.

 

[colbert17]

A couple of years ago I went to a conference in Malaysia and the keynote speaker was Kim Phuc, She was the little girl in the famous picture from the Vietnam War who was running naked down the road with her back on fire from napalm.
Later in the day I ran into her in the hallway and had a couple of minutes of one on one time. I had my picture taken with her during which I put me hand on her back. I could feel the burn scars through her clothing.

p.s. There were no ex wives involved in this story.

 

[jaydogsmooth1]

Pissed next to Governor Murphy at a bball game last year
Regardless of poliitcs, grateful for him attending games regularly and the $$ help he's given us
Almost didn't recognize him though as he's super tall but also looks like he's either aged a bit, or permanently looks drunk

 

[chickenpatty2]

While growing up in Stamford, CT, was on a Little League team with the son of former newsman, Morton Dean. Used to hang out at their house. Nice guy.

Did one of those eye contact/head nods with Stephen Colbert once at FunPlex in Hanover, as we both secretly acknowledged to each other that we were doing the Dad things, by force, when our kids were attending someone else’s birthday party.

Danced with Calista Flockhart at a dorm party in Brett Hall before she became Ally McBeal and Mrs. Harrison Ford. 😭

 

[Rutgers Chris]

My kids play in the same basketball league as Drew Brees’ kids. Saw him at a game last year and said to my then 10 year old son, “hey, there’s Drew Brees.” His response? “No, that’s not him.” Never-mind he’s a recognizable HOF quarterback I’ve watched my whole life, has an easily identifiable mark on his face and it’s common knowledge he lives nearby. Nope, clearly dad was wrong. Drew was nice enough to take a picture with my son so I’ll always have a picture of him and “that guy who looked like Drew Brees” to hold over his head.

 

[MadRU]

Went to a local bar where they were filming the movie The Wrestler. Mickey Rourke sat near me, Marissa Tomei walked past me and said hello.

Saw Tom Cruise during the filming of War of the Worlds in Newark, off Ferry Street. He came down the side street and took pictures and shook hands. Nice guy.

George Foreman punched me in the arm in Las Vegas. Talked with me for about 5-10 minutes before I told him I have to go. One of the nicest famous people I ever met.

Talked to Marvin Hagler in Vegas, he drove past us in a parking lot. I said hey that was Marvin Hagler. He stopped the car, pulled back to where we were and chatted with us.

Met Thomas Hearns a couple times. Chatted with him. Nice guy

Met Julius Erving and Mark Ivaroni(sp?). They stopped let us take pictures and talked to us. Moses Malone was not as gracious.

Saw a drunk Don Rickles in Vegas walking through the casino late at night. He was hilarious. His handlers had to move him along.

Saw a young Holly Robinson in a boutique in NYC. Pretty girl.

Met and chatted with Lea Salonga in NYC. Stunningly beautiful in person, flawless.

Played basketball against Roy Hinson in HS. Got an and one on him.

Those were just some off the top of my head.

 

[ru66]

Came across many but meeting fat Tony Salerno at his " place " was very interesting.

 

[Morrischiano]

Another cool one that I forgot. In 2015 my son shot a one on one commercial with Eli Manning at the Giants facility. After the shoot, Eli played catch with him. My son caught every ball he threw him. I was in heaven. I said I was proud of him catching every ball. My son responded: “He throws much better than you, dad”

Here’s the commercial:

 

[rurichdog]

At a house party in Edison, there was an older guy hanging out amongst the 20-somethings. He was dating a friend of mine. I remember he was really good at playing guitar and was a really chill guy. It wasn't until I got home I learned he was Tim Reynolds, guitarist for the Dave Matthews Band. I just knew him as Tim.

Edited to get his name right 😆

 

[Plum Street]

Dr Ed

WWE - The Rock backstage at a house Show, Brett Hart while he was signing autographs at Bound Brook Ford, Dolph Ziggler at Jacksonville Airport, Eric Bischoff at an MSG house show

Rutgers - Schiano, Pike, Uncle Bob, a bunch of football and bball players, Jim Calhoun and the 04 Uconn team, Rick Pitino and the 05 Louisville team, Al Skinne and the 05 Boston College team
FSU - Jimbo, Ham, Norvell, Gene, Peter, Charlie, bunch of others from all different sports
NCAA - Jim Boeheim at Pastabilities in Syracuse

Music - Trech from Naughty by Nature on a plane
ESPN - Marty w/the blonde hair in an airport, Steven A. Smith at his old show

MLB - Darryl Strawberry, Jimmy Rollins (short), Julio Franco (massive hands), Don Mattingly, Gerald and Bernie Williams, Luis Polonia, Jack Cust
NHL - Henrik Lundquivst at EWR, Ken Daneyko signing autographs at both Verizon and TD Bank in Bridgewater
NBA - George Muerseon, Jason Williams (buddy played AAU w/him in 8th grade)
NFL - Ndakiaman Suh (scary dude), John Mara, Jim Nantz, Pat Summeral, Mike Tannenbaum, Antonio Perace, Hakeem Nicks, Jesse Armstead, John Mara, Steve Tisch, Ahmad Bradshaw, Matt Ionnindis and Jason Cabinda (NFL guys that played for HC), bunch of late 80's Giants players

Random - Welendez family at Church, Vanilla Ice at Tallahassee Airport, Chris Sims at EWR, Soap Susan Lucci in NYC and at Garden City Hotel, John Stewart and Montell Williams on their shows, Doc Emerick, Ian Eagle, Larry Janeski (Basement systems inc.), Bill Raferty and Lou Carneseca at MSG, Marlins Man at the Orange Bowl

Any stories ?

 

[rubaseball78]

When I worked for Colgate we had helicopters that would shuttle us between New York, Morristown and Piscataway. It was great. I could leave my office in Morristown at 9 and make a 10 meeting in New York. One time returning from New York we hit a real dense bank of fog. We were literally flying 20 feet above the treetops. Pilots made their way over to teterboro. Met Tom Selleck in the waiting area whose plane was grounded.

 

[RobertG]

Showed Patti Sciafa Springsteen how to use an IPod.

Fixed Olympic metalist Jesicca Springsteen Napster account

My wife ran into Debbie Harry while shopping at Liviotis in Middletown

Lived on the same dorm floor as Clasita

 

[knightfan7]

I took my wife (ex wife #2 ) to Sunday Brunch at Tavern on the Green. I went to the men's room and standing next to me at the urinal was Peter O'Toole. As we both zipped up I said to him how much I loved his work. His response was "Thank you but obviouly I'm not shaking hands right now."

My sister knew O'Toole. Said he's a real piece of work...in a good way.

 

[MulletCork]

Not much of a story but in 2004 was working in Vegas and it was Belmont Stakes weekend. Smarty Jones seemed a lock to win Triple Crown. So much so like most books we’re giving away shirts and all that.

Buddy came into town to visit and we went to Mandalay Bay. Very early to get a seat. Became a standing room only event and then the whole room turned and here comes Mike Tyson in with his entourage and he just stood there all happy and watched the race. Smarty Jones lost unfortunately

Later that night we went to The Palms, to go to Ghost Bar. Pretty banged up and decide to head out and here comes one Mike Tyson walking in like no big deal! Twice in a day

So then we get outside and figuring out the walk back to the strip and a Hummer pulls in and Suge Knight gets out the back. Never had a weird moment like that where my buddy freaked out seeing him like “we gotta get the **** outta here now.” That was a scary and sketchy individual, especially in 2004.

Saw a few NBA dudes that day too but Suge and Tyson were something else in the wild if you will.

 

[Randal7]

Being in the right settings you can tick off quite a large number of people without really trying. I’ve met, via total serendipity — Larry Flynt, Boomer Esiason, Jay Wright, Phil Simms, Ethan Hawke, Darryl Strawberry, Zac Efron, Mike Dunleavy Jr, Tony Kornheiser, Mark Messier, John Hall (Jets kicker), Lawrence Taylor, Matthew Rhys, Keri Russell, Jermaine O’Neal, Paul Newman.

Larry Flynt was probably the most interesting. It was back in 2013 for my bachelor party in Vegas. We were in the Venetian suites and were in town the same time as a big UFC event and Flynt rolled out of an adjacent elevator with his staff. Solid gold wheelchair. He looked really good, i gotta say. I told him “loved you as the judge in the people versus”. He said thanks and kind of laughed

 

[colbert17]

Back in the day whenever I went into NYC I would always have lunch at Mickey Mantle's. That was when WFAN's mid day show was broadcast from there hosted by Bill Mazer.
Aside from the Mick, who was in the middle of his addiction problems at the time, I got to meet Carl Lewis and OJ Simpson. I wanted to get The Juice's autograph but all I had was one of my son's baby pictures so he signed the back. It said "Peace to You, OJ Simpson". I use to kid my son that he should be happy that it wasn't signed "Piece of You."

 

[yesrutgers01]

Too many in football to list so won’t go there. But violist was Patrick Ewing walking with me and my kids at the airport to baggage claims. My kids needed to stop at the men’s room and I’m with all of our carry on bags and Pat says- he has to go too and if I watch his carry on- he would go in with my sons and make sure they were ok. Met Eddie Van Halen at a Jets game as tge rumors of Hager joining them were out there. He confirmed and chatted for about 5 mins.
Was dating a girl in the early 2000’s- her talent manager was having a party at her NYC loft to watch the Giants Vikings playoff game. Was attended by a bunch of A list celebs as well as many others. Ed Norton, A Silverstone, Drew Barrymore and Tom Green, etc..
Got to know Drew pretty well.
My wife knows LL Cool, and quite a few from those early days of Rap and MTV and knew Whitney and a few others…

 

[jaydogsmooth1]

Dr Ed

Any stories ?

Two in particular
Met Omar Minayia (former Mets GM) near the Plaza Hotel in NYC), super nice guy - as a big Mets fan he's highly recognizable but he said he rarely gets noticed out in public which was surprising

VT D-Coordinator in the airport refused to take picture w/my VT buddy and I b/c I had FSU hoodie on. Legit made an arrogant comment about it. GT had lit them up w.like 60 points the night before in Blacksburg and I let him know after that performance, we'd (FSU) consider him for a junior analyst position if he turned his attitude around. Didn't go over well

Also saw Sheamus from WWE last month but it was early and it was clear he wasn't looking for conversation, he's a pretty big guy so I left it alone lol

 

[RU4Real]

I graduated from Sayreville in 1980. John Bongiovi was a good friend, part of the "garage band" group in the early days, as was Charlie Mills (drummer for Skid Row). Prior to that, Charlie was drummer for John's Atlantic City Expressway band. Dave Szabo was a couple years younger but still hung around. He was the lead guitarist on Bon Jovi's original "Runaway" demo and played with the band briefly before being replaced by Richie Sambora, then went on to Skid Row.

Marilyn Ghigliotti, who played Veronica in 'Clerks', was a good friend as well.

When I worked for the NFL I met lots of famous people at parties and whatnot, but nearly always just passing encounters, with few being particularly memorable. I liked George Young, a lot. Dan Rooney was pretty cool. Herm Edwards, on the other hand, was liked by almost no one. The Mara girls (Rooney and Kate) were frequent visitors to Giants Stadium when they were young; it wasn't unusual to encounter them (pre-fame, of course). Georgia Frontierre was exactly what you'd expect of a former Vegas showgirl who married a billionaire and inherited an NFL team but was nevertheless one of the nicest people you'd ever meet. Woody Johnson is a notorious dick.

Also, nobody - and I mean nobody - likes Roger Goodell.

 

[29PAS]

Shook hands with Ali waiting for an elevator at a hotel in NYC in 1968. Took a piss next to Ed Koch at the Angelica theater (no hand shaking after that). Pretty sure I ran past Steve Kornacki yesterday along the East River.

 

[Morrischiano]

Here’s another one: I rode the subway home after the RU-ND Pinstripe Bowl standing next to David Robinson (NBA). His son was a ND WR.

 

[MURF87]

Doug Flutie won a prize at the game I was working on Casino Pier on the Seaside Heights boardwalk in summer ‘85.

Olympic hurdles multi gold medalist Edwin Moses at a mall in Oregon at a PR event for the US Nationals.

Actor John Amos when he was doing a show that featured US Coast Guard.

Author Alex Haley when he attended a USCG bicentennial year event I helped organize in New Bern, NC in 1990.

Walked past Chris Farley one morning in midtown in the mid 90s.

 

[knight_ru]

I helped serve Fro-Yo to Brooke Shields and her mother when I was in high school (either 1990 or 91) when I had a summer job at Yogurt Delight at Riverside Square Mall in Hackensack.

 

[Ronnie_B]

Met plenty of famous people in my line of work but outside of work my favorite moment with a celebrity was at my cousin's wedding in San Jose at a wedding venue, I was outside having a smoke when Ted Koppel walked up to us asking if anyone of us know how to tie a bowtie as he was attending a wedding next door. I didn't know how but I saw my aunt earlier tie one for her son, so I ran in and brought her out and she did his bowtie.

Super genuine man.