Most Famous Player You´ve Randomly Run into out in Public

[SissyBoyFloyd]

When and where did you see your most famous sports figure, football or other, that surprised you with their presence in some random public place. If not a football player, then other famous sport figure, celebrity, or personality.

Roman Gabriel, when I had popped into a fraternity brother´s law office just to say hi in Los Angeles in 1969.

 

[oaken1]

My first wife and I went to the HBO Def Comedy Jam at Gammage one year... I ran into this tall dude in the crowd. we gave each other the stare as we passed...then I am snatching on my wifes arm, " Baby, did you see that?? That was Dan Majerle!"
Dan and his brother were sitting close to the front with Charles Barkley, Oliver Miller and a few other guys. After the show, Ran into Dan and Chucksta in the parking lot. They invited us to come to a party at Jets and Stixx... I was kinda star struck honestly.

 

[SissyBoyFloyd]

My first wife and I went to the HBO Def Comedy Jam at Gammage one year... I ran into this tall dude in the crowd. we gave each other the stare as we passed...then I am snatching on my wifes arm, " Baby, did you see that?? That was Dan Majerle!"
Dan and his brother were sitting close to the front with Charles Barkley, Oliver Miller and a few other guys. After the show, Ran into Dan and Chucksta in the parking lot. They invited us to come to a party at Jets and Stixx... I was kinda star struck honestly.

that would have been fun! I used to play poker sitting next to Connie Hawkins at local casinos in the ´90s.

 

[BritCard]

Steve Bruce and Andy Cole...

 

[Stout]

Steve Bruce and Andy Cole...

Cabbage head! Oof, him and Ashley tried their damndest to ruin Newcastle! I hear he's a nice guy, though.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

Kobe Bryant at Maestro's City Hall. He was still in his Lakers jumpsuit.

 

[oaken1]

that would have been fun! I used to play poker sitting next to Connie Hawkins at local casinos in the ´90s.

when I was a kid...we used to meet at the elementary school on weekends over christmas break to play mudball.
Jeff Garcia's grandmother lived behind the school and he would visit over the holidays.
I made my living killing quarterbacks back then...nobody ever frustrated me more than that kid. I hated that ******. little squirrely bastard would scramble, then throw right as I got a finger on him. Think I only ever got 2 legit sacks on him in about 15 games.
Years later when he showed up on the niners I would have "Loki moments" seeing these pass rushers chasing him around for nothing... be yelling at my TV, "SEE!! Thats how that feels!"

 

[StreetTruckinTitan]

Mike Tyson in the parking lot at Pappadeaux. He was getting ready leave and was talking to some dude but my wife and I waited then approached him and shook his hand and chatted a minute. Super cool dude.

 

[Zalixar]

I flew back into LAX from the Eagles/Cowboys game on week 17, 1/10/10 (Dad is a Cowboys fan). I was still wearing my Cardinals gear.

On the shuttle back to the car, it was relatively dark and quiet. My phone wasn't working or not getting internet, forgot what the issue was and I generally asked if anyone knew the score to the game (Sunday night) Jets vs Bengals was. After about a minute someone sorta next to me responded and told me the update/score.

A little bit later my dad asked, you know who that is, don't you? I tried to see him and I didn't really recognize him (and wouldn't have at the time).

He goes on to tell me that's Pete Caroll, coach at USC. I was like oh wow. We get to the Parking Spot and while we wait for our cars to arrive we all kinda talked football, the game we were just at and the game that was playing sunday night (Mark Sanchez AND Carson Palmer, his olds QB playing, the game I asked the score about, to make things more interesting).

So I'm still decked in my Cardinal gear right. So eventually our cars pull up and we go our separate ways. The following day he was announced as the Seahawks new coach. We think he had a quiet/secret trip to Seattle he was just getting back from.

I still wonder if he ever remembers our interaction whenever he played the Cardinals. Honestly pretty surreal, given our first interaction.

 

[Shane]

Muhammad Ali, Larry Fitzgerald 2x, Pat Peterson, Calais Campbell, Shaq, Jonathan Ogden, Mike Tyson, The Gonzales guy who had the famous winning hit in World Series for dbacks???

Oh and on a call almost the entire Jackson family minus Michael. (Domestic dispute)

I know there’s more help @Brian in Mesa
Lol

 

[jf-08]

My buddies and I watched the Mike Tyson/Razor Ruddock fight back in 91 on PPV here in town and it was an incredible fight. I just turned 21 earlier in the year and my best friend just turned 21 so we decided it would be a "great idea to drive" to LV that night just for the fun of it because of the Vegas glam that we saw during the fight.

We drove and got to the Mirage Casino in LV about 2:30 in the morning that night and we went to the craps table and the place looked deserted. We were college guys and didn't have much money to our name so we were betting just a few bucks at a time. All of a sudden our table was surrounded by an entourage and soon Tyson himself joined our table. It's crazy that we watched the most brutal fighter in the world just a few hours ago in Phoenix and now we were shoulder to shoulder in LV. What's crazier is I didn't recognize him when he walked up. He was listed at 5'10" and I towered over him. He was wearing a leather jacket and looked small compared to me and my buddy. Seriously, dressed like that, he was so unassuming and no one would look twice at him in a bar. Then he took his jacket off and was wearing a tee-shirt looked like it was about to burst from his muscles. Dude was ripped.

He was throwing around $1000 chips like they were nothing. Next thing we know, this woman starts screaming as she was backing away from us. We turned around and she was being pulled away by his security detail screaming "I touched Mike Tyson's ass! I touched Mike Tyson's ass!" One of his guards said "Mike, whatchu wanna do?" He just snapped his fingers and threw his thumb over the shoulder. Security guard said to her "Mike wants you out, you're out" and she was dragged away. I looked over to him and said "I can't believe she did you like that." He didn't even look at me but pointed at me and said to the workers around "Get my man any drink that he wants." I order a 7 and 7. Lol. Now mind you, when gambling you usually get free drinks but I thought it was hilarious that Mike Tyson got me a 7 and 7!

 

[dreamcastrocks]

I was a busboy for Magic Johnson.
Used to play NFL Blitz and Mortal Kombat with Kwame Lassiter.
Met Dan Majerle outside of Biltmore.

These are the few I can remember off of the top of my head.

Plenty more celeb meetings.

 

[unseenaz]

Ran into Kyler Murray outside of a Chipotle near my work midway through his rookie year... I didn't say anything to him because he was on the phone, but other people didn't care and still tried talking to him, lol. Very short btw.

 

[Shane]

Oh and Curtis Conway and his wife Muhammad Ali’s daughter iirc correctly in airport in Kauai.

 

[football karma]

just saw Isiah Simmons at the Henry last friday.....

 

[Krangodnzr]

Random Cardinals at my work as a teenager in Ahwatukee. Frank Sanders, Gedney, Mike Devlin, and Adrian Murrell. I saw Anthony Anderson driving around in North Hollywood in a Rolls Royce.

 

[jf-08]

My buddies and I watched the Mike Tyson/Razor Ruddock fight back in 91 on PPV here in town and it was an incredible fight. I just turned 21 earlier in the year and my best friend just turned 21 so we decided it would be a "great idea to drive" to LV that night just for the fun of it because of the Vegas glam that we saw during the fight.

We drove and got to the Mirage Casino in LV about 2:30 in the morning that night and we went to the craps table and the place looked deserted. We were college guys and didn't have much money to our name so we were betting just a few bucks at a time. All of a sudden our table was surrounded by an entourage and soon Tyson himself joined our table. It's crazy that we watched the most brutal fighter in the world just a few hours ago in Phoenix and now we were shoulder to shoulder in LV. What's crazier is I didn't recognize him when he walked up. He was listed at 5'10" and I towered over him. He was wearing a leather jacket and looked small compared to me and my buddy. Seriously, dressed like that, he was so unassuming and no one would look twice at him in a bar. Then he took his jacket off and was wearing a tee-shirt looked like it was about to burst from his muscles. Dude was ripped.

He was throwing around $1000 chips like they were nothing. Next thing we know, this woman starts screaming as she was backing away from us. We turned around and she was being pulled away by his security detail screaming "I touched Mike Tyson's ass! I touched Mike Tyson's ass!" One of his guards said "Mike, whatchu wanna do?" He just snapped his fingers and threw his thumb over the shoulder. Security guard said to her "Mike wants you out, you're out" and she was dragged away. I looked over to him and said "I can't believe she did you like that." He didn't even look at me but pointed at me and said to the workers around "Get my man any drink that he wants." I order a 7 and 7. Lol. Now mind you, when gambling you usually get free drinks but I thought it was hilarious that Mike Tyson got me a 7 and 7!

To finish the story, my pal and I were really low on money come about 10:30 am but we were starving. We went into a gas station and all we had was like $3.00. We were low on gas too and we realized we really screwed up because we couldn't afford gas for the drive back to PHX. So we were trying to remember / collect some phone numbers of some girls that we used to hook up with that moved to LV to possibly get some cash from them. How pathetic! We buy a bag of Steak and Onion flavored potato chips because they were on sale for like $0.69 and eat them in the car, waiting by the pay phone outside of the gas station for a call back. We are thirsty as hell so we go in to buy some drinks and we have like $0.15 left. He goes over to a nickel slot machine and puts one in and pulls the arm. Freaking jackpot! He wins like $85 in nickels!!!! We had enough dough to get gas for the ride home and each a waffle at Waffle House. Good times. Good times.

 

[MrYeahBut]

Muhammad Ali- lobby of Hilton Hotel in Albq.. starstruck ain't the word for it. I did get his autograph. When I asked him he said, "sure thing, boy". I loved that he called me boy.

Joe Kapp, I was an extra in a movie. Had a brewski with him.

Shawn Kemp- Salt Lake airport, had like 8 kids with him.

Randy Gradishar- concession line at Mile High

Frank Sanders- met him at tailgate several times. He got sick of me always asking about the catch in the Dallas game, that I think he finally avoided me

Rock Hudson, Santa Fe. Had a glass of sherry with him. The situation I met him in made it obvious he was gay long before it became public knowledge

 

[TRW]

Connie Hawkins (my favorite all time Sun) when he was playing on the Suns in the lobby of a building I was delivering a package to. Rick Barry (one of my favorite players) when he was with the Warriors, in town to play the Suns, at a diner counter at a restaurant on Central Ave.

 

[bankybruce]

Tony Gwynn and Ken Caminiti, on the same day when I worked at a record shop at Arrowhead Mall across from Peroria Sports Complex. They both paid cash, and Ken purchased a George Straight cassette, and Tony purchased the Blackstreet CD, Another Level.

Randy would walk the mall in the mornings with his kid in a stroller. He's looked hilarious being so tall, and it looked like his back hurt!

 

[Rivercard]

Ran into Herschel Walker at the NW Arkansas airport about 10 years ago. Didn't realize he was insane at the time.

Was sat a table next to Mark Sanchez at a nice restaurant in New York. Oddly enough, on that same business trip I was sat near Frances McDormand at another restaurant.

 

[azkcfan]

Danny Ainge at airport Jackie Kennedy when in Navy in Newport RI

 

[Shane]

I forgot I used to see Stump Mitchell and Ken Harvey all the time they would come into my movie theater I worked at as a teenager semi regularly back in the day.

 

[blindseyed]

When I lived over by South mountain I was hiking and this guy comes flying around the corner and almost hits me, I just kind of jumped out of the way and he slid and stopped, it was Jake Plummer lol so we chatted for awhile about music because he bought a drum set at guitar Center where my guitar player worked, didn't even talk football which I think he appreciated, he was a really cool dude haha

 

[Tyler3450]

Took a piss next to Aeneas... And ran into Fitz a few times.