Did you have any brushes with fame?

[purplepickup]

Well, I grew up in the country and didn't have too many opportunities to rub shoulders with worldly famous people. We had our local famous guys like Junior Mitchell who was our "Fonz". He was a few years older, worked in a body shop, and had the coolest '57 Chevy convertible with 13 coats of hand rubbed candy purple lacquer and a tucked & rolled white interior. His dad had the farm down the road and he was a good friend.

In about '64 I worked in a gas station on the interstate and filled up Colonel Sanders' Caddy one day. Yes, he was wearing a white suit with a black string tie and had a white goatee just like on the KFC sign. He got out to stretch and talked for a while. He seemed like a very nice man. He charged his gas on a Standard Oil credit card and I almost kept the slip for a souvenir. I probably should have. Looking back on it, I bet he got a few free fillups by people keeping his credit card slips instead of sending them in.

One other time I brushed fame was in about '72. It was a couple of years after I got out of the Army and I lived in a big farm house with a few other people. We called it "The Farm".....duh! I probably shouldn't admit it but we were a group of Mother Earth type people.....hippies by most people's definition. One night after a local concert, the band "Black Oak Arkansas" came over to unwind. They stayed for three days. The girl in the band, Ruby Starr, was one really neat person! I had a crush on her for years.

[Jimbo]

I met Big Tom of Survivor Africa and Survivor All Stars fame several years ago. Super nice guy! It was really cool cause I'm a huge fan of the show and he's one of my favorite castaways. Here's the pics. http://www.mytristate.com/bigtom.htm

[Spadinator]

Back in 94 I worked as a ramp rat at Salt Lake internation airport and I worked mainly with business and corporate jets. Brooke Shields was intown filming a movie and on the day she was to leave she chartered one of out Lear 25's to take her home. As we were loading her luggage onto the plane I picked up a small suitcase and got ready to toss it into the plane. I was suddenly grabbed on the shoulders by Ms Shields and she yelled NO!!!! thats my dog. I looked into the bagged and seen a small Yorkie inside. I quickly apologized and handed her the bag. She gave me a quick hug and apologized for yelling at me. She also gave me her autograph on one of my fuel cards. All I could think of was I GOT A HUG FROM BROOKE SHIELDS!!!

[Boodro]

My cousin was an astronaut . He was the shuttle pilot twice & then commander twice. He ia from Woodville Ohio , his name is Col. Tom Henricks(Ret.) I got to see him blast off twice ( almost 3 times but 1 was scrubbed because of a woodpecker!) I got to meet several other astronauts as well. Also got a tour of the launch facilities & got to drive right up under the shuttle as it sat on the launch pad, VERY COOL ! Got to meet the crew on the road to the shuttle when the families yell across the road to them the day before lift off , they are not allowed personal contact before liftoff. It was a lot of fun .

[asianflava]

Having grown up on the space coast I've seen the shuttle go up several times. I also saw it come down a couple times too. It is a sight to see and feel!

I just happened to see some cool pictures on the web last night. They were taken with a 4000Megapixel camera. There were a couple of the shuttle.
http://www.gigapxl.org/gallery-shuttleday.htm

[bledsoe3]

AF, those are cool picts. 4000 MP? That's crazy. Probably can't one of those at Costco yet.

[IraRat]

I probably shouldn't admit it but we were a group of Mother Earth type people.....hippies by most people's definition. Tthe band "Black Oak Arkansas" came over to unwind. They stayed for three days. The girl in the band, Ruby Starr, was one really neat person! I had a crush on her for years.

ADMIT IT!!!

JIM DADDY TO THE RESCUE!!!!

[westexan]

Oh oh forgot that Frank Borman (astronaught in the 60's) once went deer hunting on my family's ranch and Bryant Colby (of Survivor fame now actor) is related to people in my town - he's from the really small town of Christoval about 24 miles north of here. And, in 1983, when I got to spend some time in Europe, it seemed the Pope would be at the same location as me each time I relocated to a new spot. (Maybe God was trying to tell me something.......)

westexan

[Red Baron]

OK I forgot one also. Met John Glenn on several occassions and also (and I have no idea how I forgot this one) My hero Jimmy Buffett at an opening of a Cheesburger in paradise resteraunt. I asked him if I could buy him a drink and he said sure. (drinks were all free at the preview night)


Ben

[Archer_1]

My cousin was an astronaut . He was the shuttle pilot twice & then commander twice. He ia from Woodville Ohio , his name is Col. Tom Henricks(Ret.) I got to see him blast off twice ( almost 3 times but 1 was scrubbed because of a woodpecker!) I got to meet several other astronauts as well. Also got a tour of the launch facilities & got to drive right up under the shuttle as it sat on the launch pad, VERY COOL ! Got to meet the crew on the road to the shuttle when the families yell across the road to them the day before lift off , they are not allowed personal contact before liftoff. It was a lot of fun .

Boodro,

Tom Henricks was the commander of STS-44 in November of '91. I remember this because I served as the Ops Coordinator for the DSP-1 satellite payload carried on that mission. I got to meet and talk with your cousin and the rest of the crew (Story Musgrave is fascinating to talk to, BTW) numerous times. They did a great job getting our 'bird' successfully deployed.

Steve Nanning
Northrop Grumman SSD

[Boodro]

Archer, yes Story is a hoot ins't he !! Tom told me he has soooo many degree's ,he can't remember them all! Seriously , Story is a great guy, & extremely educated & a very valuable person to have in the Orbiter program.!!

I think Story & ol Madjack would have a VERY stimulating ( NOT THAT ! ) conversation if the two of them ever got to go Teardropping togehter. Like TOm said to me once " The sky is not the limit, It's a goal ." SO lets all shoot for the sky!! God Bless america!

[Laredo]

hmmm. not as great as some of y'all's.

saw george w. bush one time while he was a campaign manager for another Republican pol in Midland. he was being a jerk to somebody else at the time; i took a strong, personal dislike to him that has yet to abate. That guy lost his race and w went back into oilfield work; ran into him a few months later at an oilfield industry event, and he was a jerk there, too, plus couldn't give a straight answer to a simple question. This was while his dad was president, and he was trying to act all big-I little-u with everybody.

Another time at a local gop rally for a guy named Troy Fraser (he's a state senator now) I got to meet Roger Staubach. Very impressive guy and very nice. He's got seriously deformed fingers from football injuries, though.

When I was really little, Dennis Weaver was making McCloud in New York. He was home for a vacation and his mom was my dad's charge nurse in the hospital in Joplin, Mo. He is a really nice guy, too.

[Boodro]

Here's a Pic of Tom , not sure which shuttle mission it was.

[asianflava]

Digging up this old thread, maybe some of the new folks have a "Brush with Fame"

I totally forgot about this one. It is posted on my other website which I also forgot about. I didn't remember about until the "first car thread".

Richard Petty was running for Secretary of State so he was campaigning at the State Fair in Raleigh. We saw this guy signing autographs (this is NC afterall) and wondered who it was, Duh! for some reason it took me a second or two for it to register. Not like the hat or glasses was a tip off or anything. This pic was taken next to the champion hogs (this is NC afterall), the smell was lovely.

[BobR]

Wow...lots of intersting encounters on this thread. For me...

Dinner with Dudley Moore and Leonard Nimoy at a charity event

Sat next to Cheech Marin on a flight from Utah to LA.

Skied with Billy Kidd in Colorado

Sat next to Peter Coors (the beer guy) on a flight from Uruguay

Sat behind Goldie and Kurt Russell in a theatre in Santa Monica

Met Robin Williams at the comedy club in Hermosa Beach

Got chance to talk to Alan Bean (the moon walking astronuat) at a business lunch.

Met "Joe Izuzu" at a ski lodge in Utah

Randy "Duke" Cunnigham, fighter ace and former congressman was my swimming coach in high school before he was famous.

Had dinner with Sir Jack Brabbham and Tony Kannan at a CART race event in Australia

Leo G. Carroll (the old actor from the Topper series) presented my dog a prize at a community event when I was 6.