Ever meet a celebrity?

[Panthro]

I've hung out with Panthro a time or two.......total dick.

Which is why it works <3

[Guest]

Waited on Billy Jean King at a local restaurant. yeah I know big deal. Also saw Rick Okasek (of The Cars) outside a private school in NYC last year, he was dropping his kids off for some sort of field trip.

[Seal (SmittyIsOurSavior)]

I live in Wilmington and I've never even met anyone famous.

Although they filmed/film (not sure if they still do?) that show Eastbound & Down in my old neighborhood. Saw Brooke Shields, cause her husband was the producer or something. And that dude Danny McBride.

[TarPanther9180]

Ricky Proehl is a super nice guy.

[Sapper]

Met about a dozen - some nice, some not so nice. Best however is Ben Stein buying us beer in DC when we weren't 21 yet :).

Also, you would be really surprised about how many big time celebrities call Charlotte their home (when they aren't filming obviously). My friend's father is a real estate agent and he has sold houses to some names that really surprised me (Hollywood legends).

[Darth Biscuit]

wayne brady is super nice but surprisingly short. And shiny.

[Mother Grabber]

Madeline Kahn used to live across the hall from my cousin in NYC. Saw her in the elevator once, she was a midge.

[Panthers_Lover]

Not counting Panthers-related folks (Mr. Richardson, players, etc.) or politicos:

Lewis Grizzard (introduced him for a show)

Joe Theismann

Billy Payne

Dan Jensen

Buzz Capra

Oliver Hudson

Terry O'Quinn

Jeff Gordan

David Pearson

All of the original members of Marshall Tucker Band

Some of the additional members of Marshal Tucker Band (went all the way through school with one)

Sara Evans

Members of Kansas (the band)

Scott Pelley

Major Garrett

Others I can't think of off the top of my head.

[B.B.S]

Kate Beckinsale.. NYC last summer.. I touched her butt..she didnt approve

Dale Earnhardt Sr... Earnhardt Chevrolet January '01.. very nice & friendly.. RIP

Julius Erving.... Magic game around '00?...way before my time but he was super nice & sincere

Michael Jordan.... ran into him in the clubhouse @ Pinehurst last summer... friendly & talkative but still pretty arrogant

Roy Williams.... UNC b-ball camp '05... sadly he was kind of a dick

Denzel Washington.. '07..really weird. Apparently his wife is from Conover. I was at a Hickory High football game & he & his wife sat next to me. Funny, charismatic guy

[Davidson Deac II]

Barbara Eden and Lee Greenwood on a Bob Hope tour when I was in the Navy. Adam Goldberg in a Chinese Restaurant in Los Angeles. Alex Trebec when I was in Bahrain and they were hosting a military themed jeopardy tryout there. Richard Burr when he was a house member and came through my office. And I worked with Chris Paul's mom back a few years ago. Had a chance to meet Chris, but I got paged to a conference call before he showed up. Also worked with Ben Folds mom for a while, but never came close to meeting Ben.

[PhillyB]

michelle rodriguez at machu picchu in peru

[Hotsauce]

I booty danced with Sandra Bullock in a club in Charleston back in 2003. She was grinding on mah nutz for about 8 seconds before she realied I wasn't the dude she came with. I was pretty pumped about that.

[Ivan The Awesome]

michelle rodriguez at machu picchu in peru

Dude, that's pretty freaking awesome.

[charlotte49er]

I almost litereally ran into Tony Hulman (Owner of Indianapolis Motor Speedway) and just about everything in Terre Haute, Indiana. I was walking by his bank in downtown Terre Haute (I went to Indiana State University.) I was looking down, and just looked up and stopped short of running into him. You talk about a class act! He was in his Grey suit and we started talking. Here was a guy who was worth more money than God. Talking to me like he was my Dad. He is the only person that I ever cried when I hear he died. (I wanted to cry when my Mom passed away. All I hear was my Father's voice telling me "real men don't cry!")

I have met around a 100 former NFL and MLB players. Bob Feller and Eric Dickerson were the two that stand out the most. Bob was like your Grandfather. He could tell story after story and you didn't even get up to get a drink, or take a leak.

I went to college with Larry Bird, met him a few times. Actually played 2 on 2 with him as my partner. He wasn't a talkative kind of guy.

Talked with Keyshawn Johnson when he was moving from Dallas to Charlotte for about an hour on the phone. For all the sh** people give him, he was very nice on the phone. We talked about real estate, his kids, Disney World.

I met Lee Hamilton a bunch of times. He was the US representative from my parents district back in Indiana. He also presided over the Clinton hearing if I remember right.

I met Charlie Daniels. He was funny as H***.

I worked with some Hip-Hop music mogel from Washington DC years ago. She wanted to buy a house here in Charlotte. I don't remember her name. She looked like Grace Jones. Her GF worked as a waitress at the Uptown Caberet. (She had the biggest paid for rack that I have ever seen up close! She was only 5' nothing and 19. 1/2 her weight was in her chest!)

I have met a bunch of NASCAR & Indy car & NHRA people as well. Some were really nice and some were really a-holes. Again, for all the Sh** he got. Geoff Bodine was one of the nicest guys. So was his son Barry.

I bluffed my way into a Winston Christmas party at Founders Hall one year. (I had my Medium Format Camera setup. the woman in charge assumed I was a photographer. I kind of lied when she asked where my pass was. I told her that I worked for Auto Racing magazine. AR was a little magazine that just reprinted newspaper articles every week. But it was sold on news stands. She barked an order into a radio and got me a press pass.) Teresa Earnhardt had a emerald & diamond necklace on that could have fed all of Africa! For a year! (I assumed it was real.)

Don "Big Daddy" Garlits was great too. I asked him about a picture on his wall. He spent 2 hours telling me about aliens and how they have visited us for 1000 of years! He told me about how President Eisenhour signed a secret agreement with the aliens allowing them to take 100's of children each year. (I think someone had been around nitro too long!)

Off the top of my head, that's all I can remember.

Oh, John Paul Jr. (He raced Indy cars and Trans Am cars.) He came into our race shop. (He was down here for the first Indy car race.) He just had gotten out of jail on drug trafficing. (His Dad was still in jail at the time.) I had a picture of a SCCA mustang he and his Dad raced up at Brainerd, MN one year. We got talking about that for a while. (I didn't ask him about the drug conviction.)

I used to get Christmas cards from Roberto Gurerro(Indy Car.)