There is always a chance that you may see someone famous on a plane, walking in a city or just plane traveling. In our last trip to Chicago, there was a famous “wrestler” on board. He was talking to a woman next to him and we could hear. I couldn’t tell you who he was, but the guy was huge.
I remember seeing President Ford golfing at Oak Hills in Michigan. There were plenty of people. No, he did not hit anyone with a ball either.
President George W. Bush was in the back seat of a limo when I saw him at the Republican convention in Tampa. There were all these people protesting on the corner, and when he went by, everyone became quiet. He has a certain quality to keep people at bay.
My most memorable experience of meeting a “famous person,” was all by accident. I was coaching a girls’ volleyball team in 2007 and we were playing in a tournament down in Ft. Lauderdale. It was not only Sunday, it was Super Bowl Sunday.
The tournament ended well past six and I had a ninety mile trip up north on I-95. So I ended up at the P.F. Chang’s in Boca Raton, eating some of Chang’s ribs and watching the game at the bar seats.
The guy next to me seemed your average friendly balding guy. I finally got to the question of what he did for work. “I am a drummer for a band,” he said. “Oh,” I remember saying, “What band?” The nonchalant bald guy said, “I played for Led Zeppelin. I now have my own band.”
Ok, Led Zeppelin? That’s a famous, famous band? Jason Bonham went to explain that his father, John, was the original drummer, and Jason later took up drumming himself.
Jason went into explaining that he was in Boca Raton trying to buy a house for his family. Many of his gigs are in the United States, and taxes are lower here. Jason went on to explain his relationship with dad.
It was the most enlighten hour of conversation I ever had on a Super Bowl night. Jason was downright friendly, unpretentious and interesting.
That night I became a fan of Jason Bonham and Led Zeppelin.
UPDATE:
At the Maui airport in March of 2015 Tony Gonzalez–the All-Pro for the Kansas City Chiefs– and family was right in front of us. He forgot to take his watch off and “butted” in front of Kathie without pardoning himself. The TSA agent made a comment that he “was living the life.” I asked the agent who he was, “that’s Tony Gonzalez, the famous football player. Six months later we saw Tony and his wife on Rachael Ray’s Cooking show.
On October 7th, 2015 we were visiting EPCOT’s 20th Annual Food and Wine Festival when we ran into Kurt Russell. We were two of one hundred people invited to here him speak about his GoGi Wines. One of his wines is named after his life partner, Goldie Hawn, named “Goldie.” We shook hands and I asked him how old he was. Kurt said he was “64.” The guy is looking good!
Later that morning we saw the show “CHEW” being filmed in front to the Disney Showcase.
Kathie and I happened to be in a pavilion. Kathie had just went to the restroom when Mario Batali walked through. I said “Hello,” and Mario said “Hello” back. When Kathie came out, I took her to a security guard and asked him who that person was that just walked by. “That was Mario,” the guard said. Kathie looked at me and said, “You didn’t get a picture, and you didn’t tell him that we ate at EATALY in NYC and Chicago!” All I could say, “Mario is a big guy.”
