Met one of my idols recently

Always good to meet someone you look up to and them meet or exceed your expectations.

 

I met him also at San Diego Comic-Con. He must have been having a bad day.

 

That's really great @Minuteman. It's always great when you meet someone like that and they're just down to earth. I've met a few celebrities over the years some were really cool and some were not.

 

Lou Ferrigno is looking good, The other dude with the blue face needs to cut back on I'm guessing Viagra or silver ingesting?

 

We were famous at one time for founding of what would become the WWE. Back then, it was simply Sandy Bar Wrestling and flee market, and the weekends were epic matches. We had all the early greats, and we would always get autographs from all the guys!
I have met and even gotten to know several now famous wrestlers, Hulk Hogan is a pretty cool guy, super fun to hang out with and a genuinely nice guy. I got to meet Audrey the Giant, Rowdy Roddy Piper, and the coolest cat of all, Billy Jack Hains! I have knows Roddy Piper almost my entire life, he and his brothers owned a auto repair shop near by and also a gym where they all would practice, they always let the local kids come and watch and they all took the time to talk with us and encourage us to be good humans, I will always be a fan of Roddy Piper, what a class act all around! We never really saw any of them doing dick stuff, while I'm sure in their private lives they may have been different, publicly, they were all decent and well mannered! Sadly, they got super popular and fame took hold and the original crew moved on, some found greater fame, other went about their lives as normal yet super human people!

 

I met The Nature Boy ,, Ric Flair back in the 70's ,, when he was with the 4 Horseman , he was with Ole, Arn ,and Gene Anderson ,,, I was delivering papers on a paper route ,, Ric bought a 15 cent paper for 5 dollars because his picture and a story about them was in it ,,,, that was back when they were in a plane crash going to or from a match somewhere in Tennesse I believe .

Met Wahoo McDaniels ,, Ricky Steamboat ,, all were pretty cool guys ,,, all back in the 70's .

Met 1 or 2 actors ,, can't remember their names ,, wasn't to impressed .

Met a couple of band members from the original Lynyrd Skynrd ,, and Molly Hatchet ,,

My most memorable people I've ever met were WW11 ,,, Korea ,, and some VietNam veterans that were in some of the biggest battles in history ,,, those were some of the most humble people I've ever met ,,, and respected .

 

I met a few celebrities during my short time working airport checkpoint security. The professionals usually were just tired, wanting to get where they're going. Best was Telly Savalas, "Kojak". He was in line behind a dolled up young woman. She kept failing the metal detector, kept taking off one bangle or piece of glitz after another. Telly leans to me and quips, "If she takes off much more we're going to get a show!" Hehe .... he was great!
Sting and "Downtown" Julie Brown came through for the last flight out. MTV had had a stunt where they had about a hundred young people partying at a local home. Sting and Julie were the guest celebs. They were tired. This was just after Sting's motorcycle accident, so he walked with a cane. Had his fancy studded leather jacket. I handled both very carefully through the X-ray, and helped him with them after. No problems, he thanked me. Very personable guy.
The biggest problem makers were the local "celebrities", like ex-Governor Martinez and a certain black female news anchor, insisting on "star treatment". She tried to barge to the head of the line. I sent her right back!
My real claim to infamy was the day I saw an old guy in flannel shirt and jeans, in the terminal with a bird dog on a leash. I intercepted him, found the dog was not a service or support animal, and had him take the pooch out of the terminal. Got back to the checkpoint to find my coworkers horrified. "Do you know who that was!?" one lady says. "No, just some confused old geezer", says I. She says, "That was ex-Governor Lawton Chiles! You kicked the governor out of the terminal!"
Oh well, he was a democrat. Seriously though, he was breaking the airport rules.

 

I had a business call with Billy Jack Haines when he opened a gym back in the day to work on his grand opening. The guy was sharp as a tack and had good business smarts. He was also very personable and reasonable and really broke my stereotype for wrestlers.

Rowdy Roddy Piper was my all time favorite wrestler and I thought it was awesome how he spent the final years of his life promoting wrestling and working with kids. He was also the star of of "They Live" one of the best sci fi and political movies ever made. I truly wish I had taken the time to meet him while he was still here.

 

Roddy was always such a positive influence to us local boys, he and the guys went way out of their way to make time for those kids, especially those who needed a good male roll model, I don't know if he knew just how important everything he did was, but he sure instilled a lot on this Airman! He was always so proud of "His Boys" and always told us if we ever needed help, or if we had trouble, always call him and he would come, even if we had to call from jail, he would come and bail us out!
A few kids got in big trouble and Roddy made them work to "Pay it Back" and he helped them change their lives around! I can think of few other adults at auch an important point in a youngsters life, with bigger hearts then Roddy!

 

Yep, always heard that Ferrigno was down to earth. Glad you got a chance to finally meet him!

 

I met Arnold at his release of the movie True Lies. I used to be a projectionist when I was a kid. I shook his massive hand and said "Mr. Schwarzenneger, I love your movies" to which he replied "just call me Arnold".

I remember later when he was running for governator the museum of tolerance black mailed him for 7 million because his father was one of Hitlers top guys and they were going to release the story unless he 'donated' to the Jews.

 

Way back in high school I went to see Jerry Clower. After the show I bought a book and stood in line to get it autographed. Three or four ahead of me was a blind man. Jerry got up from the table, took the person's hands and described himself and his jacket with the coon head on it. He let the person feel his "fat jowls," the racoon head and his "big belly." Took an extra 3-5 minutes with him. Then he signed whatever the person had and continued on. The guy right in front of me was blind also. Jerry got up and did the same thing again with this person. After he left Jerry looked up and me and said, "We have so much to be thankful for." I have never forgotten that encounter. Sure made an impression on a young high school kid.

 

I love Lou Ferrigno. The Incredible Hulk was my favorite show at one time.