re: Famous professional athletes/coaches you've met,ETA: not from your own favorite SEC school

I used to volunteer at Nolan Richardson's golf tournament every summer. Met a lot of the coaches that attended and a few former Hog athletes.

BEST:
Tubby Smith was one of the nicest people I ever met. Took time to thank us for volunteering. Very personable and made conversation.

Billy Tubbs was absolutely hilarious. Showed up on Day 2 with the same clothes from the day before. Had pulled an all-nighter that as best as I could tell involved a bunch of pitchers of margaritas and an establishment where men like Billy can help young ladies earn their nursing school tuition.

Steve Atwater played one year and had the funniest exchange I've ever seen. Coach Richardson had a huge bull mastiff named Bear. That dog was the size of a small horse but was the most harmless animal on the planet. Big, tough Steve Atwater is absolutely petrified of dogs. Would not get out of his escalade until Rose Richardson got Bear and took him inside the house.

Mike Anderson and his wife were at my table. He is such a great guy. I really wanted it to work for him at Arkansas because he was so easy to pull for.

Tom Watson, George Brett and David Feherty co-hosted a golf tournament I played in here in KC for several years. All 3 are very good guys and spent a great deal of time with us making us feel appreciated for playing.

Met Ben Crenshaw and Jack Nicklaus at a Champions Tour event in Lutz, FL. I told Crenshaw I thought he was a really great guy - for a Longhorn. He said, "for a longhorn? What the hell are you?" I told him I was a Hog and we spent the next 10 minutes talking about old school Razorbacks like Billy Montgomery and Kenny Hatfield. Great dude.

Current PGA Tour pro Michael Kim stayed at our house when the Web Dot Com tour was in Overland Park. He missed the cut and fired his caddy on Friday morning when the hungover caddy missed their tee time and tried to catch up to Michael on the 4th fairway. Michael told him to keep walking.

WORST:
Dean Smith was absolutely WAY too important to be bothered by "the help." My job in the mornings was to greet the coaches and help them find their carts. All of them were very polite, decent dudes. As I walked up to greet Dean Smith and offer to take his bag to his cart, he ignored me and pretended to take a call.