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.

I met Reggie Cobb his freshman year, before he got famous.

We split an eight-ball (we had the same dealer).

ok

Met Bo Jackson at a jump rope for life thing when I was in 5th grade. My dad told me before hand what a legend he was/is but I didn’t really “get it”.

Steve Spurrier. He sponsored me and a friend for a cancer swim-a-thon when I lived in Durham growing up. He had just signed with Florida but hadn't moved from North Carolina yet.

Christian Laetner, Bobby Hurley and Grant Hill. I swam for a USS team that was associated with Duke. The basketball players came in to use the Duke weight room just after we finished pre-morning work out weight training. Laetner also liked coming into the pool to jump off the high dives.

Matt Stinchcomb/Mike Bobo/Jonas Jennings. UGA football players I happened to have a class with when I was at UGA. My wife did much better in that regard, she sat next to Champ Bailey in an abnormal psychology class.

Jeff George. Lived in a neighborhood where I lifeguarded at the neighborhood pool (when he was with the Falcons). he came by 4-5 times while I was there that summer. Liked to chat.

Didn't really talk to them, but when I was lifeguarding at the Standard Club in Atlanta, Charles Barkley and Reggie Miller came in after a round of golf and swam around in the pool for a while. This was during the Atlanta Olympics. I think a good chunk of the team played golf there that day but only those two came to the pool.

I met many olympic swimmers at various swim meets. Janet Evans was the biggest name. Eric Shanteau was on one of the teams I swam for. His older brother was a pretty good friend of mine so I knew the kid pretty well. He won a gold medal as part of a relay team. Got some publicity for competing in the games a week after getting diagnosed with cancer.

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We all asked for autographs.

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He let us take selfies.

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I will never understand all this stuff.

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I will never understand all this stuff.

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Allen Iverson at a W Hotel

Tommy Lasorda - 1993. Asked me to watch his briefcase while he went to the bar at the airport. He was manager of the Dodgers at that time.