Saw Rolando McClain at Pt Mallard in Decatur last summer. Didn't meet him, but came close enough to -- I decided not to bother him since he had a few folks crowing him.

I met Ronald Reagan and Dan Quayle at the White House and Colin Powell at the Pentagon in 1986. Met BB King and got to hold Lucille on his tour bus at Ole Miss in 1988. Met Michael Stipe with REM and then Jon Bon Jovi at our fraternity house roughly 1989-1990. Met Ty Murray at the Dixie National Rodeo in Jackson, MS sometime in the 1990s. Spilled sweet tea on Lori Morgan at the Iron Horse Grill in Jackson in 1992 when I was waiting tables one summer. Met several sports stars and local celebrities at various golf tournaments and other events.

True story:

I was at the Alabama State Fair with my two brothers back in the early sixties.

As we were leaving on foot to go to the car, a limousine came by and stopped. We didn't even know the governor had been there that night.

The "Little Judge" rolled his window down in the back of the limousine and he started a conversation with us kids. He asked us about our visit at the fair and made small talk for a while.

Just us three brothers and the governor.

Whatever else you've heard about George Wallace and his politics, I'll bet you haven't heard anything like that about another governor.

I never forgot it.

Later on at a Labor Day Rally in Tuscaloosa, I went to the restroom to pee. Don Seigleman can in and peed in the same trough. He was Secretary of State at the time.

We zipped up, washed our hands and made small talk about it being so hot or something like that. I told my wife I was honored to have peed in the same trough as the Secretary of State.

[Glad they let him out of jail, btw. He seems like a pretty good guy to me.]

Neil Bonnet lived just up the road. My dad-in-law built the cabinets in his house and did the woodwork in his den. Neil came down and watched me working on a machine one day that Papa had built.

Got my hair cut in the chair next to Bobby Allison one day. Listened to him and the barber, Chalmers Chism talk all kinds of racing. His shop was just up from our house in Hueytown for a while when I was a kid.

My kids raced go carts with Davey at a track in Dolemite. They loved Davey. He was good with kids. They weren't too impressed when Neil and Ironhead were signing autographs at Neil's little racing store by Steve's Grocery. They said Ironhead acted like he didn't much want to be there doing that.

Watched Red Farmer race slot cars with the kids at the slot car tracks in the Holiday Bowling Alley building when I was a kid. He beat everybody that raced him with slot cars too. We could buy Jack's Hambugers just across the Super Highway for 15 cents each.

My wife was in Bham looking for a job right after we got married. Pres. Richard Nixon was in town, but she wasn't paying him much attention. His convoy had traffic stopped, so she asked a Bham cop if she could sit on his three-wheeler while they waited on the convoy to clear out. Nixon saw her sitting there and stopped, got out shook her hand while making small talk. She was pretty, so I can't blame him for that.

She got a job at Lloyd Nolan Hospital. Eddy Arnold's son was in a wreck nearby and was injured seriously. She saw Eddy quite a bit since he was coming in to check on his son. He rode in the elevator with her and they talked about it one day.

Al Gore flew into our neighborhood in '98 after the big tornado that wiped out part of it and killed lots of people here. I was a volunteer with the fire department back then. We had to quit what we were doing to make sure he had fire protection when his helicopter landed. All the Alabama Power crews had to lower their buckets and stop work while he was in the area.

Him and Tipper came over to talk to us firefighters, but I managed to avoid them. I wished they hadn't showed up and the power crews and all the other workers who were there helping us could have kept on working to help our community get our utilities we needed restored. I think Out back said he was here then. Thanks Out back.

Got to meet George Strait at one of his concerts in New Orleans several years ago. He sure is a tiny fella!

I haven't met too many.

I met Mick Foley (wrestler) in the Galleria a few days before Christmas in 2000. They were in town doing a show and he was doing some last minute shopping for his kids. Real nice guy.

I sat beside another wrestler (William Regal) on a plane to Philadelphia one time. Big dude.

I don't know if you would call him a celebrity, but I have hunted with Eddie Salter.

One of my dads cousin started a Sporting Goods store with Ray Scott pre Bassmaster days, and they always had the hunting and fishing guys in there. I've met Bill Dance, Roland Martin (who is a first class d**k), Hank Parker, Rick Clunn, Jimmy Houston and I am sure there were many more.

Jimmy Houston had a group of us kids together in the store telling us a story about calling up a turkey one time and it was on the other side of a fallen tree and he couldn't get a shot on it. It got so close he just reached under the tree and grabbed it by the legs, but he couldn't pull it under the tree.

About 5 of us were staring at him with our mouths open and asking what happened next Jimmy?????

He looked us dead in the eye and said "Since I couldn't pull him under the tree I just let go of him and called him on around the tree and shot him". Then he started that Jimmy Houston cackle.


Although I don't consider them celebrities, when I was in school we used to hang out in B'ham or Tuscaloosa and I have played basketball with some football and basketball players from Bama and UAB more times than I can count.

David Blanton - my nephew and his son are buds and he came to a graduation party we had for them.
Frank Thomas (Big Hurt) - I went to high school with him.
Bill Haas - had dinner with him and friends in Greenville, SC in 2009, he was not famous then.
Bill Dance
Shaw Grigsby
Ronnie James Dio - who's old enough on here to remember him?

Met Michael Waddell at Academy. Met T Bone (Travis Turner) at Marks Outdoors. Met Justin Martin at deer expo. Met Willie Robertson at deer expo.

Met Jerry McKinnis, host of the Fishin' Hole and the guy that developed ESPN outdoors broadcasting, in Nashville once.

Pee'd next to Lee Courso. Shook B.B. King's hand. Spent a lot of time visiting with Levon Helm when I lived near his hometown. Too many musicians to list (James Cotton, Buddy Guy, Gatemouth Brown, Pinetop Perkins, Junior Kimbrough, R.L. Burnside, on and on -- I was involved in the blues circuit for a few years).

Met a lot of writers back when I was in graduate school. Larry Brown was probably the most down to earth guy to ever live and become famous.

Grew up with some guys who have made it really, really big in the music business.

But my favorite was meeting Aunt Esther at a BBQ. If only Red Foxx has shown up.

pics or it didn't happen!

Met Johnny Bench at a grocery store in Denver while Snow skiing in Colorado. Hung out with Charles Barkley at a bar in Bham.

Ozzie Newsome, Tony Nathan, Don Shula, Dan Marino, Bob Baumhauer, Mike Ditka, Ray Perkins, Chris Turner, Boo Weekly, Bret Farve, Brad Faxon, Brant Snedeker, just a few, ya I've been lucky enough to play golf or fish with all of these guy's

Forgot that I met Marty Robbins and several other country music folks back stage at the grand ole opry in the early 80's. Talked to Marty about his Nascar success, (or lack thereof).

David Blanton, Bill Jordan, Bart Starr and Aaron Tippin...if they qualify as famous.

Ohhh...Steve Grogan.

I met Bart Starr at the Chic fil a in Hoover. As sincere and kind a southern gentleman as you'll ever meet. He took a great interest in my young son as we were standing in line to order.
On the flip side, I played a pick up basketball game against Terry Bowden when I was a senior at Samford. He is, without a doubt, the most arrogant, inconsiderate &%#*!#?@ I've ever met. Ive never met Roland Martin, but Bowden would give him a run for his money in the jerk dept.