From memory:
Met Joe, Franny and yes, Sandusky at age 8. Dad was a donor/honorary coach.
Also met Franco who spoke at one of our sports banquets with Dallas Green.
Was a tutor for Leroy Thompson.
Met most of the the football team then when working in the PSU SID office during college years.
Hung out with Trey Bauer on two occassions and ended up in frats each time and almost got in a fight with Ed Boone which was scary.
Partied with Michigan basketball Coach Steve Fischer at the Victors Club tailgate before the '94 game, thank you Kerry and Bobby. Coach Fischer gave us four seats for midnight madness that night behind the bench and we went in the lockerroom afterwards. Nice guy. My dad's uncle was the President of the Victor's Club.
Sat with Joe during the first half of a basketball game in Rec Hall. The guy knew everyone I had ever met or someone who knew someone I know it seemed. Unreal memory. My roommate's employer (a donor) from Bellefonte sat on the other side of him.
Sid Bream was the camp counselor on my floor at a baseball camp. Played poker with him.
Had conversations with the following: Governor Thornburgh, Budd Dwyer, my boss Robert Jubelirer, and dozens and dozens of state senators and house members during my first job in the PA Senate after interning summers. Several in our Senate class are now PA reps.
Was in two movies as an extra. One involved Eddie Murphy and was filmed at the PA Senate, specifically at the old House offices. I played a Senate staffer, next to him in the cocktail part scene. Only spoke to Eddie for about a minute when he asked if he looked okay and I said, you look great, wish I knew the story. He said you look official and I'm faking it. Had a more in-depth conversation over lunch with Grant Shaud (Murphy Brown show) who if I recall correctly said he was from the Philly area. Nice guy and seemed normal enough. We talked about Harrisburg restaurants. Only saw Joe Don Baker who reportedly sent a tranny to Eddie's trailer during filming.
Met Bob Huggins who might have been drunk at practice. Met basketball/football/soccer/lacrosse coaches at UCinncinati, University of San Francisco, Saint Mary's College of California, University of Tennessee, Wake Forest, Duke, NC State, and UNC -- all were clients of the agency where I worked. Was hired by another university client to start a Heisman campaign for a then unknown Cornell University QB named...Ricky Rahne.
Took a subway ride in DC with Julian Bond and reminisced about his last visit to PSU.
Discussed journalism ethics with Carl Bernstein when he visited PSU and I had to write a paper for Journ class.
Met Coach K a few times. Helped to write Coach K's press release when Joe died. Stood next to him while he delivered 'a night before UNC game speech' in Kville - one of my greatest memories. That and standing next to him outside the locker room of the Greensboro Coliseum while he watched Tommy Amaker (former Duke player and then Seton Hall coach) win his first NCAA tourney game. I remember thinking Coach K was more moved by that than his own game set to tip off in a few minutes.
Duke football coach David Cutcliffe and I often talked at the local Harris Teeter. He thought the world of PSU football.
Met Bill Raftery during March Madness in the press area under the Pit in Memphis. He was holding court with Hoops Weiss whom I would later drink beers with at another tournament venue, thanks to Duke. Bill was funny as hell. Hoops knew everything about college basketball. Really respected those guys plus you could tell no one liked the Packer/Bernstein show at the time which made it even more interesting on press row.
Was also on the floor at the Pit for the old Metro Conference men's basketball championship when Kenyon Martin broke his leg right in front of me. That was bizarre. Even more bizarre after that game I watched John Calipari become the Memphis head coach and the extremely old donors all shuffled in to shake his hand. Seemed shady as sht at the time since Memphis had just played.
Worked summers in high school with one of the members of the band called The Ocean Blue from Hershey. I really liked that band and have played their songs on Spotify.
Sat behind Tom Hanks and Yakov Smirnoff during Phil Rizzuto Day at Yankee Stadium. Tom accidentally poured part of a beer on me as our group and his got somewhat hammered. To our right was George Steinbrenner's sons in the box. George provided our tickets to my hs baseball coach who is a well-known scout (is now in the MLB scouts HOF, who knew there was such a thing)
Met and worked in the same firm as Governor James Hunt RIP, a Mt. Rushmore figure here in NC. His chief of staff and I are our friends. I met Governor Hunt completely by accident on the first day in NC. He was doing an economic development announcement with the media and I accidentally got in his way in the State House. I apologized and said "It's great to see you Governor. I've been in NC for four hours and I've gotten to meet the Governor." He said 'welcome to North Carolina." Years later, he said he remembered our meeting. He might have. Like Joe, he had a rare memory for details and people.
Saw Ty Howle a couple of years ago while waiting for a flight from Raleigh to Newark>Greece. We talked about prospects and some of the local NC kids. Really friendly.
In Greece, met Scott Kelly, Senator Mark Kelly's (Arizona) identical twin brother. Both were astronauts and well-known but Scott is the funnier one according to him. He is pretty funny btw.
I was not about to try and speak to him on that day.
