I’ve had varying encounters with HOFers in various sports. Some of my favorites:
--Jim Brown: I ran into him, literally, in the hallway at the Sheraton in Cleveland at a national. It was early in the a.m. and I turned from my room and ran into him. I said “Hey, you’re Jim Brown!’’ He said “Yes I am” and I said “I guess you probably know that already.” At least I can say I got a laugh out of Jim Brown.
--K.C. Jones: At the national a few years ago I was hanging out at a table staked out by an acquaintance of mine from L.A. A tallish older man joined us at the table and we chatted about Chicago boxing for a while. It was Jones, which I did not know until my friend told me.
--Willie Brown: The Raiders great was a guest at a card show I was working in the early 1990s. He came to my table looking for a Willie Mays card and bought a 1967 from me. I gave him a “Raiders HOFer” discount, which cracked him up.
Boxers are the most fun, down to earth guys:
--Carlos Ortiz [lightweight, jr. welterweight champ]: I saw Ortiz at a HOF ceremony and had him sign a striking pad. I told him that I had a card of him at home but I forgot it. He laughed and said “you f***ed up, my friend.”
--Jeff Chandler [bantamweight champ]: I met Chandler at a HOF event and chatted with him for a while at my table. After I asked him to sign a card for me he actually thanked me for remembering him.
--Brian Mitchell [super featherweight champ]: We were talking about travel--he was originally from South Africa, left during the apartheid era, and later moved back, but was probably the most-traveled fighter of the modern era since all his fights were thousands of miles from home. He told me that he and his wife and son had traveled over 30 hours in the air to get to the HOF induction ceremonies (plus ground transport on both ends).
--Emile Griffith [multi-division champ]: Super nice guy, though badly brain damaged from a mugging several years ago. If you catch him at the right time he will go on forever about his title fights--he fought more championship rounds than anyone in modern boxing history.
Biggest jerk I ever encountered was Willie Mays. He was at a country club in NY where my parents were members when I was about 8 (it was his year w/the Mets). Wouldn’t even acknowledge a kid’s existence. Big hitter, though...
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