Best & Worst Experience Meeting An Athlete

[btcarfagno]

Originally Posted by Michael B

I had been pondering this for a while as I had several long responses to the question. To me the best overall are Olympians. I have met hundreds of Olympians over the last 35 years and, as a rule, they can be some of the nicest and most accommodating athletes. Unlike pro athletes it is even better when you are familiar with their careers or saw them perform at some small event where few people attended. I have also befriended quite a few Olympians. Hilary Smart, who won a gold medal in sailing in 1948 with his father as his crew, was a member of my Olympic collectors group. Whenever he saw me at one of our shows he would say 'Let me sign some autographs for you to sell and make some money". He also sent me signatures of his long deceased father for my collection. I collect original photos of Olympians and have a very large archive of over 8,000 images. When I am going to meet someone I usually have photos to sign. I always make copies for them as they usually have not seen the photos before. They are very grateful that I can share with them. There are a few that can be cranky - Cheryl Miller and Mia Hamm come to mind, but they are in the minority.

One interesting aspect of getting autographs of Olympians is the reaction of professional athletes who were also Olympians. When you tell someone you want their signature because they competed in the Olympics it usually catches them off guard. Hockey players Jim Nill and Mats Naslund both signed better than usual signatures and added their teams; Team Canada 1980 for Nill and Tre Kronor with three crowns for Naslund. World Champion boxer Amir Khan is another. I met him at the Boxing Hall of Fame in 2016. He was just signing his name, which was fairly illegible. I told him that I wanted his signature because he was an Olympian he signed his name, spelled it below and added '2004 Silver Medal 2004 Athens Olympics'. One last one is Kurt Angle. He was doing a book signing for his first book. You never know how a book signing is going to go, but I brought along some Olympic items - ticket, photo and poster. He signed the book, photo and ticket rather easily. When he saw the poster, a 1996 Olympic logo poster already signed by about 60 or so 1996 Olympians, he asked if I really wanted him to sign it. I told his sure since he was a gold medalist at those games. He was quite humbled.

I will add one or two more stories, probably tomorrow, including one about a player that many people so far have said is one of the worst.

Speaking of Mia Hamm, I have a feeling that she may be one of those Willie Mays type of personalities. She had a fundraiser for youth soccer in New Jersey where she held a dinner for those who raised money and then went on an indoor field to play a pickup game with the ones who raised the most. My daughter was one who raised in the top ten in the state so she and my wife got to sit at Mia's table to eat. Now...Mia was also like seven or eight months pregnant at this point as well so I'm sure that had to add to the grouchiness as well for sure. She was nice enough during dinner but seemed very shy and "to herself", like she had to force speaking with those around her, even the kids. Not unfriendly just pretty uncomfortable.

Then it was time for the pickup game and she stepped on to the field like a completely different person. She completely changed and was talking and engaging and high fiving and laughing and even talking some minor smack with some of them. Even as pregnant as she was when she was on the soccer field she was wonderful with the kids. It was like she stepped over that line and was in her element again.

So I completely understand the Mia Hamm cranky thing. But we saw a different side of her in the same day.