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She rescued Einstein from a manhole

Posted: Tuesday, July 22, 2008 1:02 PM
Filed Under:

By John Rutherford, Producer, NBC News, Washington

 WASHINGTON – Ruth Huzzard, 104, likes to tell the story of how she came to the rescue of a familiar face while going to the store in Princeton, N.J., in the late 1940s.

"As I came along, I said, 'Boy, there's a man down in a manhole,' and I went closer and I discovered it was [Albert] Einstein," she said in a recent interview. "He was walking along the street, and he stepped into this manhole. I helped him out, brushed him off, and took him back to his home."

Huzzard, who had never met the famous scientist before, said Einstein was shaken but not hurt in the mishap.

"No wonder he fell in the hole," she quipped. "He always had his head in the clouds."

Huzzard is one of several centenarians featured by Willard Scott on NBC's "Today" show who've had encounters with famous people over the past century.

A photo of John Handler as a young man in New York.

Future pres as a boss
One hundred-year-old John Handler's first boss in the early 1920s was a pleasant, fun-loving fellow who went on to become the 32nd president of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

"Everyone liked him," Handler remembers. "He liked a good joke. You could hear him laughing. Not dirty jokes. He was very upright."

At the time FDR was in charge of Fidelity & Deposit Co. of Maryland’s New York office. Handler went to work for the company after dropping out of school and brought bonds to Roosevelt for his signature.

"He was a nice man, very nice," Handler said. "He was very generous, too. When Christmas came, he gave me a Christmas present. It was money. It was about five or 10 dollars. I only made $12 a week there. Five dollars was a lot of money."

Date with a burlesque queen
Another centenarian, 100-year-old Albert DeSerio, a retired New York diamond setter, lucked into a date with Gypsy Rose Lee, the famous burlesque dancer, back about 1940.

"I went to her show, and I wanted to see her with the fan dancing," DeSerio remembers. "So I said, 'Are you going to take the fan off?' She smiled at me, and I went behind the stage, you know, and she took a liking to me, and I gave her my telephone number, and she said she'd call me, and she called me. That's it." 

Image: Gypsy Rose Lee
AP 
U.S. actress and burlesque entertainer Gypsy Rose Lee is seen dressing for her role as one of the "Floradora Girls" on July 19, 1939. 

Well, not quite.

"I took her out to dinner," he said. "I took her to the [Grand Central] Oyster Bar, you know, and we had a drink over there, and then we went around to a restaurant and walked around. She wanted to see New York, you know, and I showed her all around New York."

And?

"She was a wonderful person, you know," DeSerio said. "She had a good personality, that's all I know. She was a very fine woman, very, very nice woman, that's all. Very nice to speak to her, you know, and that was it. I think she went to New Orleans after that."

DeSerio never saw her again.

If you know of a centenarian who's had a brush with history over the past century, please tell us a little bit about it in the comments section below and be sure to fill in your return e-mail address so we can get back to you for more details.

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Comments

I am only 60 years old, but I had a brush with serial
killer Ted Bundy.  He was following my wife in his VW
and she came to my work place in Salt Lake City, back
in the early 70's and I received permission from the
USPS, to help her.  I got in her car with her and drove less than a block and here he came.  I chased
him several miles and tried to fight him, but he ran
and his VW was faster than our corvair. We both had
a very good look at him, but didn't realize at the
time that it was Tendy Bundy. I am very thankful that
my wife never stopped for him.

Stephen Curtis Drabner, El Paso, Texas (Sent Tuesday, July 22, 2008 5:30 PM)

Long before I became a Psychotherapist To The Stars, I was a cigarette girl at the (now razed) Copa Cabana on Wilshire Blvd.  A handsome fellow with a moustache came in one night and asked if I had any Tiparillos (a popular brand of cigarette).  He had a terrible smoker's cough and so I said, "Sir, I dont have any Tiparillos.  And with that cough, you shouldn't be smoking anyway.  Why don't you give 'em up, starting right now?"
"Why should I do that?" he said.
"Because you'll die," I told him.  "Don't you have anything worth living for?"
"Why yes," he said, scratching his chin.  "Come to think of it, I do.  I have lots to live for!"
"There, you see?" I said.  "It's a Wonderful Life!"

The man's name was Frank Capra and I was never credited for inspiring his famous film.  Isn't that the Greatest Story Ever Told?

Dr. Carla DelVecchio (Sent Tuesday, July 22, 2008 5:56 PM)

wonderfull! i especially like the part where einstien was rescued! it just goes to show even the smartiest of us need a little TLC.

frankhorton arkansas (Sent Tuesday, July 22, 2008 8:09 PM)

I was Mort Levines housekeeper. I spoke to him often about his roll working for the government. He told me he worked for the Department of Justice as an invrstigator. He personally arrested Lee Henry Oswald and brought him into custody.

Kim Lecy, minneapolis, Mn (Sent Tuesday, July 22, 2008 10:56 PM)

AAAHHH, isn't that sweet, the nice lady helped the lunatic scientist out of the manhole!  She should have left him down there, and maybe we wouldn't have had to put up with his murderous A-Bomb.
Hey, Yo Albert!  You mean to tell me you didn't even try to play hide the salami with Gypsy Rose?  Too much vino perhaps?

Moon Rabbit, Somewhere in the SouthEast Hinterlands (Sent Wednesday, July 23, 2008 4:40 AM)

As a television reporter here in Dallas in the year 2000 I interviewed 100-year-old Charles Squires. He tells the story of, as a young man, interviewing with Thomas A. Edison for a job. He didn't get the job. He also tells the story of how Charles Lindberg was taking off on his historic flight from a field near where he worked so he walked over to watch the take-off. He also says that as a 12-year-old he heard the distress call from the Titanic on his wireless set. He also talked about surviving the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918.

Don Smith, Dallas, TX (Sent Wednesday, July 23, 2008 6:03 AM)

Back in the late 70's I was on a flight to Charleston, WV for my job.  As luck would have it I was bumped up to first class.  The flight attendant came and told me I was sitting next to Jesse Owens the great Olympic sprinter whose hand Hitler refused to shake.  I talked to him at length and later we had dinner together at the Holiday Inn in Charleston.  He was a very nice and humble man.

Paul Barding, Olmsted Falls, OH (Sent Wednesday, July 23, 2008 8:33 AM)

Moon Rabbit - Einstein didn't invent the atomic bomb. Sure, his work in General Relativity opened a lot of young men's eyes as to how the atomic world worked, but it was Dr. Robert Oppenheimer that led the Manhattan Project and developed the bombs that were subsequently dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Save your vitriol for those who deserve. Einstein was a pacifist!

Troy Erlanger, KY (Sent Wednesday, July 23, 2008 9:15 AM)

In the early Spring of 1967 I was a member of 2nd Squad Rockets,Weapons Platoon,Hotel Co.2nd Bn 9th Marines in I Corps,Vietnam.We were on extended patrol when one day we noticed this older bald headed guy wearing an eye patch.We had a chance to speak with him.I asked him his name and what happened to his eye.He said his name was Moishe an he lost his eye fighting with the British in Syria in 1943.He said he lived in Israel and was in Vietnam to observe.I found him to be approachable and easy to talk to.He was a soldier and understood soldiering.Well,a few months later I was reading Stars and Stripes and saw his face in a story on the Six Day War in the field in battle dress.Needless to say it was Moishe Dayan.

Thomas L.Smith( Conyers,Ga) (Sent Wednesday, July 23, 2008 9:18 AM)

First I would like to say Moon Rabbit is an immature idiot. These are precious stories told about some of the greatest people in the world, the elderly. Yes, the people in the stories may not be famous but who cares, they had their moment with a star and want to share that story with the world. I imagine if Moon Rabbit ran into someone famous the first thing he would do is call his mommy, or maybe not since he has not respect for the elderly. Brush up on your history and show some respect.

TiredofIdiots, KY (Sent Wednesday, July 23, 2008 9:25 AM)

I would have liked to know Einstein. He sounds like he would have been a hoot!

Ella, The Forest (Sent Wednesday, July 23, 2008 9:27 AM)

Back in the fall 1991 I believe it was..I was staying at the Four Seasons hotel in Chicago, as I was there for an expo. I got up early and took an empty elevator to the lobby. However on the way down, the elevator stopped at another floor and a short man in jogging gear and a bandana steppped in and when he saw me he immediately moved to the corner of the elevator, faced the wall with the control panel and pressed his knee against the wall. He started doing stretched against the wall. It suddenly struck me that the man was someone I had seen before and then a moment later I realized it was actor Dustin Hoffman. I decided not to bother him and remained silent and respect his privacy. He was in town shooting the movie Billy Bathgate. I confirmed with the hotel desk clerk that Mr Hoffman was indeed staying there.
I wish other people would let the stars have there privacy and just treat them like any other person on the street. Later, I saw a van pull out of the basement of the hotel and again there was Mr Hoffman in the passenger seat. That was my momentary brush with the famous. When I'm 100+ years old I'll tell the story again.

Jack Baum (Sent Wednesday, July 23, 2008 9:38 AM)

Sorry Oppenheimer was th efather of the H-bomb as in Hydrogen bomb. It is true that Einsten most certainly did play the key role in developing the A-bomb as in Atomic bomb. Which we all know was "The Manhatten Project"

Jack Baum (Sent Wednesday, July 23, 2008 9:41 AM)

I was a student at Cambridge University, and can honestly say that some of the most brilliant scholars often do have their 'heads in the clouds.' I remember meeting Sir Patrick Collinson, the Regius Chair of Modern History, in the early 1990s.   He had a large red patch on his face, which I took for a birth-mark, and walked with a slight limp.   An American Professor told me that Sir Patrick had been reading a book on the platform of a British train station, and wandered over the edge onto the tracks.   A train had struck him, damaged his leg and the Regius Professor had sustained a glancing blow to his face.  So the story about Einstein being stuck in a manhole rings true!  I know a student at Cambridge who had their toes run over by Professor Stephen Hawking's wheelchair!

Stephen Michael Alexander, Calgary, Canada. (Sent Wednesday, July 23, 2008 10:13 AM)

shouldn't that be Lee Harvey (not Henry) Oswald?

cher vandyke (Sent Wednesday, July 23, 2008 10:14 AM)

When I was about 10 years old I worked, on the weekends, in a hotel directly across from Penn Station in New York. My best friend's parents owned the concession stand in the lobby, and I helped out by bringing newspapers, etc. up to the rooms, and sometimes helped out with room service.

One day, I was sent up to the 35th floor to deliver a paper to a room. After dropping the paper off, I went back to the elevator, and entered. There was one person on the elevator: Floyd Patterson, then heavyweight champion of the world.

I knew who he was. I wish I could say I asked for an autograph, or even said hello. But I was so shocked, so nervous, I nearly fainted.

We stood there, in silence, heavyweight champ and skinny little kid (knees knocking), for the trip down 35 floors. When we arrived at the lobby, just as we exited the elevator, Patterson looked at me and smiled. And the thing I remember about it was that he had the most gentle, kindest, friendliest smile I had ever seen.

He strode out of the lobby. I went back to the concession stand, hardly able to walk.

That's all that happened. But I will never, ever forget that smile.

Steve Altman (Sent Wednesday, July 23, 2008 10:34 AM)

Lieutenant General Leslie Richard Groves was in charge of the Manhattan Project, and he put J. Robert Oppenheimer in charge of the Los Alamos facility where Oppenheimer took the theoretical work of others including Einstein and created workable designs and plans for atomic (not hydrogen) bombs.  
Source - Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_R._Groves

Jack, you might want to do a tiny bit of research before you make statements without basis in fact.  Google, Live Search, and Ask are all your friends.

Wes, LA (Sent Wednesday, July 23, 2008 10:39 AM)

Jack Baum, you are wrong! Edward Teller was the father of the H-bomb. Oppenheimer worked in Los Alamos on Atomic bomb. Edward Teller was working there as well and it was there where he conceived an idea to use atomic bomb to ignite hydrogen fusion reaction, just like using kindlings to ignite big logs.
Albert Einstein wrote a letter to Franklin Roosevelt to warn him about the possibility that Germans may be developing atomic bomb. Besides his theory of relativity and his famous mass to energy equation formula it was his only contribution for the development of nuclear weapons.

Frank Kandrnal, Bellingham WA (Sent Wednesday, July 23, 2008 11:02 AM)

My grandfather and great-uncle worked as extras and stage hands on the film "The Ten Commandments" with Charleton Heston.  They got to know him very well and Charleton gave them the ring and walking stick that were used in the movie.  My grandfather was also good friends with Ernest Hemingway who wrote the book "For Whom the Bells Toll" while staying at the motel my grandparents owned here is Salt Lake City.  Grandpa would sit with and talk with him for hours.  Once the book was published Ernest took the very first book out of the box, autographed it and gave it to Grandpa.  I'll treasure that book always.

Keri, Salt Lake City, UT (Sent Wednesday, July 23, 2008 11:11 AM)

In 1977, my parents took me to Washington DC to see Carter get swarn in.  While there, my mom and I went to the King Tut exibit.  At the very end there was a gift shop and shile looking for something to take home to Nebraska(big trip for us!) secret service swarmed in and told us not to move.  A beautiful women in fur (she was large) leaned over me looking in the glass cases told me "your fine darling" in a wonderfully elegant voice.  I looked at my mom, who was besides herself in excitement. The beautiful woman wondered around the shop and in an instant was gone, secret service and all-it was Elizabeth Taylor-She was then married to senator John Warner!  I was only 12 years old but I will never foreget her voice and her beauty/

Maureen Palmer Corvallis, Oregon (Sent Wednesday, July 23, 2008 11:28 AM)

I have taught my children the importance of listening to their elders, my son can tell you anything you want to know about the bombing of Pearl Harbor because a friend was there.
Tiredofidiots, Troy & Jack, don't give jerks like Moonrabbit the satisfaction of answers, they don't  understand, they will forever walk around in a cloud of stupidity. Additionally, the comment to Albert shows the total ignorance this person. "Moonrabbit" personally I think that was misspelled, shouldn't it have been "Moonraker"??

Mary, Plymouth NC (Sent Wednesday, July 23, 2008 11:31 AM)

My grandparents lived in a small Oregon town where my grandfather was a logger. They used to have dances on Saturday nights and there was a fellow logger there who they all thought was a dreamer and kind of nutty. His name, Clark Gable.

Loren , Los Angeles, Ca (Sent Wednesday, July 23, 2008 12:11 PM)

I grew up in the w. village of nyc. My across the hall neighbor was H.A.Ray ('curious george' fame). He had a black spaniel, and he told me that he always has a black spaniel somewhere in his books. After they moved, Susan Sontag moved in with her son, he gave me my first kiss(it was just a peck). I was also able to watch Gene Kelly film on MacDougal bet 3rd & 4th St. He pulled me out of the crowd and said, " I hope you can all be as quiet as this little girl is when we start filming" - I was on cloud nine, and my mom was proud.

k.k. ex-nyc,now az (Sent Wednesday, July 23, 2008 12:14 PM)

I was staying in the Hilton in E. Rutherford, NJ in the late '70s. They had an immence and highly rated Italian restaurant on the top floor. I stayed there 6 months during a company move. One evening While sitting at the bar I suddenly realized I was in the chair next to Mickey Mantle. I just sat there real cool , like I didn't care.  Inside I was slobbering all over myself. After about an hour Billy Martin and Whitey Ford arrived with three of the most beautiful women You'd ever see. Tall with big hats,etc.  They moved to a booth and had the time of there lives.  I watched them for six months. Always different broads almost every night. They were staying there while in the employ of the NY Yanks. Tomydat.

Tomydat,Rock Hill, SC (Sent Wednesday, July 23, 2008 12:25 PM)

Brush with greatness, Pointless Story Chapter 1:  I served with someone in the Navy who was a direct descendant of William Wallace, a legendary freedom fighter in Scotland many centuries ago.  Petty Office Third Class Wallace was short and had red hair.
Brush with greatness, Pointless Story Chapter 2:  I took a charge from Emmitt Smith while playing pickup basketball in Florida Gym at the University of Florida...I nearly ended up in the bleachers, but he agreed and respected the call.
Brush with greatness, Pointless Story Chapter 3:  I met this woman, who was an Accenture consultant from Los Angeles, who once "accidentally" brushed up against OJ Simpson at the LA Airport.  She was so thrilled about the encounter that I didn't have the heart to remind her of his past history.  Of course, this was long after his celebrated "If the glove doesn't fit, you gotta acquit" trial.  I concluded that people from Los Angeles are crazy.
Thank you for your time.

Keith Riley, Frisco, Texas (Sent Wednesday, July 23, 2008 12:27 PM)

My Great grandfather claims to have pulled Thomas Edison out of the Detroit River when they were kids, 12 or 14 years old.  Messing around, Tom fell in, and couldnt swim.

Sheryl Farnstrom (Sent Wednesday, July 23, 2008 12:32 PM)

For those who shared their stories...thank you.
I needed to smile today.

Mario, Miami, FL (Sent Wednesday, July 23, 2008 12:33 PM)

I was attending a seminar in Cincinnati in 1980. While walking through one of the hallways, I turned a corner and literally ran into a rather tall gentleman, nearly knocking him down. He re-gained his balance and smiled warmly. I apologized profusely and was rather dumbstruck when I realized who it was. He was very kind and understanding - quite a gentleman - Paul Harvey. Good Day!

Jay Scott Cincinnati, OH (Sent Wednesday, July 23, 2008 12:54 PM)

Moon Rabbit, You mishugana, Albert Einstien didn't have anything to do with the development of the Atomic bomb. He was not a part of the Manhatten Project. He even wrote a letter to FDR to not develop the bomb his famous equation E=MCsquared predicted. The work was directed by the military General Groves and Civilian scientist J. Robert Openhiemer.

James Roy Becker, Bellingham, WA (Sent Wednesday, July 23, 2008 1:01 PM)

Just because a person has his life's work involved in making a wepon, does not mean he wanted to create a wepon. Always remember what can be used, can also be abused. If you don't like the story, go out and get one of your own.

DawnB, Springfield, Mo (Sent Wednesday, July 23, 2008 1:09 PM)

My daughter worked for a year at Maypother & Maypother law firm in Ky.  Maypother is Tom Cruise' uncle.  She saw Tom & Nicole's picture on the wall in his office.  (He was married to Nicole at the time)

Sheryl Farnstrom (Sent Wednesday, July 23, 2008 1:11 PM)

Around 1973 or so I was working at a hospital in Lake Tahoe when Telly Zavalas (star of Kojak) drove up in a limo looking for a friend of his who was a patient there.  He didn't have any cash on him, and he borrowed $20 from our secretary to buy flowers for his friend.  I asked him for his autograph and he signed it "Who loves you baby?".  He was wearing the most wonderful cologne! I'm almost 60 and it's one of my most memorable encounters.

Yolanda Shaw (Sent Wednesday, July 23, 2008 1:11 PM)

I went to high school with the great jazz musician, Pat Metheny.  He sat behind me in English class, was quiet and shy, and carried his guitar around a lot.  In my senior year he gave an assembly where he played his groundbreaking composition, "New Chatauqua" for the school. It was 1971, and nearly everyone was into hard rock.  I remembered being bored to death.  Two years later he burst upon the music scene with the same composition, and now has Grammys and movie soundtrack credits to his name, along with lots of albums.

Vicki Barnes, Independence, MO (Sent Wednesday, July 23, 2008 1:55 PM)

I have a very distant connection to Einstein - I was in an informal play reading group for years in New Orleans, reading everything from aeschylus to modern playwrights. it was established by a protege of Einsteins who had escaped Germany before "krystalnacht". Modern playwrights were Tennesee Williams and John Steinbeck, so hello to Chris and Gale in Edinburgh ( the last remaining members but for four or five others). Notes: I am young at 65, my grandfather was born when  Abraham Lincoln was shot, and I now have two young natural children (age 8 and 4)but my milieu are the 20's'30's and 40's Swing Age kids. My sister has a band called "swing set" in provo, utah.

rickrowland , greensboro, north carolina (Sent Wednesday, July 23, 2008 1:57 PM)

As a college student at Brigham Young University in the 1970's, I often skied at a small resort called Sundance just up Provo canyon.  I was night skiing one un-crowded evening and had just finished a run.  At the lift a guy skied up and asked if he could ride a chair up with me.  I said "sure".

We chatted all the way up the mountain, and I spent most of the conversation answering his mundane questions about my schooling, my family, career choices, hometown, etc.

As we got off the chair I turned to see it was Robert Redford, with that characteristic smile and eye-twinkle, as he said goodbye and skied off into the night.  I hadn't recognized him during the ride up, and I think he relished having a normal conversation with a stranger that didn't center on his movie career or celebrity status.  Robert Redford owned the Sundance Ski Resort.

Jim Stoffer, Delafield WI (Sent Wednesday, July 23, 2008 2:02 PM)

My father lived to be 88. He grew up with Thomas Ferebee, the bombardier of the Enola Gay. The man who dropped the first Atomic Bomb.  At Ferebee's funeral, my father struck up a conversation with Paul Tibbets, who was the pilot of the Enola Gay.  They had quite a bit in common and my father talked to General Tibbets for probably an hour.   Not a personal experience, but one of which I was personally proud.

Jeff White, Mocksville, North Carolina (Sent Wednesday, July 23, 2008 2:09 PM)

People like Moonrabbit must have inspired Einstein to once say "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."

NVCarl, Greensboro, NC (Sent Wednesday, July 23, 2008 2:32 PM)

let me share this'i happened to meet guien buford the first black astronaut.i happened to belong to grand valley state minority eng,commitee.we formed a day trip for 3000 kids from mich,detroit,it was wonderful to be a part of this process.but i took many pictures of him and my co partners. the worst happened,i put the pictures in a photo shop in holland mich, next day,i was told none of my pictures came out.i had about 5 rolls of film,a contax pro camera. i can only know that the film was processed but not given to me because of the fact that i am a minority.this story had hit me very hard,because other people wanted copy,s. lesson learned,pay attention to people whom you deal with.

steven clark,detroit,michigan (Sent Wednesday, July 23, 2008 3:10 PM)

I was at Universal Studios a couple of years ago and a friend in the line next to us was Joey Fatone.  We never said anything because we weren't exactly sure it was him because it was just him and some friends (no body guards), but through out the day we kept seeing him and after a few spottings, I'm positive it was him.

Stacy, Tampa, FL (Sent Wednesday, July 23, 2008 3:26 PM)

As a young girl my great-uncle told a story about meeting Werner Von Braun on Redstone Arsenal in Huntville, AL.  My uncle had gone to work on the arsenal after WWII as a messenger.  He was given the task of delivering some documents in person to Von Braun. When asked what he said and did when he met the great scientist he replied, "I shook his hand, nodded and said Howdy-do."

L Reeves, Eva, AL (Sent Wednesday, July 23, 2008 3:47 PM)

When I was 12 I sang the lead in an operetta in a small town in central TX. The costume designer for the show came up to me afterwards with a sweet little old lady. She introduced her to me as Mrs. Johnson. Not thinkng anything of it, I smiled and politely thanked her for coming to the show. Then the costume director made a comment about getting an autograph.I missed the real direction of this comment however because I was distracted by a couple friends of mine right then. I assumed she was jokingly asking this kid to give this sweet lady an autograph.However, when I turned back around she was handing me this play bill that said, You have a beautiful voice and I hope you will have much success! Congratulations,Lady Bird Johnson
It turned out that our costume designer was also her personal chef at the LBJ Ranch. By the time I read the note and realized who she was, she had already been wisked away by her secret service guy. Yikes!

Sarah Mitchell, Fredericksburg, TX (Sent Wednesday, July 23, 2008 4:12 PM)

I was on a business trip in Memphis in the mid 80's when I ran into Danny Thomas in the lobby of the Peabody Hotel. He took me to see the famous Peabody ducks in their night quarters on the roof of the hotel. He was a really nice guy and never even told me who he was and even though I knew I didn't comment on his identity. I think he enjoyed being able to just be himself and I certainly enjoyed my brief visit with him. He was probably in Memphis on business with St. Jude's Childrens Medical Center of which he was a famous benefactor.

Dean Anderson, Oviedo, FL (Sent Wednesday, July 23, 2008 4:14 PM)

Once I saw God in the flesh. I was walking by a pond and there he was... Sitting there doing nothing.

Tom, Farmington hills, mi (Sent Wednesday, July 23, 2008 4:20 PM)

I met Warner Von Braun in a park in NM when I was a little girl.  He had a big german shepherd with him.  I wanted to pet the dog but my mother called me away.  I think he would have appreciated it if my father would have talked to him.  He looked lonely.

RG, Kirkland, WA (Sent Wednesday, July 23, 2008 4:31 PM)

I have had one spectacular brush with greatness in my time.  I was 5 years old and the biggest Hulk Hogan fan in the world.  My mother took me to the local stadium to see the WWE (then it was the WWF) in action.  I was in the front row by the stage and as Hulk Hogan walked out of the stage I was estatic!  He stopped to shake hands with people on his way down and as he started walking my way I froze.  Hulk Hogan was approaching me! ME!  He said, "Hello, little hulkster!" (Clearly I was a fan, decked out in yellow and red)  And I couldn't say a word.  He walked away and I frantically started yelling at my mother, "Hulk Hogan talked to me! He talked to me!"  And now everytime he's on the television, she never lets me forget what happened that day.

Tara, Boonville, IN (Sent Wednesday, July 23, 2008 4:36 PM)

My brushes with fame.
I was on vacation with a girlfriend at Bobby Baker's Carousel in Ocean City, Maryland.  Bobby Baker and Dr. Bailey from the Baltimore Colts carried out bags to our room and we were given free beach chairs, free drinks and an evening at a dinner theater.  Also shook hands with Joe Lewis at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas.  Also was waiting at the luggage carousel next to John Gruden. (Tampa Bay Buccaneers) He was talking on his cell phone and put his bag on my foot. (No apology)

Citizenjj (Sent Wednesday, July 23, 2008 4:38 PM)

Jan 22 1952, I was born. When I finally opened my eyes, I saw the greatest person I'd ever know.
Her name was Violet Jearldeane Pope.
R.I.P. Mom

skinnyVinnie, Lyman, Wyoming (Sent Wednesday, July 23, 2008 4:41 PM)

I WAS ON A DATE AT A WELL KNOWN ITALIAN RESTAURANT MANY YEARS AGO. AS WE WERE LEAVING, I LOOKED UP & SAW SEAN CONNERY SITTING ALONE AT A TABLE DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF ME. IT WAS RIGHT AFTER HE FILMED HIS LAST JAMES BOND MOVIE. IT WAS ONE OF THE FEW TIMES I WAS ACTUALLY SPEECHLESS. I REMEMBER THINKING WOW! HE REALLY IS THAT GORGEOUS-IT'S NOT MAKEUP, AND NO HE'S DEFINITELY NOT TOO OLD TO BE JAMES BOND. I WAS GOGGLE EYED & STARING STUPIDLY, BUT HE GAVE ME A FRIENDLY LITTLE WAVE & A SMILE & MY HEART JUST SOARED, BUT I WASN'T ABLE TO TALK UNTIL AFTER I LEFT THE RESTAURANT!! I LOVED READING ALL THE OTHER STORIES!!

DARLENE D, CAPE CORAL, FL (Sent Wednesday, July 23, 2008 4:47 PM)

In about 70 years, I'll have a good story!  About 10 years ago, I was working with Teen Mania Ministries in Texas.  The Newsboys did a lot of work with them and I actually got to meet them AND played paintball with them on the brand new paintball court we'd just built.  Peter Furler shot me in the back.

They are about the coolest weird guys anyone could ever meet!

Sophianna, Bay City, MI (Sent Wednesday, July 23, 2008 4:54 PM)

I'm famous!

Alex G (Sent Wednesday, July 23, 2008 5:07 PM)



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