Most interesting person you ever met?

[RamFan503]

Oh... BTW, I also met Bo and John Derek at my mom's show at Bob Eubanks (sp?) ranch. I couldn't believe how tiny she was. And I thought WAY hotter in person than in "10". BTW - Eubanks was just like he was on The Newly Wed Game. When we showed up to one of his shows, he was actually out on horseback directing traffic in the parking area. Cracked me up.

I also jet ski'd in Malibu with Emilio Estevez. My uncle built a couple houses on Broad Beach in Malibu and sold one of them to Emilio - his jogging partner. We were out playing volleyball on the beach when I saw Emilio pulling a little cart with a jet ski in it toward the water. I ran over and helped him get it down to the water and he mentioned that he had another one in the garage. We went back up and got that one and took them out. It was the old kind that you stand on - I wasn't very good at it but he got a good laugh. The guy was about the same age as me and just seemed like a regular guy. This was back when he was married to Paula Abdul. The standing joke was that you could always tell when brother Charlie was visiting because all the curtains were drawn. Never saw Charlie there and that was the only time I saw Emilio.

 

[Farr Be It]

Got lost at a Cardinal baseball game when I was there with my little league tea.
The ushers took me down behind home plate this guy with a microphone comes over and says
"Ya lost kid?"
"Yeah I can't find my parents"
"Well if they don't come before the game starts you can sit with me"

It was Harry Carey
Parents came I missed the chance

Others :
Walter Williams
Newt Gingrich
grew up with Rush Limbaugh we were next door neighbors
Phil Simms
Curt Flood
Bob Gibson
Ozzie Smith
Whitey Herzog
got drunk at a wedding with Jackie Smith and Larry Wilson
the toper though was
Stan Musial
My uncle took me to his house ,ya know by today's standards it was pretty average

Great thread! I enjoyed reading these stories. Makes me wish more that I had a chance to talk to @Thordaddy before we lost him. I came along just after.

I was actually looking for the more recent version. But as @-X- bumped this in ‘13, I’ll do it again in ‘20.

I’ve mentioned some other stories in the past, but I wanted to mention my meeting of D’Marco Farr back in ‘94.

I had a client this morning that grew up with D’Marco in Richmond, Ca. Jim told me a couple of stories from high school. D’Marco called him “pudge” because of his cheeks, and was always a nice guy.

When I met D’Marco, I brought my 3-year-old son to meet him at a hotel meet and greet.

I caught him at a good time, and was able to talk some Rams football with him. He was very kind and spoke to my son. He’s the real deal. I’ve always respected him for that.

Anyway, this morning reminded me of that. Farr be it for me to not share it with you guys.

 

[Farr Be It]

Keeping with the literal theme of this thread, though, maybe the most INTERESTING person I have met was my geometry teacher, Jesse Freitas Sr.

Freitas, now 98 years old, served in World War II, played quarterback for Santa Clara and was one of the original San Francisco 49ers in 1946.

He went on to teach Geometry at Serra High School in San Mateo, and coached football from 1951-1974.

when I got there his coaching career was over but he did smack me in the back of my head with a Geometry book for popping gum in his class room. Ouch. Good for him. Younger me deserved it.

During his coaching tenure Coach Freitas won 2 Cal. Championships. One, in 1951 included a young player that was influenced enough in his coaching to go on to become currently the Los Angeles Rams winningest coach, John Robinson. Later on the 1969 Serra team, Freitas won a title with his son Jesse Jr. at quarterback, and NFL hall-of -famer Lynn Swann at one receiver, and CFL hall-of-famer Tom Scott the other receiver.
The younger Freitas went on to back up Dan Fouts in San Diego.

As a teacher, Jesse Sr. taught through ‘96 and bridged generations, bisecting angles with Robinson, Jim Fregosi, Swann and Barry Bonds, Greg Gutfeld and Greg Jefferies. One of his last groups of students before Freitas’ retirement, in 1996, included a young man that would follow his footsteps to be an NFL quarterback, Tom Brady.

As a matter of fact, a few years back, my school named our stadium “Tom Brady Family Stadium”. But Brady doesn’t get the field.

The players play on Freitas Field.

 

[Loyal]

Well, most famous people don't have an opportunity to speak with me, but one day in Bellngham, Washington, I looked up from a baggage bin and saw Bo Svenson. You old folks will remember him playing the character Sheriff Buford Pusser in the movie "Walking Tall." He was waiting for a package on Greyhound, and I was unloading freight when he came up from behind me to see if his package was there. I looked up and pointed, you're Walking Tall!" He smiled and nodded.

That's it. No, I didn't give him my autograph...

 

[fearsomefour]

I served coffee and talked to Robert Carlisle for a while a few months back, he's a Scottish actor who was the bad guy in the James Bond movie The World is Not Enough and is in Stargate Universe and tons of other movies and stuff, he was a cool guy. Around the same time i met Dougray Scott, another Scottish actor who was in Deep Impact amongst other things.

He’s a cool actor.

 

[fearsomefour]

Keeping with the literal theme of this thread, though, maybe the most INTERESTING person I have met was my geometry teacher, Jesse Freitas Sr.

Freitas, now 98 years old, served in World War II, played quarterback for Santa Clara and was one of the original San Francisco 49ers in 1946.

He went on to teach Geometry at Serra High School in San Mateo, and coached football from 1951-1974.

when I got there his coaching career was over but he did smack me in the back of my head with a Geometry book for popping gum in his class room. Ouch. Good for him. Younger me deserved it.

During his coaching tenure Coach Freitas won 2 Cal. Championships. One, in 1951 included a young player that was influenced enough in his coaching to go on to become currently the Los Angeles Rams winningest coach, John Robinson. Later on the 1969 Serra team, Freitas won a title with his son Jesse Jr. at quarterback, and NFL hall-of -famer Lynn Swann at one receiver, and CFL hall-of-famer Tom Scott the other receiver.
The younger Freitas went on to back up Dan Fouts in San Diego.

As a teacher, Jesse Sr. taught through ‘96 and bridged generations, bisecting angles with Robinson, Jim Fregosi, Swann and Barry Bonds, Greg Gutfeld and Greg Jefferies. One of his last groups of students before Freitas’ retirement, in 1996, included a young man that would follow his footsteps to be an NFL quarterback, Tom Brady.

As a matter of fact, a few years back, my school named our stadium “Tom Brady Family Stadium”. But Brady doesn’t get the field.

The players play on Freitas Field.

That’s a heck of a resume.
What did you do after fighting in WW2?
“Well, in 46 I played pro football”
Dang.

 

[fearsomefour]

Met a handful of famous people, mostly rock/metal musicians from when I played and dealt with music.
The most recent (actor) was Jeremy Renner on Christmas Eve at Scheels in Sparks Nv.
He lives in town. Has sort of a bad rep for being jerkish.
He was standing behind me in line and I kept thinking “I know that guy from somewhere.”
Parent of one of the kids?
An old coach of my sons?
Ex coworker?
Finally dawned on me.
I turned around and said hi, chit chatted for min about last min shopping. He was chill.
Getting to hang pre show with Ronnie James Dio was awesome.
Having drinks with Lemmy was surreal and he did not disappoint.
Playing with Steve Jones (Sex Pistols) was interesting and cool.
The most interesting person i know isn’t famous. A friend of mine who is insane and brilliant.
And I’d put my mother in that most interesting group as well.

 

[Farr Be It]

That’s a heck of a resume.
What did you do after fighting in WW2?
“Well, in 46 I played pro football”
Dang.

"Yeah, then I taught Geometry to John Robinson, Jim Fregosi, Lynn Swann, Barry Bonds, Greg Jefferies and Tom Brady. No big deal."

How many different eras is that, even?? That's a crazy tenure. (Oh and some kid you know -Dan Serafini.)

He's still alive too, although sadly he lost Jesse Jr. about a year ago. He was helping his other son -Jim coach high school ball at 84 years old!

Can you imagine the players...

Kid: "Who's this old man think he is, trying to teach us football?"

 

[coconut]

He’s a cool actor.

Liked Carlisle in Stargate Universe.

 

[fearsomefour]

"Yeah, then I taught Geometry to John Robinson, Jim Fregosi, Lynn Swann, Barry Bonds, Greg Jefferies and Tom Brady. No big deal."

How many different eras is that, even?? That's a crazy tenure. (Oh and some kid you know -Dan Serafini.)

He's still alive too, although sadly he lost Jesse Jr. about a year ago. He was helping his other son -Jim coach high school ball at 84 years old!

Can you imagine the players...

Kid: "Who's this old man think he is, trying to teach us football?"

That’s awesome.
I wonder if Dan remembers him.

 

[Farr Be It]

That’s awesome.
I wonder if Dan remembers him.

Remembers him? Oh yeah. He’s probably just glad he survived ol’ Jess.

 

[rdw]

Very cool thread. RIP Thordaddy.

I used to work for a sunglass company in the '90s. It was based in Mountain View California and because they were pricey high-end fashion items we would get our share of 49er players coming in to purchase.
Back then I was just a 19-year-old kid responsible for receiving shipments, delivering packages and all that stuff.

One day while delivering mail I ran into none other than the infamous (to me) Ronnie Lott. He was hanging out and chatting with some of my coworkers. Seemed like a pretty down to earth guy and even teased me about looking tired insinuating I was out partying too much. The one thing that struck me was how he spoke. His speech was very slow and deliberate. Not slurred but almost like he was speaking in slow motion. I saw him on tv sometime after and to me, it seemed like he was forcing himself to speak faster if that makes sense.
Back then I assumed it was from all the hits to the head...

Met Joe Montana too. This was the first half of '89 which as many of you can guess was the rough season as a young Rams fan.
He wasn't nearly as nice but it was under different circumstances so I didn't fault him for that. What struck me about Joltin' Joe was that even at age 14 I thought to myself, "He's not much bigger than I am!" which shocked me because growing up he was larger than life.

However, by far the most interesting man I met was my grandfather. Only I didn't realize it at the time and since he passed in '79 I didn't get a chance to ask him all the questions I later wanted to.
He grew up during the great depression, played basketball, baseball in Pasadena with the great Jackie Robinson. Fought in WW2. His destroyer was sunk by a kamikaze jet plane and he had to tread water for hours while getting shot at the enemy in shark-infested waters. He played minor league ball for a while and while I have some stories about that he never made the bigs. He then went on to become a vice squad officer for Pasadena PD. In the early '60s, a PoS driver ran into him while he was changing a tire. One leg was shattered so bad it had to be amputated.
So many more stories I'm leaving out but goes to show you why to me he was the most interesting man I never knew!

 

[RhodyRams]

I mentioned this in a previous thread, but it may have been at another site (RRF)

I played in a charity golf tourney quite a few years ago..maybe 10 or 12 years. Showed up with my buddy and sat in the cart pounding down some 12 oz cans of swing oil ( or par juice, depends on where you are from LOL) and the starter comes up to our cart. Thought we were screwed for bringing our own beer, but he asked if either of us were entry ticket holders #37. I was and said so. He said congrats, you get to play with one of the guest stars ..it was Seth MacFarlane and Alex Borstein of Family Guy .

Probably the second worst round of golf I ever played, mainly because I was laughing so much. Can still hear them arguing as Peter and Lois over who's shot is was, and what club to use.