Nice to Meet Ya

In the summer of 1994, the same summer as the O.J. Murders, I was standing on a street corner in Brentwood, CA with a couple of friends of mine. We were pretty tired, the three of us. Well, I turned and looked back, head angled towards the ground, when I saw what I thought were some scrawny black legs walking up the sidewalk towards us. Within a few seconds, a lifted my head and looked squarely in the face of Sugar Ray Leonard. I was shocked! All I said, in a teenager-like manner, was "Sugar Ray!" He said "hi" and then walked on.

I had the pleasure of shooting free throws with Barkley before a women's game or after an Auburn basketball practice. On another occasion, at basketball camp, Barkley was running off the court and picked me up and put me in a ball over his head. Finally, my best experience with Sir Charles was sitting next to him in the stands during an Auburn/UBA women's basketball game. The AU Men's team was just hanging out and waiting for the time to get ready for their own game. I just walked over and sat right next to ole Barkley. I remember asking him if he liked the Lakers and Magic Johnson and whether or not he would like to play with the Lakers when he went pro. He answered 'yes' to my queries, which meant I was doubly happy: my college sports hero could one day be on my favorite NBA team.

In Bangkok a few years ago I was eating in my favorite local restaurant when I realized that Edwin Moses was in the house. Actually, I knew he was going to be in the neighborhood because the owner of the joint was once Edwin's agent and therefore I had inside information. =) Douglas, the restaurateur and ex-agent, asked me out loud, "Do you know who this sports legend is?" My response was, "Yes, he's the second best athlete ever produced in America." Edwin smiled and asked, "Who's the first?" I grinned and replied, "Bo Jackson, of course." He got a kick out of my comment, giving me a chance to ask about some other big-time Auburn track stars I thought he would easily know. Sure enough, from Harvey Glance to Stanley Floyd, Edwin Moses knew them very well.