Ames' Top 11 Celebrity Sightings

Everyone has had their little brushes with fame, and I suppose we all have our own criteria about who is famous and what constitutes an actual celebrity sighting. I don't think it's quite fair to include people you went to school with (Hi Harrison! Hi Angie!) especially as they weren't really celebrities back in school. (Well, Angie became one while we were still in school, but...) Likewise for the local rock star (Hi Ken!) or former work colleague rocker ('Sup, Andrew?).
In any event, these become interesting cocktail party chatter or get-to-know-you type conversations.

Knowing that I'm probably leaving someone off, here is my personal Top 11 list of celebrity sightings, Letterman-style:

11. Oliver Stone. See number 1 below.

10. Lionel Ritchie. Cathy and I were eating at the Ivy in Los Angeles several years ago and saw the singer dining several tables away. No, he wasn't dancing on the ceiling, just eating. (Cathy claims that Quentin Tarantino was at the restaurant too, but I don't remember that. Maybe he'll make Cathy's list.)

9. Col. (Ret.) Oliver North. Not too long after his trial over the Iran Contra affair, I met Col. North at a W&L football game, where he was watching his son play for the Generals. I sat behind him at the game and spoke with him a little.

8. Coach Don Nelson. My most recent sighting; I saw the Coach at the Ritz Carlton in New Orleans last month when the GS Warriors were checking in and I was getting ready to leave. He walked right by me and I couldn't hold back: "Hello, Coach, we miss you in Dallas!" After he finally realized I was talking to him, he said "Oh...thanks. Thanks a lot." and continued into the courtyard, where he fired up his stogie and read the newspaper.

7. Roger Staubach. Ordinarily, I'd put this much higher toward the top of this list. However, I don't remember it actually happening, even though Dad tells me that it did, and I've got an autographed picture of Roger Dodger from Culwell & Sons that I got when I met him. I'd like to meet him again so I can put the sighting closer to the top of my list.

6. Harvey Martin. Another great Cowboy of the 70's, I got his autograph when I ran into him at a park in Dallas. He wrote something next to his name and number that I've always remembered: "Nothing worthwhile comes easy."

5. Morgan Fairchild. This one is a bit of a stretch, but she made an impression at the time. Back in the 70's, my dad's business partner had a cousin (Bee Spears) in Willie Nelson's Family band. So the first concert I ever attended--2nd row, center stage at Reunion Arena as I recall--was opened by BB King and headlined by Willie Nelson. With Dad's connections, we got backstage passes and met much of the Family. We also got to visit one of the tour buses, and I was looking out the window at the other tour bus where I saw Morgan Fairchild! Hubba hubba. A thrill, even though I didn't get to meet her (or Willie Nelson, for that matter).

4. Jerry Jeff Walker. As long as we're on country singers, I've met JJW twice. Both in Lexington, VA; the first was when I helped "tear down" his set up for a concert at Zollman's and also helped recover his hat from my fool of a fraternity brother who had stolen it (hi Chad). A year or so later, I got to meet him again (much more sober this time) and recorded some promos from him for the campus radio station, WLUR.

3. Colt McCoy. I walked into a UT basketball game at the Drum with him last season (2008). He was very unassuming and polite; held the door for a lady in front of us and didn't attempt to draw attention to himself. Just a good ol' boy. (Honorable mention: I saw Ricky Williams several times on campus when I was in law school at UT but never had the nerve to speak to him.)

2. Ross Perot. When I was just a little guy, my dad used to take me to the barber shop on Saturday mornings, and I'd pick out a magazine from the rack and sit at Dad's feet, picking out words I could read for Dad and the barber. One morning when I was about 4 or 5, the man in the chair next to Dad commented on my age and reading, and then said to me: "Son, I've got a little software company. Come and see me when you need a job." Unfortunately--and probably unwisely--I have never attempted to take up Mr. Perot on his offer.

1. Tom Cruise: Back when I was a junior in high school, the movie Born on the Fourth of July was filmed, in large part, in Dallas. One of the opening scenes was a wrestling match involving Tom Cruise's character. As a high school wrestler of roughly his build, I was invited to try out for the part of his opponent (and, failing that, one of the other wrestlers in the scene). So one Saturday afternoon I headed over to Richland College to try out. After working out for about 30 minutes, I headed out in the hall to the water fountain. In the hall I ran into this short gentleman with a hat pulled down over his eyes walking into the wrestling room with a taller, more heavyset man with a scruffy beard. Yep, Tom Cruise and Oliver Stone. They were both polite if reserved. When I got back in the room, I was paired up with Tom Cruise and wrestled with him for a while. He was significantly shorter than I was at the time--I'd guess probably 5'7'' to my then 5'9''--and (I was told by the casting folks) I was too much bigger than him for the film. I was invited, however, to be in the crowd during the scene, but my football coach at the time did not see the potential upside to me missing (from the bench) a Friday night varsity high school football game to be in a movie!

So what celebrities have y'all sighted?