Jerry Rice, Steve Young Featured In Stories Of Fans Meeting Favorite Athletes, Celebs

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – There is a common saying that meeting your hero doesn’t always pay off. KSL Sports’ Alex Kirry asked that question on Twitter and got a lot of responses – good, bad and hilarious.

If you’ve met a professional athlete, who was totally cool and who was lame? We’ll share your experiences on @kslnewsradio and @kslsports on Monday. I’ll start. Sam Perkins pretended he wasn’t Sam Perkins to a 14 year old me.

— Alex Kirry (@AlexKirryKSL) March 28, 2020

First, Kirry asked his co-host, Scott Mitchell, to name an athlete he had a positive interaction with. With Mitchell being a former NFL quarterback he met a lot of people but two who stood out were a pair of Hall of Fame quarterbacks in Joe Namath and Johnny Unitas.

“Who I thought was awesome was Johnny Unitas. When I went to Baltimore to play for the Ravens and he lived there,” Mitchell said. “I went to lunch with him and he was amazing. It was talking shop and talking about his era. We had a common thread in Don Shula because he coached in Baltimore. A lot of what was developed that was developed with Johnny Unitas in Baltimore carried over to my time in Miami. I just remember him saying, ‘ I don’t care if you wear my jersey,’ and I thought that was cool.

“The other guy who I love and still do this day is Joe Namath. He is as nice as can be. I was a nobody and the backup quarterback to Dan Marino,” Mitchell said. “I met him in the locker room and he was hanging out with the quarterbacks and could not have been a nicer and cooler guy.”

We also asked Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham this same question when he joined KSL UnRivalaed. However, the stipulation was added that it could not be a former player he coached. The answer was surprising as it was former heavyweight champion boxer – Mike Tyson.

“He completely and 100 percent was a gentleman,” Whittingham said. “It was at an UnderArmour function about five or six years ago. He was at the function and I said hello to him and chatted with him for about four or five minutes and he was as gracious as can be. I was very impressed by how he handled himself.”

Whittingham himself is well known and people want his autograph, so he gives his side of that coin when he gets recognized in public.

“I try to accommodate everyone and I feel blessed to be the role I am in. The fans and the support they give our program, team and myself,” he added. “Look at the consecutive sellouts and the support fans and communities give us, so I do everything I can to interact with fans and give back.”

Muhammad Ali Does Magic, Jerry Rice Takes A Pic

Here are just some of the submissions from Twitter. They include some amazing stories and the majority of the meetings were positive with famous athletes. There are Hall of Famers, local Utah athletes, NBA players and more.

We lead off with the best in which someone met Muhammad Ali in Washington D.C. and he just started doing magic for a bit before the crowd got too big and he was ushered away.

There are a lot of cool stories so take the time to check those out and others in the Twitter thread.

I ran into Muhammad Ali randomly on a DC street corner and he did magic tricks for me.

— Andy Miller (@AndyMacMiller) March 28, 2020

Jerry Rice was signing autographs at a store in Vegas. My son was standing off to the side watching- Rice called him over asked if he wanted a photo, brought him behind the ropes & showed him his Super Bowl ring. So nice!

— Tanya Vea (@tanyavea) March 28, 2020

Met @Chadlewis89 and @SteveYoungQB at a Hanksville gas station in 1997 on the way to Lake Powell. Both were very nice but Steve got mad at Chad for paying for the gas. “Don’t buy my gas rook I make $8 million a year!”

— Brandon Greenwood (@greenwoodpt52) March 29, 2020

I met Blake Griffin over the summer. He was a groomsman at a wedding I worked. He was just one of the guys and was very nice to me. pic.twitter.com/nlzj6PcwiV

— Terry Camp (@terrycamp12) March 28, 2020

Charles Barkley is a riot as well. About as close to the guy we see on tv as I’ve met

— Russell Carpenter (@rc12479) March 29, 2020

I met @TyDetmer14 and he's so cool, gracious, & down to earth. He signed my jersey! pic.twitter.com/ijjfAyE9Lb

— Jessica B (@YFanGirl_JB) March 29, 2020

I met Jerry Rice pregame a few years back. He was awesome. Asked for a photo and and he said “absolutely.” Also met Dwight Clark that night too. He was a very cool as well. pic.twitter.com/3Hwvb3mg0E

— Nick Geary (@gnuts12) March 29, 2020

I’ve met 100+ of them at Celebrity Golf tournament over the last several years and Tim Tebow was one of our favorite encounters as he ran to get into a picture with my son as we were taking one of him from a distance. Super genuine.

— Jared Hokanson (@agentjaredhok) March 29, 2020

Sandy Koufax was not so keen to give my 12yo self an autograph. He signed it on a bad spot on the ball. Not sure if that was on purpose. Whitey Ford was nice. Jose Canseco was super nice.

— The Red Stapler Guy (@RedStaplerGuy) March 29, 2020

I met Shaquille O'Neil in 1997, and he was the coolest, most gracious athlete I've ever met.
Aging myself, but Franco Harris was a complete Turd!! I was probably 10 or 11, star-struck pee wee football player who just wanted his autograph, and he was jerk.

— Roy Angel (@Royalblue_92) March 29, 2020

If you missed your opportunity to give your response, add your comment to the Twitter thread.

Tune into KSL’s Unrivaled every Monday through Friday, 7-9 p.m., or download the KSL NewsRadio app to subscribe to the podcast.