I can't top Ali or Secretariat but I got volume. I worked P/T at a CC Phila Hotel for most of the '90s, and met several notable folks who were in town for one reason or another and stayed there:
1. The Great Jim Brown (along with a bunch of other Cleveland Browns), and some coach named Belichick who was about to get fired. The team that year included Eric Metcalf, who asked me if the rumors about the Vet were true. I told him keep his helmet on, then asked him for a tip for me. His reply: "Don't eat yellow snow" with a grin from ear-to-ear. They were one of the Eagles few victories that year.
2. Garry Maddox - his office furniture company was pitching one of my clients at my day job, and hosted a group in his suite at CBP. Did a lot of shop talk during the game, as expected, but he was a gracious host. During the stretch he brings aorund a little mahogany box with his 1980 WS Ring in it. I relayed my 8yr old self's awe of his accomplishment in a room full of out-of-towners, similar to 1000's of similar stories he's likely suffered through. His reaction: "See if it fits." I was 8 yrs old again while I posed for a photo with him while wearing it.
3. John Aston - Gomez Addams was a polite, quiet fellow. Spent 3 weeks in the hotel while performing with a touring show.
4. Sally Kellermann - she was never my type, and she was close to 60 when I met her. All I remember is a cold, bony handshake.
5. More Philadelphia Eagles players and coaches than I can count. My hotel was the home game team hotel for them for a few seasons, and hosted may Eagles-sponsored charity events. The team those years wasn't too good, so many were fogettable. However a few memorable gentlemen were Concrete Charlie, Mike Quick, Ray Rhodes, Reggie White, Jerome Brown, Rodney Peete, Donovan McNabb, Brian Dawkins, Jim Johnson.
6. Chef Lidia Bastianich - a wonderfully warm, charismatic, and engaging woman. A moment with her is like visiting grandma at Christmas after being away at school.
7. Chef Walter Staib - an energetic, jolly fellow.
8. Chef Georges Perrier - the exact opposite of Lidia Bastianich.
9. Mike Schmidt - nowhere near as friendly as Garry, But it may have been because he was with Howard Eskin at the time...
10. A slew of Philly politicos who thought they were celebrities. They were either pompous snots or sniveling jackasses sucking up to a pompous snot in their group.
11. Penn & Teller - they are their act - ALL. OF. THE. TIME. Whether or not anyone is watching.
12. Dave Raymond - AKA The original Friend of the Phanatic. He was a regular guy waering the bottom half of a furry costume until the head was put on....then chaos and hilarity ensued. He's the reason the Phanactic is so loved, and fully earned his place in Cooperstown.
13. Cole Hamels - walking his teacup ankle-biter of a dog in CC Phila at 2AM not long after winning the WS in 2008. He was relieved I did not ask for an autograph, but I did ask why he couldn't afford a dog walker. "Wife won't let me ." His wife Heidi is a stunner and then some. I'd do whatever she told me at 2AM, too.
14. Pope John Paul II - no trip to Rome in the 1990s would be complete without kissing the ring., which I was unable to do. a "Private audience with the Pope" was a room with several hundred people in it. I was as close as the Swiss guards would permit...which wasn't very close.
