I had a brief conversation with Wally Lewis, at Lang Park - he was on his way down to the pitch from the commentary box. My brother in law, who was with me at the time, was totally star-struck and insisted on shaking his hand and gushing. Wally was very kind and tolerant, but I was quite embarrassed at interrupting his work day in such a fashion. I expect he gets it a lot.
Back in the NSL days, I was deeply involved with the Brisbane Strikers football (soccer) club, and our patron and major donor was Clem Jones, so I had the great honour of being able to buy him a couple of beers and have a chat for an hour or so about politics and football. I also got to meet Johnny Warren at Perry Park; He was there commentating on the Perth Glory match for one of the WA radio stations. I was very happy to get the opportunity to talk to them both, but I wouldn't say I was star-struck particularly. There's no doubting that both were great men, who made a real difference to their worlds. Clem was the Lord Mayor who sewered Brisbane, as well as being hugely influential in Brisbane soccer. And Johnny was practically singlehandedly responsible for dragging soccer into the mainstream in Australia.
When I was about ten years old, I met John Noakes. That's probably the only time I have been genuinely overawed by meeting someone. He was very nice (and so was Shep). But I had been revved up by my peers to expect superman - and he turned out to just be a nice bloke with a dog.
In general I don't quite understand most people's reaction to famous people; They're just ordinary people who happen to either be highly skilled or highly fortunate in one particular area. There are plenty of truly extraordinary people who are never famous. So going all gooey over someone solely because they are well known seems rather silly. It's the achievements that got them fame that count - and those who are merely famous for being famous deserve no respect for that.
A number of years ago I was at Mount Buller ski resort in Victoria. It was early in the season, so there wasn't any snow; But it was a really pleasant stay nonetheless (perhaps better for the absence of crowds). My then wife and I got chatting to another couple in the bar at the hotel, and we spent the evening buying rounds and shooting the breeze about all kinds of nonsense (as you do). Karaoke may have been perpetrated at some stage. The next day at breakfast, one of the waiters was beside herself because I was friends with this famous footballer - I had no idea that he was world famous in Melbourne, and I don't even recall his name, but apparently he was one of the legends of AFL. I was probably the only person in the place who didn't know he was famous - go figure.
