That is an AWESOME story coach! That almost has a real "Forrest Gump" feel to it lol. Such a cool story though! I don't have anything to match it, but I have a couple that some of you might enjoy.
1. 1982. My sophomore year of high school in Rochester, NY. I was the sports director at my high school's student run radio station. My assistant SD and I called the media relations director for the Rochester Zeniths of the CBA, and they actually gave us both media credentials. We went into the locker room after the game and interviewed former Syracuse star and short lived NBA's, Marty Byrnes. Not a huge or impressive thing, but considering we were 15 and sophomores in HS, we had our heads in the clouds coming home. Incidentally, A washed up 38-40 year old Connie Hawkins was playing for the opposition that night.
2. 1988. My senior year of college at Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Fla. My buddy and I had tickets to all three days of the "Orlando Classic", which that year was a pre-tournament camp like Chicago or Portsmouth for the graduating college senoirs. We were there to cheer on our mutual friend, Jerry Johnson, who played at FSC and won the Naismith award for players 6' or under that season. First funny story was the 2nd day, these guys sitting in front of us were pimpin Vernon Maxwell all game. I got tired of their **** so one time when Jerry Johnson was guarding Maxwell, I yelled out "C'mon Jerry, show him who's the best guard in the state!!!" LOUDLY, and I hear these two yahoos laughing and muttering, "Best guard in the state, yeah right hahahah". No more than 3 seconds later, just outside of the top of the key, Jerry stole the ball from Maxwell and took it in for an easy layin. It shut them up for the rest of the game.
Then the 3rd day, we decided to move down to the "really good seats" and see if we could get away with it. We found these seats in an empty row in front of a couple of silver haired guys in suits. After sitting there watching the action for 15-20 minutes, we started noticing how these guys behind us were talking about the players in a MUCH more detailed way than typical fans.
"Well, sure he can score, but is Mitch Richmond strong enough to bust thru a double team and hit an open jumper?"
"Listen, I love Jeff Grayer! Very good defender, good passer in open court on the break, but I'm just not sold on his outside shot"
"Obviously Chris Morris can shoot as a spot up or off screens, but I'm not sold on his physicality, what about you?
"Those 2 road graters (Jerome Lane & Mark Bryant) are defensive beasts no doubt, but do you think they have enough low post moves?"
And so on.....finally, the final buzzer on the last game goes off and as everyone stands up and gets ready to leave, I asked these two guys, "Hey gentlemen, I couldn't help hearing your conversations today...are you involved in the NBA somehow?"
The one guy reaches out his hand and says, "Yes we do son, my name's Norm Sonju and I'm the General Manager of the Dallas Mavericks, and this is my director of player personnal (I forgot his name). We said it was nice to meet them and then asked, "So what do you guys think about our boy Jerry Johnson? Is there any chance he gets drafted?"
Both kinda hemmed and hawed and said something about "Well, it's awful tough if you're coming out of division two. You've gotta be REALLY good," and more or less poo-poo'd his chances. That following June, ironically enough, Dallas DRAFTED Jerry Johnson in the third round, right before WIS luminaries Lee Johnson and Craig Neal lol. Look it up!