# Are you related to or have you met anyone famous **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 6, 2022, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-or-have-you-met-anyone-famous/960544 "2022-03-06T01:12:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2022, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-or-have-you-met-anyone-famous/960544/101 "2022-03-09T20:43:14Z")
> [@El\_DeLuxo](#): > > I’ve seen Mr. Wavy Gravy often enough at events like the Saint Stupid’s Day Parade Wow, blast from the past. I used to see him and General Wastemoreland around very occasionally. Larry “Wild Man” Fischer once sold me a belch for a quarter. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2022, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-or-have-you-met-anyone-famous/960544/102 "2022-03-09T20:47:16Z")
Tyler George was on the U.S. Olympic curling team in Pyeongchang. He retired from the team and now does events around the country to help popularize curling. I got to meet him at one last November and hang out for a while. Nice guy. Everyone wanted to buy him a drink, and so I let him buy me one. I know some people who did a round-the-world sailing trip with actor Billy Campbell; said he was an awesome shipmate. > [@kitap](#): > > One of my uncles worked on the mathematics of the moon launch. That’s the closest I get to being related to someone famous. I know some Physics and math, and have read a fair bit about the engineering of the Apollo missions, but I have some questions I’ve never found the answers to. Is your uncle still around? > [@commasense](#): > > Chuck Yeager (a conceited jerk, he spoke at NASM every year on the anniversary of his breaking the sound barrier) I went to the event in '97; the 50th anniversary. Were you there at the time? ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2022, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-or-have-you-met-anyone-famous/960544/103 "2022-03-09T21:16:35Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Tyler George was on the U.S. Olympic curling team in Pyeongchang. I didn’t know curlers counted. I’ve shared a few beers with Sam Richardson–4 time world curling champion. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2022, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-or-have-you-met-anyone-famous/960544/104 "2022-03-09T21:46:30Z")
ive met a lot of wrestlers that became famous when one of the more prominent wrestling schools used to come around ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2022, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-or-have-you-met-anyone-famous/960544/105 "2022-03-09T22:36:43Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I know some Physics and math, and have read a fair bit about the engineering of the Apollo missions, but I have some questions I’ve never found the answers to. Is your uncle still around? No; he died some years ago, I’m afraid. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2022, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-or-have-you-met-anyone-famous/960544/106 "2022-03-10T02:54:03Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I went to the event in '97; the 50th anniversary. Were you there at the time? No, I had been laid off the year before, and in my last years I wasn’t in the theater any more. ---
**Author:** ![MyFootsZZZ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/myfootszzz/32/12580_2.png) [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2022, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-or-have-you-met-anyone-famous/960544/107 "2022-03-10T03:25:56Z")
I’m related to Clarence Darrow. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2022, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-or-have-you-met-anyone-famous/960544/108 "2022-03-11T07:16:26Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > I spent four years (1964-68) at UI and knew both Haken and Appel. Ken I knew very well. His son became a computer scientist and taught CS to my son. I was at Illinois when that happened, and Andy Appel and Dorothy Haken were both in the quiz section I taught on PDP 11 Assembler. Both incredibly smart. Andy did a lot of the programming for the proof which he ran on the Cyber which ran the PLATO system. This must make us academically related some how. I went to the lecture where they talked about the proof, btw. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2022, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-or-have-you-met-anyone-famous/960544/109 "2022-03-11T07:24:43Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > That’s right up there with standing next to Penn Jillette waiting for a space shuttle to land at 4am in the Mojave Desert. I don’t know if he does it in Vegas, but Penn comes out at intermissions of his show to talk to the audience. I was in the crowd at McCarter Theater in Princeton and on Broadway. And while we’re name dropping, I knew Alicia Nash quite well in Princeton. I’ve been to her house and she was at my house for meetings, and I was on a board with her that met every month, and also events. This was when John Nash was still sick and she was going out with John Moore. (Excluded from the movie, but in the book.) John came out when we were at her house but she shooed him back to his room. They were still divorced then. (Also not in the movie.) ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2022, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-or-have-you-met-anyone-famous/960544/110 "2022-03-11T21:46:44Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > And while we’re name dropping, I knew Alicia Nash quite well in Princeton. I’ve been to her house and she was at my house for meetings, and I was on a board with her that met every month, and also events. This was when John Nash was still sick and she was going out with John Moore. (Excluded from the movie, but in the book.) John came out when we were at her house but she shooed him back to his room. They were still divorced then. (Also not in the movie.) I did meet John Moore once. He wrote an important paper with Eilenberg. But wasn’t he also in and out of mental hospitals? ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2022, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-or-have-you-met-anyone-famous/960544/111 "2022-03-11T21:53:56Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > I did meet John Moore once. He wrote an important paper with Eilenberg. But wasn’t he also in and out of mental hospitals? I’d have to browse through “A Beautiful Mind” again. Not when I knew him. She did say he was an alcoholic, which I believe. He hosted our board meetings at the Harvard Club in Princeton, and he always had wine. I visited him in his apartment on the IAS campus when we were on the nominating committee, and looked over a topology paper of his I didn’t understand at all. He mentioned that they were having a conference in his honor. Alicia must have had something which appealed to mathematicians. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2022, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-or-have-you-met-anyone-famous/960544/112 "2022-03-11T22:02:38Z")
My uncle Patrick was the _maitre’d_ of the Cape Cod Room at the Drake Hotel in Chicago for decades. I’d say he was famous because articles, guide-book entries, etc. about the Cape Cod Room would often mention him by name. [Tribune article.](https://www.chicagotribune.com/opinion/commentary/ct-cape-cod-room-drake-flashback-perspec-0101-20161229-story.html) [Another article.](https://abc7chicago.com/cape-cod-room-drake-hotel-closing-renovation/1677022/) [Another article.](http://digital.modernluxury.com/publication/?i=171602&p=116) ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2022, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-or-have-you-met-anyone-famous/960544/113 "2022-03-11T22:35:01Z")
I am related to one moderately famous person. I have met some well known politicians, athletes, musicians, Nobel winners, billionaires, authors and B-list celebrities. But only knew a couple of them well. I was also in Vegas the weekend of the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight. Every club seemed to be teeming with well known people, but did not talk to most. I did see a Penn and Teller show. While buying a ticket, Teller was in line in front of me. I made fun of him, very gently, and he made a clever reply. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2022, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-or-have-you-met-anyone-famous/960544/114 "2022-03-11T23:08:20Z")
Just remembered that at a company off-site I met Patrick Breen who was the namesake and direct descendant of the Patrick Breen who was a Donner Party survivor. And a good friend of mine is the grandson of a Titanic survivor. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2022, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-or-have-you-met-anyone-famous/960544/115 "2022-03-14T07:06:44Z")
When I was in high school, my mom worked with Ed Broadbent, who was then MP for Oshawa-Whitby and later became leader of the federal NDP. We had dinner at his apartment in Ottawa once; there I discovered that I a) liked Astérix books, and b) disliked French onion soup. I also remember screenprinting election signs: fluorescent orange and black… Other very minor incidents: I met Ben Wicks, the British-Canadian cartoonist, in an elevator. I was with a friend, and we had just been swimming. After Mr. Wicks got off the elevator, my friend said, “Do you have any idea who that was?!!” I said, “No, of course not! I couldn’t see him; I don’t have my contact lenses in!” I met Nash the Slash at a co-worker’s apartment. Beyond that, unless some of the people in my writing group, or in the screenwriting group at LIFT, become famous, I have nothing. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2022, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-or-have-you-met-anyone-famous/960544/116 "2022-03-14T16:41:07Z")
Oh yeah, I almost forgot! I met Hakeem Olajuwon once socially. Apparently a high school friend’s dad was Hakeem’s personal accountant/financial advisor. So in the summer of 1990, I was at my buddy’s house and we were studying for a summer school math exam at their kitchen table. Someone comes in the kitchen while we’re there. Buddy turns and says “Oh, Hi Hakeem.” and turns back to the math. I goggle for a second, as Hakeem had to bend down to get through the doorway. He walks over, extends his hand and says “Hi, I’m Hakeem Olajuwon, it’s very nice to meet you.”, with a little nod of his head. After that, he backed out of the kitchen and went to talk to buddy’s parents. We finished up and went in there, and chatted with them for a while. It was weird to just be sitting there across from Hakeem Olajuwon just talking about whatever- what my parents did, where I was thinking of going to college, etc… Super nice guy though. Super polite and very soft spoken, which is not what I would expect from a NBA superstar and future MVP and Hall of Famer. ---
**Author:** ![Dbug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dbug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dbug)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2022, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-or-have-you-met-anyone-famous/960544/117 "2022-03-14T17:59:46Z")
I forgot i went to high school with Kyle martens who was a player on the chargers nfl team in 2012 ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2022, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-or-have-you-met-anyone-famous/960544/118 "2022-03-22T15:10:29Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > My grandmother was sawn in half by Harry Blackstone Sr. So your mother was born via c-section? 😃 Almost nobody here. I went up a staircase as Ed Koch was going down it - turns out he worked out at the same gym / PT center where I was going for physical therapy. This was in Manhattan, in the early 90s. I asked the fellow who was just ahead of me on the staircase if that was indeed Koch and he confirmed it. My husband once handed Katie Couric an earring she had dropped, at Penn Station in NY. We both met a few SF authors at conventions when we lived in NC; Orson Scott Card was likely the most famous one (this was before he really went off the deep end). Interestingly, he was once in the DC area doing a book signing, and my husband happened to be at the store that day - did not know that Card would be there. So he grabbed a book and had it signed, and Card actually remembered him - not by name, but he said something like “Wait, I know you from somewhere!”. Freeman Dyson (of Dyson Sphere fame) spoke at a session at the physics department when my husband was in grad school; I went to hear the speech. IIRC, it was rather boring (to me; I’m sure the professionals were interested) and had nothing to do with Dyson Spheres. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2022, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-or-have-you-met-anyone-famous/960544/119 "2022-03-22T15:42:51Z")
I’ve shaken hands with Jesse Jackson, Bill Clinton (I jokingly warned him about two friends of mine who were next in line and I saw the Secret Service bunch up near him when they stepped up) and most importantly (to me) met Walter Cronkite. Amazing fellow. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2022, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-or-have-you-met-anyone-famous/960544/120 "2022-03-22T15:49:09Z")
I’m related to a POTUS. It’s… ummm…not one of the famous, or even effectual, ones… Say, don’t you miss Johnny Carson? I still rememebr some of his bits, like going through a box of Millard Fillmore’s belongings: “And here’s the ID he’d show the White House guards, when he’d take a walk and they wouldn’t let him back in because they didn’t remember him.” > [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > My grandmother was sawn in half by Harry Blackstone Sr. I’m sorry for your loss… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-or-have-you-met-anyone-famous/960544.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-related-to-or-have-you-met-anyone-famous/960544.md?page=7)