April 04, 2005
Brush with fame
I met former OU Sooners QB and Hiesman Trophy winner Jason White. My family and I went to Tulsa for the weekend and stayed at the Southern Hills Marriott since they have an indoor pool. That was the only deciding factor to stay there. When we got to the hotel we checked in and took our luggage to our room. We then were heading to dinner and were waiting for the elevator so we could go to dinner. He comes walking out with his daughter. I didn’t recognize him right away. I just was thinking that I used to work with him or I went to school with him or something. He actually looks like I a guy that played TE at TU that I used to work with about 10 years ago. That is why I didn’t think Jason White right away. My wife watched where he went and he went to the room right next to our hotel room. She turned around and said, was that Jason White? My son’s jaw nearly hit the ground and I said that it was him. How cool is that we stayed right next door to him in the hotel.
We went to dinner and were heading back to the hotel. Trey, my son, wanted to drive by the Maybee Center since Sesame Street Live was going to be there. While we were driving by my wife said that she needed to go to the Wal-Mart by there because she forgot to bring a brush. I dropped her off at the door and circled the parking lot. She ran back out and said that Jason was in there signing autographs. He had his trophy with him and was signing autographs for free. I got a football and a couple of pictures autographed. We also got our picture with him and the trophy.
We went back to the hotel and let the kids swim. While we were down swimming Jason came down and went swimming with his family. I really wanted to talk to him but I thought I would be cool and let him be private with his family. We had a little ball we were playing catch with. I really wanted to throw to him an play catch with him but I didn’t bow to the temptation.
The next morning we went to breakfast and he was paying at the counter when we walked in. He said hi to us and I leaned over and said, “I swear, we are not trying to follow you around.” He laughed and that was that.
Comments
The pictures are hanging in my office. I didn't have my camera with me to take any shots at Wal-Mart as Jason was signing autographs. Nor did we take our camera with us to the pool. 3 words, Me, No, and Shirt. Not a Kodak moment. I wanted to let Jason be a family just like I get to enjoy everyday, unless I am in Nowata where I am famous. I too know what it is like to be begged for autographs and to be hounded by adoring fans.
~Bird~
Posted by: Jay at April 6, 2005 08:50 AM