The nicest people in sports | Page 3 | The Boneyard

The nicest people in sports

Jaydumo20 said:
Not from personal interaction, nor from wild fan opinion online, but I will say Eli Manning. I'm not a Giants fan, but was watching a Giants game years ago and after a very tough Giants loss, where Eli clearly wasn't the focal point, the media availability after the game saw Eli in an empty media room, save for a 7th grader with a backpack doing a project for school or something. Eli fielded this kids' questions and I was very impressed. Most athletes wouldn't have even showed up.
(If this something Giants fans remember lmk, I can't find video)
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I remember going to Giants training camp in Albany back in the summer of 2008. Obviously Eli was the hardest to get an autograph from so many kids around, was able to meet Justin Tuck and David Diehl also super nice guys, Diehl was so intimidating looking in person.

So going back to Eli a kid throws him a ball that has a sharpie taped to it he signs it. Eli wisely walks away from the crowd and does an over the shoulder toss to the kid as he heads into the locker room.

What I took from this is it's best to walk away while you can he would be swarmed all day with autographs, most importantly your protecting your biggest asset which is obviously your throwing arm.
 
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Scoe said:
I remember going to Giants training camp in Albany back in the summer of 2008. Obviously Eli was the hardest to get an autograph from so many kids around, was able to meet Justin Tuck and David Diehl also super nice guys, Diehl was so intimidating looking in person.

So going back to Eli a kid throws him a ball that has a sharpie taped to it he signs it. Eli wisely walks away from the crowd and does an over the shoulder toss to the kid as he heads into the locker room.

What I took from this is it's best to walk away while you can he would be swarmed all day with autographs, most importantly your protecting your biggest asset which is obviously your throwing arm.
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I'm a Broncos fan but an Eli fan too. My youngest son is named Eli. I hope the kid caught the ball. Lifetime of regret dropping a pass from a manning.
 
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I met Julius Erving in a business setting 25 years ago and he couldn't be more gracious. I wasn't necessarily a fan at that point but have been since.
 
Jaydumo20 said:
Who are the nicest people in sports?

Past or present, men or women, players or coaches, personal accounts or garnered from news stories, who would you select and why?

Only rule is they should be/shouldve been in the spotlight - i.e. no director of player personnel or advanced scouts or agents, etc.
Athletes, managers/ head coaches and famous sportscasters should cover it.
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Legendary boxer Tommy Hearns, the hitman, was the nicest sports figure I ever met and is well regarded as having a heart of gold. When he knocked out, James Schuler, who tragically died the week after the fight in an auto accident, Tommy went to the funeral and placed the title belt that he won from Jamesat his grave saying that James deserved to have the belt. He also did several charity events for the troops and even went to the Persian Gulf to entertain the troops. Those are just examples.Just a fantastic guy.
 
Pretty much every UConn WBB player is pleasant and high-character but it's amazing how genuine and kind their great players are. I've met Kara Wolters, Rebecca Lobo, Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, Maya Moore, Breanna Stewart, Napheesa Collier, and Paige Bueckers (amongst others) and they're all truly delightful people. Geno is a cool and kind dude as well. On the men's side, Glenn Miller is a super nice guy.
 
I second the nomination of Cal Ripken Jr.

My employer in the 1990s, a bank in Baltimore, sponsored a charity picnic, hosted by Cal at a local park (Patterson Park, if you know Balto). The event was not a fundraiser, indeed wasn’t even open to the public nor publicized, in the least. A couple of members of the press caught wind of the event, but complied with Cal’s request to not take photos. The picnic was solely organized so that 150 less-privileged children could have a cookout on a Saturday and learn a little baseball.

I lived nearby, but not being much of a baseball fan (and a Red Sox fan, if anything), I hadn’t planned on attending. Fortunately, however, my supervisor was very persuasive, and successfully convinced me to volunteer at the event. It was a hell of a lot of fun.

Patterson is a very popular public park, so Cal’s presence attracted a rather large crowd. He is Baltimore’s son, literally loved by the entire city, even by those who hate sports. (BTW, Mr. Ripken kept insisting I call him Cal, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do so as a lowly college sophomore/bank teller.)

Cal had been scheduled to be there for two hours, one hour of coaching tips and demonstrations, and then an hour eating burgers and dogs. He wound up remaining at the picnic for over four hours, fully engaged with the children the entire time.

Many of the kids were not much into baseball—they were only attending the picnic because they were members of afterschool programs, local clubs, and the like. But Mr. Ripken’s charm, genuine caring nature, humor (he could be very silly with the littler kids) were infectious.

This was at the height of Cal’s career and celebrity, and his “entourage” was frantic for the last two hours, desperately trying to keep him on schedule. But he refused to be torn away from the kids.

Cal’s “entourage”, by the way, only consisted of:

1) a driver—who was clearly not also hired as a security guard, given that he was about the size of many of the middle-school kids in attendance, and some of the larger elementary-school kids.

2) a personal assistant; a highly efficient woman of about 30 years old, who was slightly smaller than the driver, so also clearly not hired for security purposes,

and 3) a female relative of Cal’s, perhaps a cousin, maybe ten years old.
 
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I used to bank at the CBT (long gone) on New Britain Ave in Hartford many years ago. Maron Starling who grew up in Hartford would sometimes come in when I was there. Always very pleasant. I saw one of his fights very close to the ring at the Civic Center. Cool experience. One of my workmates was part of the group that helped finance his fights so he would get great seats.

And it looks like Dan Orlovsky is close to a new contract with ESPN. Very happy for him.
 
Jaydumo20 said:
Who are the nicest people in sports?

Past or present, men or women, players or coaches, personal accounts or garnered from news stories, who would you select and why?

Only rule is they should be/shouldve been in the spotlight - i.e. no director of player personnel or advanced scouts or agents, etc.
Athletes, managers/ head coaches and famous sportscasters should cover it.
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Andre Jackson Jr. When our family was in the Bahamas to see the Battle for Atlantis in 2021, my younger son was walking around the resort wearing his Shuttlesworth jersey, and Andre stopped him to compliment him on it. Last week at the Summer League in Vegas, my brother-in-law asked Andre if for a picture to send to some serious UConn fan family members, and Andre happily complied.
 

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Windham4th said:
Rory Sabbatini, though oft voted least liked on tour, treated me like an equal human about 12-13 years ago when I was a standard bearer at Travelers championship. He was super nice to me and I will always appreciate that. On the other hand, I walked 2 rounds with Bubba Watson as standard bearer and he didn't speak a word to the volunteers the entire time. Walked with a total of something like 10-15 golfers in total. So long ago I forget. Alot of nice guys like Padraig Harrington, Stephen Ames, Marc Leishman, Jason Dufner but Sabbatini and Watson were at top and bottom of the niceness range for me. Did get signed golf balls for all of them though. (Watson's caddie handed them to us and not him... ugh. Still annoyed by him. Haha)
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Me and my friends have been standard bearers for years and years and same experience for us. Tons of nice guys on tour. During the tournament really don’t expect them to carry on a convo with us because they are laser focused on their play. But for the most part they are awesome. This year on Sunday at the Travelers I walked with JT and he couldn’t have been nicer to me and to the fans in general. And yeah it’s nice to get a signed ball at the end after they shake your hand and thank you for walking with them. We have a nice collection after all these years. The one exception over this time was Daniel Berger. I’ve walked with him twice and he doesn’t acknowledge anyone
 
My son was just at the all star game in Atlanta as a guest of Capitol One and met Greg Maddox, John Smoltz, Chipper Jones and Derrick Jeter. Said they were all very nice especially Jeter.
It’s very difficult to make assumptions good or bad based on brief interactions. There are so many factors involved such as are they at their sports job or at a restaurant, or with family. It’s not really fair to them.
I met Pedro Martinez at DC airport and spoke to him for a bit and he couldn’t have been nicer. He smiled big when I told him that he and Koufax were the top dogs (pitchers) in the Hall of Fame in my opinion. He liked that.
 
jibsey said:
My son was just at the all star game in Atlanta as a guest of Capitol One and met Greg Maddox, John Smoltz, Chipper Jones and Derrick Jeter. Said they were all very nice especially Jeter.
It’s very difficult to make assumptions good or bad based on brief interactions. There are so many factors involved such as are they at their sports job or at a restaurant, or with family. It’s not really fair to them.
I met Pedro Martinez at DC airport and spoke to him for a bit and he couldn’t have been nicer. He smiled big when I told him that he and Koufax were the top dogs (pitchers) in the Hall of Fame in my opinion. He liked that.
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Maddux; Derek. Sorry to be the spelling police, just had to with those guys.

That's great to hear - those 3 Braves are some of my favorite players of all time, Maddux especially.

I would guess Smoltz is an awesome guy, that's the vibe I've always gotten. Maddux, Chipper and Jeter wouldn't surprise me either way, but I'm thrilled to hear the experience was positive for your son.
 
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Ted Williams: Some friends and I were lucky enough to meet him in the Red Sox locker room after a game. He apologized to us for going hitless that day, but he hung around and gave us some autographs.

Steve Garvey: at a Dodger-Brave's game in Atlanta, I sat in the first row by the entrance to the Dodger dugout. Every time Steve came out to the on deck circle,
he nodded at me or said a word of greeting.
 
jibsey said:
My son was just at the all star game in Atlanta as a guest of Capitol One and met Greg Maddox, John Smoltz, Chipper Jones and Derrick Jeter. Said they were all very nice especially Jeter.
It’s very difficult to make assumptions good or bad based on brief interactions. There are so many factors involved such as are they at their sports job or at a restaurant, or with family. It’s not really fair to them.
I met Pedro Martinez at DC airport and spoke to him for a bit and he couldn’t have been nicer. He smiled big when I told him that he and Koufax were the top dogs (pitchers) in the Hall of Fame in my opinion. He liked that.
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Apparently Maddux was a legendary prankster in the dugout, but some of his pranks were downright nasty like wiping his butt on teammate towels.
 
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