How I Met Anthony Davis

I have been fortunate enough to meet several local sports figures over the course of junior high and high school. Former University of Cincinnati football coach and current Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly as well as Anthony Munoz, the former Cincinnati Bengals offensive tackle and Hall of Famer, both spoke at my school in eighth grade. In the fall of my freshman year, I met former UC quarterback Ben Mauk after storming the field when the Bearcats beat the Pittsburgh Panthers 45-44 at Nippert Stadium. Last summer, through my summer job as a snack shack employee at a local country club I served food to Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Leon Hall, former Bengals defensive tackle John Thornton, national radio host and television personality Bill Cunningham, and Cincinnati Bengals then-rookie quarterback Andy Dalton. Dalton is a class-act and talked with me for a solid ten minutes, signed an autograph for me, and called me by name the next time he stopped by.

However famous and influential these sports figures are in the city of Cincinnati, meeting Anthony Davis at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport was on a completely different scale in terms of the timing and national spotlight. Only a week earlier, Davis had been cutting down the nets in New Orleans as a college basketball national champion. Add every 2012 National Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, SEC Player of the Year, and Freshman of the Year award possible to his one-year resumé at Kentucky and you have the biggest sports star over the past six months in the United States.

I was flying solo for the first time and was calling my parents about potentially getting bumped from my flight when I turned around and saw a 6’10″ African American with a unibrow, wearing a sweatsuit. I did a double-take and thought to myself “there’s no way that’s actually him.” Then I realized that there is honestly no one else I could be confusing him with and started following him. He was talking on the phone and I didn’t want to interrupt him so I followed him until he sat down at his gate, snapping a few pictures along the way.

A little bit creepy?

Yes.

Was it worth it?

Of course.

The entire time that I was walking a few strides behind him down the “G” wing of O’Hare I felt like I was the famous one, simply because of all of the people who were staring at the nationally-recognized ‘brow and whispering to those around them. Since I was by myself, there was no one to talk to about him, so I had to do the next best thing, which consisted of introducing myself to him and then Tweeting about it.

I was the one person with enough courage to actually approach him. He was sitting down and off the phone, so I went up and said, “Hey Anthony, I’m a big fan.” He had seen me coming so we had a half-second of awkward eye contact and he didn’t respond to my greeting. I had no idea what to do next so I blurted out “It’s nice to meet you” and stuck out my hand. He slowly reached out and gave me the infamous ”dead fish” that every etiquette teacher warns against. It may have been awkward but I walked away with my head held high because I just shook hands with the #1 pick in the 2012 NBA Draft.

And that is how I met Anthony Davis.