Several years back, got the chance to spend several hours bumming around with Joe Schmidt, who was a Hall-of-Fame middle linebacker for the Detroit Lions between 1953-'65. Had him autograph a well-worn edition of
Paper Lion. I told him I didn't 'do' autographs, but couldn't let him get away without signing the book. (Which remains an amazing read more than fifty years after it was first published.) He just laughed about it and signed. Told me I needed to buy the next round. Which I did.
Several years before that, I was in a bar where Dusty Rhodes, the legendary professional wrestler, was holding court with a bunch of his peers in the business. Watched a couple people go up to him and asked for autographs, which he signed. Not unhappily ... but not happily, either. I went up to order a drink, stuck my hand out and told him how much of an honor it was to meet him. (Which it was, btw.) His face just lit up and we stood there talking for about another twenty minutes. I shook his hand again when I left, told him, again, how honored I was to meet him, and thanked him for the countless hours of joy he'd brought to me and other fans of the business. He seemed legitimately touched and thankful.
That type of interaction means one helluva lot more to these folks than somebody shoving a piece of paper and pen in their faces.
