99 Famous People
There is an amazing event held every third Thursday of the month in Chicago’s Lincoln Square neighborhood. Hosted by the effervescent Scott Whitehead, Story Lab Chicago is a place where anyone; you, me, anyone can just tell a story. No judgment, no criticism. Just has to be a true story. You tell your story to an enthusiastic audience that listens and cheers you on. Check out the website, events are hosted at several locations: https://storylabchicago.com .
I’ve been attending these sessions, off and on, for many years. Finally, on November 21, 2024, I told my first story which is sort of paraphrased below. Photos at the bottom of the page.
Four months ago, I sat in the audience here and listened while a young lady told the story of her random encounter with a superstar, Aretha Franklin. It was an amazing story.
On the way home that night, it hit me. This is the perfect topic for my story! You see, I’ve managed to meet and interact with a lot of famous people. Many of them local celebrities; a few obscure, and others are world famous people whose names everyone would instantly recognize.
The next day I sat down and made a list of all the famous people I have met in my lifetime. 99 names! 99 famous people that I actually interacted with; spoke to, shook hands with, took a photo with…
99 famous people.
Wait, how much time do I have?
Actually, I’m just going to tell you about a few of them. If you find it interesting, maybe I’ll come back and tell you more sometime.
So the very first famous person I met was back in 1968. I was a high school senior and had been invited to a luncheon held at the Palmer House. When it was over, they marched us up to meet the guest of honor, Mr. Richard Nixon. Three things I remember about that encounter as I shook his hand. He had a rather insincere smile, a big nose and wore a lot of makeup; that didn’t help. He was between jobs at the time.
While walking through the airport in Atlanta 25 years or so ago I ran into Andrew Young, US Ambassador to the UN. We said hello and shook hands. In the 2000’s I worked for a company that provided special services to the public through non-profits and municipalities. My job was to try to get the word out. As a result, I attended many events and met other political figures like; Congressman Bobby Rush, who was co-founder of the Black Panther Party in Chicago back in the 60’s, Congressman Danny Davis, State Representative Connie Howard, Cook County Clerk of the Circuit Court, Dorothy Brown. I met Mayor Richie Daley at an event and had a photo taken that was autographed later. Let’s see, who else? Oh, Alderman Ed Burke.
I’ve also encountered many media celebrities, mostly local, but names you would probably recognize. I was walking down the street in the loop and saw Fahey Flynn standing on the corner. I said hello, he said hello back. As part of the job I mentioned before, I met Art Norman from NBC and Bob Wallace from CBS.
My wife Donna is a business coach with a lot of connections. While attending events with her I met Linda Yu, Merry Dee, and Ben Hollis – remember WIld Chicago on WTTW?
Speaking of WTTW, during the pandemic, Geoffrey Baer hosted a game show on channel 11 called the Great Chicago Quiz Show where the contestants would appear virtually. I was on the third episode. He ended each show with a challenge where a contestant would try to stump him with a question. I was chosen to do that and not only did I stump him, I think I embarrassed him. The answer to the question was IIT, the Illinois Institute of Technology. Geoffrey guessed something else. I think he was a little embarrassed because a few minutes earlier we had discussed on the air how I had graduated from IIT back in the 70’s, and I was wearing a T-shirt with IIT emblazoned across the front.
Again, hanging around with Donna, I met some Chicago radio celebrities like Felisha MIddlebrooks, from WBBM radio and Tom Joyner, who hosted a morning show in Dallas and an afternoon show in Chicago. He was called the “sky jock” because he would commute by air every day. Several big names from WVON radio, including Richard Steele, and Art “Chat Daddy” Sims; Donna and I were guests on his program a couple of times.
Then there were the guys I listened to on my little transistor radio when I was a teen. Through Donna’s connections, met some of them in person later in life. Again from WVON, Richard Pegue, Pervis Span (The Blues Man), and we were honored to attend a special ceremony where WVON’s Herb Kent was inducted into the Guinness Book of World Records for “having the longest career as a radio presenter.”
Back in the 90s, my teenage daughter and I were listening to the oldie’s station and heard that they were broadcasting live from a local car dealership. We hopped in the car and ran down there and had a chance to meet another DJ that I grew up with, the one and only Dick Biondi. I got a handshake and she got an autographed photo.
I was big into talk radio in the 70’s and 80’s. I was one of those people who would call in to talk with the host on the air. Several times I chatted with Chicago Eddie Schwartz on WGN. He once gave me a certificate for dinner for 2 at the Como Inn. Great lasagna. Remember Bob Collins and his Pop Quiz on WGN? I was a contestant once. And I answered some trivia questions for Clark Weber on WCFL and he gave me a weekend for 2 at the Drake Hotel–-in Oak Brook.
It was 2007. I was attending another non-profit fund-raiser lunch at the Wrigley Building. Sitting next to me was Rick Kogan.
For those of you who don’t know, Rick Kogan is one of the last, if not the last of the great Chicago newspapermen. He worked for every major newspaper that existed in this city in the past 40 some years. He currently works for the Chicago Tribune and hosts a Sunday evening talk show on WGN Radio.
I was talking to Mr. Kogan and mentioned the book idea that I had (The Chronocar).
He responded, “That sounds interesting, Steve. Call me when you get it published.”
That’s what he said. What I heard was: “What? You think you’re some kind of writer? You’re gonna write a book? Yeah, right! Call me when you get published, okay? Loser.”
You have to remember, I was a little naive and sensitive back then. I was only in my 50’s.
So I said, “Thank you, Mr. Kogan, I’ll do that.” That’s what I said. What I was thinking was “I’m gonna make you eat those words, fella! You just wait and see!”
Ten years later. 2016. My book has out for almost a year. I was just leaving the Printer’s Row Lit Fest where I had sold several copies. I was approaching the Harrison Street subway station, heading home, when I saw, standing on the corner, all alone, looking at his phone–Rick Kogan!
What are the chances!
I walked over and said, “Hello, Mr. Kogan, you probably don’t remember me, but 10 years ago, blah, blah, blah. You did say to let you know when I got my book published. Well, here it is!”
I handed him a copy of the book. He took it, looked at it and looked at me.
“I just wanted you to have a copy, that’s all,” I said. Then I nonchalantly walked over to the subway station and down the stairs.
When I got to the platform I went, “YES! In your face, Rick Kogan! In your face!”
I knew my little book was going to end up on a pile somewhere or probably in the trash, but how often do you experience that kind of triumph? After 10 years! I couldn’t wait to get home and brag to my wife.
Two weeks later I get an email from WGN radio. Rick Kogan read my book, loved it, and was inviting me to be a guest on his show.
Now I am a big fan of radio. When we were on WVON, I thought that was the coolest thing. But walking into the WGN studio in the Tribune Tower on Michigan Ave, and sitting in the studio with Rick Kogan while he gushed over my book, was almost surreal.
So, I invite you to go to WGNRadio.com and search for Steve Bellinger. I should come up on the 3rd or 4th page of the results (there’s a lot of stuff about a baseball player named Cody something or other).
You can hear Kogan say on the air that I deserved an award for writing this book. So I entered a few literary competitions and it won first place in the science fiction category. Twice!
And all because of Rick Kogan. Number 31 in my list of 99 famous people,
To be continued…
