And I met this dude...

RIP, Mr. Whipple. No, he wasn't in Newport Beach, but I met him at the Lazy E Arena near Guthrie, OK, in about 1980 or so at the Clem McSpadden Rodeo. I got Mr. Whipple's autograph, and I also got Ben Johnson's, who certainly belongs on this list somewhere. But being a dumb little kid I remembered the interaction with the TP pitchman--not to take anything away from Mr. Whipple, who was good at what he did, but you know-- and let the memory of shaking hands with Ben Freaking Johnson fade away.

I was too young to have seen many of Johnson's movies, I guess. And, also, dumb.