Friday, June 19, 2009

Maverick


Well, in response to how I managed to play football with James Garner here is the scoop. Mr. Garner is a hometown boy who's last name was Baumgarner later shortened to Garner. (Can't imagine why) He was playing Maverick at the time and I went to school with his younger cousins. Jim (don't you like the familiarity?) would come home to visit his folks and his Aunt & Uncle who happened to live across the street from me. On one visit his younger cousin Linda invited every kid in the neighborhood to come over and meet her famous cousin. The impromptu visit turned into a backyard game of touch football and believe me.......there was some touchin going on by all the little girls. On one of his visits his co-star Jack Kelly, who played Bart Maverick, came with him and they rode horses up to our grade school dressed up in their cowboy gear. Needless to say I've been a fan of James Garner's forever. When he was a kid here in Norman he would skip school all the time to play pool. My dad used to play with him some and when he told me that it made me want to learn to play pool so my dad taught me. Hence how I learned to make a 3 rail bank shot. Mr. Garner was here a few years ago and he looked good for a 77 year old man. We dedicated James Garner corridor (a portion of main street) in his honor and the bronze statue of him as Maverick. Pretty cool.......

3 comments:

Arkansas Patti said...

Have never heard a bad word about the man. How cool you got to "touch" him. Loved Bart also. Kind of miss those westerns.

kenju said...

I always liked that show and thought he was a very handsome man. As Patti says, that was cool!

MorganLvr said...

Loved your post! I've been a fan of Jim's since the original Maverick series. I was 13. :o)

I've met him a couple of times, and he is indeed a real gentleman.

I was born and raised in Dallas, TX, and I've been in Norman several times - unfortunately, not at the same time as Jim.

I followed closely the unveiling of the statue and all the other honors Norman bestowed on him that day. What a wonderful thing to do, and I can't think of ANYONE more deserving.

Incidentally, I have a blog about Jim at http://garnerphile.blogspot.com