Lunch with Bambi, and The Joke Was On Me.

I met "Bambi" once.  It must have been sometime in 1980.  After living in New Orleans for ten years my family decided to move back to California. My dad had just gotten a new job in California and my family moved from New Orleans. My parents and younger sisters settled in La Mesa, CA (a San Diego 'burb).  I had my own apartment but was looking for other things to do in my life. 

In the San Diego Newspaper there was an ad for a hotel in the high Sierras.  The hotel was looking for kitchen help.  I applied.  I had always wanted to move to the mountains.  I wanted to get back to the hills.  So I applied.  I had four years experience as a fry cook and I was hired.  

I loaded all of my belongings into the back of my new old pickup truck and moved to Lake Tahoe.  People asked me if I was afraid to make such a move.  I think I was just to young and stupid to know there should be fear involved.  I had no problem.  I thought this is what people do all the time.  

I started work in late August 1979 at the big coffee shop in the hotel.  A few months later I was transferred to the New York Deli.  In the New York Deli I met Bob.  Bob was the lead cook and we became fast friends.  He was from Montana and I told him I had always wanted to go there.  I loved mountains and wanted to hike and fish.  

Bob became a mentor to me.  He became my best friend.  He was later to be the best man at my wedding.  But Bob was always a jokester.  We would play practical jokes on each other all the time. 

One day he told me that he had a good friend named "Bambi" and we should go see Bambi in Sacramento.  Bob was a relatively new friend and when he heard I was from the San Diego area I think he just really had to introduce me to his friend, Bambi.  At the time Bob did not know that I had only lived in the San Diego area for six months prior to moving to Lake Tahoe. 

 

So, he arranged a trip to Sacramento to meet his friend Bambi.  We drove the hour and a half to Sacramento to have lunch at Bambi's house.  I remember Bambi fixed us sandwiches.  Bob and Bambi talked about stuff.  I was a shy kid and really didn't ask too much and didn't get involved in their conversation.  

It was only years later that I found out that Bambi was Lance Alworth, the great receiver for the San Diego Chargers.  I still have no idea how Bob knew him.  

I wish I had known.  It turned out that my mother-in-law was a huge fan of Lance Alworth.  Sadly, she passed away before I could talk to her about him.  I wish I had known.  So many lost chances at conversations.

Yes, I met Lance Alworth in 1980. My friend thought it would be a cool thing to surprise me.  I had no idea.  I guess the  joke was on me.  I still kick myself.