Not sure how many people saw thjis but I thought it was pretty cool.
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A user on NBA Reddit ran into Karl Malone a few days ago and has this story to tell:
I've been down in South La for the past week helping with the flood efforts along with my brothers and sisters in the La National Guard.
Yesterday we had a break in the madness long enough to go get a good bite to eat in Baton Rouge. We chose Walk On's right beside LSU campus. If you've ever eaten there, you understand
Once we were seated, I recognized the Mailman almost instantly. Sitting about 15 feet away while having lunch with his son KJ, and 2 of his friends (all play football at LSU).
I pointed him out to my buddies and a couple knew him, and surprisingly a couple didn't! We agreed to leave him be and let him enjoy his meal without being bothered.
We ate and were getting ready to get our check when our waitress told us that our meal was taken care of! It's something that's never expected when in uniform, but I truly appreciate it when citizens feel the need to help take care of uniformed military. When it happens, I always ask if the person is still in the restaurant so I can personally thank them.
So I asked her exactly that.. All she did was grin and pointed behind me. I turned and there was Karl Malone, reaching for my hand saying how much he appreciates us. I'm not one to get starstruck, and this was no different. He was soft spoken and asked about each of our lives/families/jobs etc.. He was just Karl.
We all spoke for a few minutes and met his son, and the 2 other linemen for the Tigers. All were very respectful, and seemingly good kids.
Karl Malone lives roughly 40 miles away from me in North Louisiana. But here we were down in Baton Rouge finally meeting.
When he asked where I lived and what my hobbies were, we related on every level. When I said I pretty much just play golf and smoke cigars in my spare time.... His eyes LIT up.
"Oh, so you're a cigar guy are you?" To which I replied "yes sir! Since 2010 I've been hooked."
"Would you say that you're a cigar connoisseur?" He asked. "I definitely know my way around a humidor and can appreciate any and every stick in there.."
He put his hand on my shoulder and said "i want you to follow me out to my truck, I have a few things I'd like to give you." At this point I'm pretty excited at all of the possibilities! The guys I was with don't partake in cigars but were really excited as well.
We go out to his vehicle and he opens the back door, pulls out a mini briefcase-sized travel humi and hands it to me. "Open it!" He said. I obliged. The humi was 3 rows deep. All of the same cigars per row.. He told me to get one off of every row. I don't think I blinked the entire time!
Then he opened the front passenger door and pulled out a sealed box. He cracked it open and told me to take all I wanted..the instantly recognizable red label tempted me to grab several, but I held back and only got 1.
After that, he asked us all to take a group picture with him. Of course we did.
I'll let these two pictures end this post!
What an awesome day!
