Is that him?

Ric Nattress
Position: D Height: 6' 3'' Weight: 210Born: 5/25/1962, in Hamilton, ON

Over 12 seasons and 5 teams Nattress played in 536 games. He recorded 29 goals and 135 assists. He also appeared in 67 playoff games, scoring five goals and adding ten assists. He was a member of the Calgary Flames team which won the Stanley Cup in 1989.

Ric Nattress was on OTR tonight, which started a conversation with John about famous people. Usually not a topic we discuss. Ric Nattress’s daughter and Danielle used to go to school together. On more than a few occasions they had play dates at each other’s house. The first time Danielle was at their place I drilled her with questions. How nice was the house? Is the furniture covered in plastic? Does he have pictures of himself on the wall? The first time he came to our house to pick up his daughter, I opened the door and he shook my hand very firmly. A loud deep voice came from this gigantic head; hi I’m Ric Nattress. I repeated, in a forced deep voice, hi I’m Mike Dauphinee, and then it was just awkward. He stood pitying my humble home during the endless minutes waiting for little whats-her-name Nattress.

Probably bout the same time my homey Ric and I were hangin, I was still doing the ugly commute into the big TO. One morning walking the short distance along Front Street between Union Station and the Sky Dome (aka Rodgers Centre) a flashy white Excalibur stretch limo drove towards me. I could see this crazy black man standing with his upper body out the sunroof. As we got closer I couldn’t miss the gold bling around his neck, the vest, bare arms and that famous haircut. It was Mr. T standing in full costume, waving talking to people on the street. At the time, it was years after Rocky, Rocky II and even the A-Team. It was I who pitied the fool and his blatant attempt for attention.

My favourite brush with fame is when I met Walter Gretzky. Stop me if you’ve heard this story, its one of my favourite. We were in Waterford for the annual pumpkin festival and it started to rain. Hordes of people headed to the craft show held inside the local high school. Trying to stay out of everyone’s way I stood along the edge of a busy aisle way, holding John’s hand. I spot a very familiar older man facing me standing on the opposite side of this narrow aisle. He glances at me a few times and my first thought is he’s a retired railway employee that I may have briefly met at a forced group CN retirement party… at the time. Wondering if I should approach him when two men came along, stopped long enough to introduce them and shake Mr Gretzky’s hand. The lights on!! How did I miss that hooknose? After they left I told him that I recognized his face but thought he might have worked for CN. He said he gets that a lot. I looked down at John and said that’s Wayne Gretzky’s dad. The non-athletic, artistic John shrugged his shoulders and said so. Walter then leaned over and asked John if he played hockey. John ignored him and pushed his face into my crotch… at the time. If we were standing in my living room that could have been awkward, to this day I regret not shaking his hand. You young fathers, or soon to be fathers could learn a thing or two from that man.

That’s it!! Not counting the Blue Jay’s World Series parade when I worked in TO or seeing athletes or musicians at live events. That’s it!! Maybe getting late night mix so the Ti-Cat first string running back could get some action with the hot sisters in Melvin Towers… or a warm fire on the beach with Valdi. That’s it!!

Besides Walter Gretzky, the only other encounter John had with fame is seeing Sylvester Stallone at Ivor Wynne during filming.

bow chica bow wow