People know people. And those people know other people. Sometimes, these other people are famous, but in Mr. Brian Dolph’s and Mrs. Kim Nidy’s case, they can skip these degrees of separation because they know celebrities personally.
Dolph said he has been friends with actor and Hoover alumnus Eddie McClintock since the eighth grade.
“We were really good friends,” he said. “He was the one who talked me into wrestling.”
Nidy said that she went to high school with McClintock and was in Mat Stats when McClintock was a wrestler.
“He lived right down the street,” she said. “There was this dynamic with him. He was really popular, but he was never a jerk. He was everyone’s friend.”
After high school, Dolph said they kept in touch.
“He went to Wright State in Dayton and I went to Indiana University,” Dolph said. “He’s been my special friend for a long time.”
According to Nidy, she and McClintock used to keep in touch via e-mail, but because of the actor’s busy schedule, it’s been difficult.
“Facebook helps,” she added. “And I see him when he’s in town.”
Nidy said being star-struck around McClintock was never a problem because she knows him.
“I like seeing other people meet him though because they are star struck,” she said.
Dolph agreed, saying that McClintock being an actor was “no big deal” when it came to their friendship. He said that on the way back from the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, he stayed with McClintock in Los Angeles for a week.
“He introduced me to Maynard James Keenan,” Dolph said, “the singer from Tool.”
Dolph said that he has watched all of McClintock’s shows.
“He calls me and tells me when his new shows are on,” Dolph added. “I watch them, tape them or go on Hulu if I can’t see them.”
Mrs. Nidy said she has never missed a show either.
“It’s funny because he’s always the funny character and that’s who he is,” she said. “He’s just being himself.”
Senior Kathryn Nutt and her family know ESPN college football analyst Todd Blackledge on a personal level. In fact, according to Nutt, Blackledge and his family come over for dinner on occasion.
“My dad knew him in high school,” Nutt said.
She said that Blackledge graduated from Hoover in 1979, only a few years before Nutt’s father did. Nutt also said that their families are very familiar with each other.
“We know his sister and her family from church,” she said. “My dad is the pastor.”
Nutt added that Blackledge’s son takes music lessons from her mom and her brother played basketball for Blackledge when he was in middle school. Because of her family’s familiarity with Blackledge, Nutt said that she has never been star-struck.
“It’s just Todd,” Nutt said. “He’s a person like anybody else.”