In a 23-year career at ESPN, Trey Wingo has had run-ins with the sports elite.
But as he told Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz of GOLF’s Subpar hosts on this week’s episode of the podcast, there was a day that was unparalleled in terms of star power.
Wingo began by explaining that many of his run-ins involved his former ESPN colleague, the late Stuart Scott, because “Stuart knew everyone.”
During the 2003 NBA All-Star game, Wingo was staying at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Atlanta when he received a text message from Scott.
“Hey, come on down,” the text said. “I’m having lunch with someone you’d probably like to hang out with.”
That person was none other than Tiger Woods.
“[I] Go into a little restaurant, in the back of the booth, there’s Stuart and it’s my turn, there’s Tiger having lunch with Stuart,” Wingo said. ‘I’m the greatest… From the moment Tiger came on the scene, I thought: this guy just got it. I have a whole file on my computer with all the things in the awards and all the tournaments he won, all 82 of them. I’m just nerding out.
“I’m like, ‘Oh, hey.’
“Tiger looks up and says, ‘Hey, Trey.'”
Wingo was just like all of us. He lost all memory of how to act.
Woods was only able to stay for about 20 minutes and Scott left shortly after. So Wingo did what any of us would have done in that situation: he ran outside to call his father.
“I’m getting ready to call the old flip phone and the elevator opens at the Ritz in Atlanta,” Wingo said. “Like an idiot, instead of waiting, I just barge in because I’m not thinking straight. I’m like, I have to tell my dad I just had lunch with Tiger Woods. This is amazing.”
“So the elevator opens – it’s NBA All-Star weekend – and I just walk in and I hit this wall of a human being. And it’s as solid as can be. And I look up and he says, ‘Wingo, watch where you’re going.'”
It was Michael Jordan.
“I’m like, ‘Michael, sorry, that’s my fault. It’s my fault.’ So after having lunch with Tiger and texting, I ran into Michael Jordan,” he said. “Tiger and the MJ in the space of 15 minutes. And I thought, yes, I could die today.”
For more on Wingo, including the story of the golf slip that nearly destroyed his career, listen to the full episode of Subpar hereor watch it below.
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