I get pulled over in front of the the Park Hyatt as a 22 year old punk driving the rag top jeep, expired plates, no city sticker and maybe no insurance.

I am sitting in my car as the cops run my plates, then I see John Menglet coming down the stairs looking for a cab. I yell, "HEY CRASH"..and Mengelt comes over, asks me whats wrong, so i tell him. Mengelt says "Let me see what I can do"

The cops come back over and say "Seeing you are a personal friend of Mr. Mengelts, we will let you off with a warning this time."

Mengelt then signed a notebook of mine with a "Watch the Coppers" which I still have today.

*FYI for all the Kids out there

How we remember him: Nicknamed "Crash" for his all-out hustle and reckless abandon in diving for loose balls, 6-foot-2 guard John Mengelt was a fan favorite, electrifying the Pistons' crowd at Cobo Arena from 1972-76 with his aggressive play. The former Auburn All-America and 1971 SEC player of the year had his best season with Detroit in 1974-75, averaging 11 points per game.

After the Pistons: Sent to Chicago early in the 1976-77 campaign, Mengelt played four seasons in the Windy City. After being cut by the Bulls, he played one year in Italy before closing the door on his 10-year NBA career with Golden State. Mengelt was a play-by-play basketball color commentator for 20 years on WGN in Chicago, ABC and for the Pistons in the mid-'80s.

Today: Married 33 years, with a 24-year-old daughter. Mengelt, 56, is the owner of Breckenridge Partners, an executive search firm based in Northbrook, Ill., that he started in the early '80s.

On his nickname: "In a final scrimmage in my rookie year with Cincinnati, Norm Van Lier, who was nicknamed 'Crash,' and I both dove for a ball and we hit heads. Norm ended up with 13 stitches, and I didn't have any. After the game he said, 'You are now Crash.' "

On his most memorable "crashes": "In my very first NBA exhibition game, I have an angle on Earl Monroe and I'm going in to lay it up like I did in college. Gus Johnson came out of nowhere and hit me five rows into the bleachers, where I fall through the steel. He came over and said, 'Don't bring that stuff here anymore.' "

_________________
"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

Talk about a gift from god. The story sounds fishy, but all brushes with fame stories do.

Come on Dolphin. got the Autograph lamiated and saved it for my wall of fame. lol.

_________________
"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”