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One weekend evening while visiting Hawaii, in probably the late
'70s, Andre called for a limousine. I was the driver. Thoughout the
evening he was extremely pleasant and ABSOLUTELY punctual. He wanted to see
a few of the sites around greater Waikiki before leaving the Island. I
would drop him off at various locations according to his pre planned
itinerary and pick him up at the EXACT MINUTE he'd instruct me to return.
It didn't matter. If he said he'd be out and ready to move to the next
location at 5:47PM, 6:18PM, 7:35PM, etc - he'd be out. Precisely on time!
Period! As the evening progressed, he wanted me to pick him up at exactly
9:45PM in front of the International Market Place. He was going to walk
through and see the many sites to see. As always through Waikiki, the
traffic was horrendous. Four lanes of One Way traffic and the cars still
barely crept. I turned into the proper lane allowing myself about 15
minutes to go the two blocks toward the IMP. (To miss the appointment meant
35-45 minutes around the blocks again.) As I grew closer I'd allow cars to
pass so I'd be slowed up. It almost worked fine. But... Waikiki, you see,
is one of the training grounds for Police Officers during their training
period. Sometimes you'd swear there were twenty within a couple hundred
yards. I saw him a half block away... he was watching me disrupt the
traffic pattern by my actions. It turned out that I was about two minutes
early as I arrived in front of the IMP. I slowed to a stop. I then
desparately tried to explain to the officer that I'd just be stopped for a
minute; that my client was punctual. He'd have nothing to do with my plan.
I even got out of the car in order to add more time to my stalling effort.
Of course, that made him more determined. He finally gave me the ultimatum.
Leave right now or get a ticket! At that precise moment I saw Andre exiting
the IMP about ten yards behind the officer - who was looking directly at me.
I told the officer my client was coming and we were going. He didn't look
behind him, but began pulling the ticket book out of his pocket.
Fortunately, Andre had immediately sized up the dilemna and when he got
directly behind the officer (about one foot away) he slowly tapped the
officer on his shoulder. The Japanese officer abruptly turned around and,
of course, found himself looking at about Andre's waist. Then just like the
old 'Keystone Cop' episodes, he slowly began lifting his gaze. (I think
Andre had moved a few inches closer.) Andre looked down with a smile and
said, 'We'll be going now.' To his credit, the Officer retained his
professional stance throughout this adventure... and I hope looks back upon
it with fond memories. I do.
~Vernon
I grew up watching Andre wrestle at the Philadelphia Spectrum. I remember one
particular match: Andre the Giant and Hulk Hogan vs. Big John Studd, King Kong
Bundy and Bobby Heenan. The Philly Spectrum rocked; Andre ruled and I saw a
legend. I will never forget the one and true giant, Andre.
~ Tony
A good bloke
ANDRE - The ultimate professional, came to Australia regularly for us throughout the years. After spending many weeks touring throughout Australia, South Pacific and the East together we became good friends.
Life on the road with Andre was one big adventure especially
in the East - Driver gets out of Taxi, kicks tyres - He too big you must pay double. At the movies all everybody saw was a big shadow of Andre on the screen, had to hold up the show, to get a bench seat from the park over the road and sit Andre next to the projector. All our luggage and wrestling gear was lost - had to send our wearing clothes to the laundry! - we paid double for express service - We were stranded in our rooms 30 hrs till it returned - Andre! Lucky we pay for the express service boss!!!! Despite the many discomforts he suffered on the road he never complained.
Once in Melbourne, Australia Andre came along to a dinner
with sporting champions, and TV Network executives. Andre
was at his best - They still talk about it, some are probably still recovering.
Andre was the singular greatest sporting attraction around
the world - His strength, coordination and agility for his size were amazing.
To have known Andre was a pleasure - He was a good bloke.
~
Ron
I met Andre The Giant in 1987 at the Veteran's memorial Coliseum in New Haven,Ct. He was a very nice guy. His hand was so big that it wrapped around my hand. I came up to his chest. I also met Hulk Hogan that night but meeting Andre The Giant was better. He will always be THE BOSS!!!!
~ Jim
Hey, I am 32 years old now and I remember when I was a kid Andre the Giant was a legend in wrestling. To even see him on TV was a rare moment but to see him in person was totally unbelievable!! He came to the Erie civic center to compete and that was in the days when pay per views were not even available...He was a behemoth of a man to see in person and totally and incredible athlete.
~ Tom
My story about Andre was told to me by my father Fred. Years ago, in the 70s
Dad was out to dinner with Andre and a few other celebs. The resturant was called "The
Red Blazer". They featured a 2 pound burger! So when Andre ordered the burger
the waitress looked him up and down and asked, "is that all". So Andre then
told her we wanted 1 of every thing on the menu! He ate for several hours. The
waitress was there well after the other girls went home, Andre kept eating.
~ Bill
I once met andre when I was little boy in australia. He shook my hand his hand went all the way up my arm he signed me an autograph the pen nearly vanished he was a giant but sounded so nice I wish I had the chance to see more of him but I didnt at least the big guys are still coming in wwe like the big show or mark henry they are the guys who look up to andre cause he was the first and only true GENTLE GIANT.
~ Corey
I remember being a young girl (back in the 80's), sitting at home and there be
a knock at the door. My mom told me to go an answer it, I open the door to my
surprise I don't see a face… I see this HUGE chest where someone's head
should be. It was Andre, he had came to MY house to say hi to my mom...He stayed
for awhile, as the afternoon came to an end...I really didn't want to see him
off, my mom & I walked him out to his car...which I was in for another surprise...the
front seat was taken out his car and he sat in the backseat to drive. OMG I thought
that this was NEATEST thing in my life to have met someone as nice and tender
hearted as Andre. I have shared some of these stories with my kids, and that
I got to meet the GENTLEST person in the world. I will FOREVER remember him and
that is why I feel I need to share this moment with others.
~ Tammy
I grew up watching Andre is one of my favorite wrestler. At the age of 8 before my grandfather passed away he took me to see him live in Huntsville,Alabama. Andre pick me up and put me on his shoulders. I was on top of the world. A true legend, Andre is and will always be.
~ Laronda
Back in 1979, my mom worked at a hotel as a receptionist where all the wrestlers stayed when they came into town to wrestle. This one day Andre the Giant came up to the desk to sign himself in and my mom commented on his necklace. It was gold and silver with his name on it and it made a choker on him bless his heart. My mom said to him "What a cool necklace!" Andre replied as he started taking the necklace off, "Here, you can have it. You want it?" Well my mom hurriedly shook her head no and gave her word of thanks. It was about 3 months later when Andre was back in town for another match. Upon his visit, he approached her and reached into his pocket as said with a big grin "This is for you," then
handed her a bracelet that looked exactly like his necklace only with her name
on it. She told me he put it on her any everything. She gave the bracelet to
me as I am a huge Andre fan. She said he was really sweet and he was a true gentleman.
He did not forget the good comments and the good people. His heart was just simply
too big for his body.... RIP Andre. We miss you!
~ Shortypie Amy
I saw Andre wrestle at the Nassau County Veterans Memorial Coliseum many times.
I went with a friend and we had a pre-printed Andre the Giant sign. After he
defeated the Iron Shiek, he walked toward us and gestured he wanted to put his
autograph on the sign. Only problem was, we didn't have a pen, nor did anyone
around us. He raised his shoulders as if to say sorry, but he did give us a high
- five. My friend still has the sign, and it was pretty cool that he wanted to
do something like that for a fan! RIP Andre!
~ Lenny
I remember my grandfather taking me to see Andre at the Franklin Ice Area in Franklin, MA back in the early 80's. Andre and George 'The Animal' Steele wrestled Killer Kahn and Moondog Spot. Great time. I rushed to the aisle after the match and touched Andre's arm. I got some of his sweat on me. I swore I would never wash that hand ever again! I was 11 of course! I still on occasion watch some matches of Andre that I have on VHS. He is missed.
~ Ed
In May of 1983, just as we were graduating from the University of Florida,
some friends of mine and I took advantage of an airline's advertising mistake
which offered a free round-trip ticket to anywhere in the U.S. with the purchase
of any other round-trip ticket. The nearest, cheapest flight available was from
Valdosta , Georgia to Dothan , Alabama . As we entered the tiny Dothan airport,
Andre was standing there with an Anvil case, waiting to walk through the metal
detector. He had to fold himself in half to fit through. The baggage screener
robotically said "You'll need to open your..." then she looked up to see Andre.
She never finished her sentence; he never opened his suitcase. Sadly, we never
got up the nerve to talk to him as we all waited for the return flight to Valdosta
. I'll never forget it, though. RIP, Andre.
~Mark
I saw Andre as an 8 year old little girl in Australia who loved wrestling and went every week with my mother. Andre actually came over to me and shook my hand and signed an autograph for me. It was the most wonderful, awesome experience of my life and I will never forget it.
~Carmiel
My mother had a good friend who was a wrestling promoter in our city
of Hamilton , Ontario . I guess it was about 30 years ago now, I used to go down
every tuesday night,(I got in free), and watch the action. I was about 8 years
old when I first saw Andre, and I was in awe! After his match he graciously signed
autographs and posed for pictures with fans. It was at this time when a friend
of mine asked Andre if he could lift him up and Andre did so. As he was standing
there he looked down and saw me staring at him so he asked me if I wanted to
be picked up also. Being the logical 8 year old I was I asked him if he was sure
he was strong enough to lift us both at the same time, to which Andre just laughed
and smiled at me then easily hoisted me up to his shoulder. I will never forget
that memory of such a strong and powerful man yet gentle and kind. I still tell
this story to people to this day and will never grow old of it. ~Matt
I lived in Los Angeles in the 1980s and I would regularly go to the Hollywood Spa to work out in the afternoon. After a long workout swimming laps in the pool, I stepped into the jacuzzi to soothe my muscles. It is polite in the gym not to make very much eye contact, so I usually got into the hot tub and then scoped it out slowly. At water level I was surprised to see a very large hand pushing the water around. I looked up into the wonderful smiling face of Andre the Giant! We talked about Archimedes and the law of equilibrium of fluids and buoyancy. He was a very smart man, and I will never forget meeting him. ~Kelly
I used to work for Capitol wrestling and one night at Nassau Colesium in NY i was approched by a gentleman telling me his 8 yr old son was nearly blind and wanted to meet a wrestler. I took the child backstage and standoing there was Andre. He called the young boy over to him, gave him autographic, picked him up in the air, played with him for 5 mins. Needless to say yhis little boy was in his glory. Not only was Andre big in size, but his heart was bigger than his body. He loved people. ~Fred
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