That Time The Rock Remembered My Name

Before I moved to Colorado in 2012, I worked out at an Equinox gym near my house in southern California. The gym was beautiful, clean, well-kept and with great amenities. But one of the coolest parts about it was the other members.

On any given day I would see actors I’d seen on TV or in the movies like Damon Wayans, Brittany Daniel, Neil Patrick Harris, Alec Baldwin, along all sorts of models and extras from lesser-known TV shows.

Growing up in LA you see celebrities at the mall, or at the grocery store, and you learn that they are real people too. You learn to play it cool, and to not bother them just like you wouldn’t walk up to any other random stranger and ask for something. So I played it cool with all these people.

But the coolest person that I saw in there was Dwayne Johnson. The Rock. This was before he built the Iron Paradise as his own personal workout haven. So he was just out there working out with the rest of us.

And I was sharing machines and working out RIGHT NEXT to him. So it would have been rude to just ignore him, right?

So I started a casual conversation. And can I tell you…. You’ve never met a nicer, more generous, or more humble person in your life.

I think I was probably the only person that did actually talk to him in that gym. He would be doing calf raises or shoulder shrugs with like 700 pounds… grunting and straining against the weight. Intimidating as all get out. But then as soon as he put it down, his 1000-megawatt smile would come out and light up the room. He really is a nice guy.

For the most part, I think he was just being nice and making chit-chat with me, I’m sure he never gave me a second thought once he left there. He had no reason to. But one day I walked in when he was almost done with his workout and without provocation, he looks over at me and says “Hey Ryan! How’s baseball and training going?”

I think that was the most starstruck I have ever been. He is the biggest star in the world.

And for one day, a decade ago, he remembered my name. I think that is so cool.