Yesterday I posted a photo of me and my all time favorite celeb, and many of you guessed who it was (and shared in my excitement!): Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Torrey Smith!

Photo from here.

I am a HUGE Torrey fan. Huge. I’m talking Facebook/Twitter/Instagram stalking fan. . . watching Ravens games just for him fan. . . signing up for a meet and greet event the second it becomes available kind of fan. . .  Not only was he a UMD Terp when I went there, he also adopted one of his two pit bulls from BARCS, the Baltimore animal shelter. Amazing, I know. He is always doing charity events and has been a VIP guest at some of BARCS’s biggest fundraisers (which, as an event planner, I am extremely jealous of!).

When I saw that Torrey was doing another fundraiser for BARCS and that it involved him personally greeting everyone who attended, I knew I had to buy a ticket. Support a local shelter AND meet Torrey for the first and probably only time!? Yes please!!! I immediately contacted some friends who are huge Ravens fans and of course they were in right away. I loved that I was able to convince people who maybe aren’t as animal obsessed as I am to come out and support BARCS.

The whole event was really well put together. They had a DJ and great decorations, as well as flashy advertisements for BARCS all over the place (yes I notice these things thanks to my job). The way it worked was that we got unlimited bowling for two hours along with some food and drink. Torrey was going to come around to each lane to greet every single person who bought a ticket. After doing the math of people attending and the event timing, I knew I needed to make the best of our time chatting with him!

As he began making his way towards our lane my girlfriends and I all started freaking out. Obviously. What were we going to say? How do you make yourself stand out to Torrey Smith? What if you do something stupid? Turns out, Torrey is a super down to earth guy.

I guess I should have figured that considering I have done so much, er, research? on him on social media, but it really blew me away how laid back he was. We immediately started joking around with each other and chatted about his dogs. He graciously took pictures with my group and genuinely seemed to want to make this experience great for everyone who attended – he didn’t act like he was rushing to move to the next group or annoyed at taking so many pictures. Really, really awesome guy.

Just that interaction alone made my whole year! I couldn’t get over how cool he was! That was only the beginning though. Other highlights of the evening included doing the Cupid Shuffle with him (my all time favorite dance) and chatting with him and his fiance about dogs. . . he even pulled out his phone to show me pictures of his pup Prince! If you are wondering if I almost fainted then the answer is yes!

I know these athletes are just normal people (although, not all of them win the Superbowl, just sayin’!) but I have no shame about acting like a crazed preteen around Torrey  because seriously, how often is it that you get to meet one like him!?

Thank you, Torrey Smith and BARCS, for putting on such a fabulous event! Torrey swore to me that he is really great at remembering people he meets, so I can only hope our paths cross again some day :-).