Share your Quirky Claim to Fame with us | Charlotte Observer

Last summer, I enjoyed getting to know many Union County readers through their QCFs – Quirky Claims to Fame.

You might remember Doug Lynch of Monroe, who shared his story about streaking with rocker Todd Rundgren and eating breakfast with Gene Simmons of the rock band Kiss.

Or Charles Springs of Wesley Chapel, who used to be a chauffeur for Hustler publisher Larry Flynt.

Gene Racine of Indian Trail told me about beating world champion basketball foul-shot shooter Ted St. Martin in a head-to-head foul-shooting contest, and Linda Geer, a Monroe High School teacher, remembered dancing on stage with Chubby Checker. Many others shared their QCFs as well.

Anyone with a QCF knows they can be a real conversation starter with strangers. I'd like to hear more of them – maybe even make QCFs a summertime ritual for Newcomers Network.

Here are a few quirky facts I've learned since last summer:

The Wikipedia entry on Sun Valley High School contains the following: “1976 graduate Terry White is the inventor of the word game, MAD GAB. As a member of the baseball team, he tried out word puzzles on teammates while on bus trips to other schools.”

Popular folk-rockers The Avett Brothers recorded their first album, “Country Was,” in January 2002 in a studio in Marshville, according to their Web site.

Jim Jones of Monroe was good friends with actor Andy Griffin when they were both students at UNC Chapel Hill and worked together in a dining hall.

“When I knew him, he told me his ambition was to be a Moravian minister,” Jones recalled. And, as a Navy recruit in Macon, Ga., Jones became friends with the late U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms and the two used to play cards. Rummy, at the YMCA there, Jones said.

Are you a Union County transplant or native with a quirky claim to fame I could include in a future list? Or, are you someone who can provide interesting or unusual tidbits of information about Union County, its people, places or events? I'd love to talk with you. Please e-mail me at jduckwall@char lotteobserver.com or call 704-358-6060.