During my last few weeks as Director of Media Relations for the Villanova University Athletic Department, I was pretty well jet-lagged. Travelling with Wildcat men's basketball team, travelling on a few job interviews, and working for a living...

We were scheduled to play the Georgetown Hoyas at the USAir Arena (formerly the Capital Centre) in Landover, MD on President's Day, 1995. The game was live on ESPN, with Dick Vitale and, I think, Brad Nessler. Anyhoo...

About three hours before the game, we got told in our hotel (a dreadful Marriott I had spent far too many nights in over the years) that President Clinton himself would be in attendance at the game to cheer for his alma mater, Georgetown. Naturally, my then-boss, Gene DeFillippo, insisted I hire a photographer. Did you ever try to get Secret Service clearance for a freelancer two hours before a game? Ain't easy, didn't happen.

After the obligatory stroll thru a metal detector at the player's entrance (wonder how Allen Iverson made out that night), I located the Hoya's always-ebullient Sports Information Director, Bill Shapland, who told me the White House Photographer would be happy to assist me, in my quest for a photo of Villanova's head coach and athletic director pressing the flesh with the Commander in Chief.

Before the game started, Clinton and the Secret Service walked right behind us on press row and into the stands. At halftime, he came back down to go on the air live with "Dickie V." Post-game, he had sent word he would visit each team's locker room.

We lost the game that night. A rather vexed Steve Lappas was in the middle of brow-beating Kerry Kittles and company when Big Bill (no, not Shapland) came into the room, cameras flashing. After shaking hands with Lappas and giving his now-trademark portion of a thumbs-up, he went back into the hallway between the locker rooms. I went out the back door, intending to give the White House photog my business card for prints of his time in the locker room.

In the hallway, Clinton was standing, unattended, chatting with Georgetown's president. He then proceeded a little farther down the hall to where I was standing, and LEANED AGAINST ME while talking to another Villanova coach. My eyes darted around, waiting for some Secret Service agent to pull me away. Nothing.

After what seemed like an eternity in which I probably could have done Bill serious harm (and being a Republican, I'm ashamed to admit I didn't even try), the White House Photographer spoke up and said, "Mr. President, this is Jim DeLorenzo, the PR Director at Villanova." At which point, the Leader of the Free World turned, grasped my hand, and asked me who Villanova played next. I think I mumbled, "Connecticut" or something, and he walked on.

Someday, let me tell you about the time I met William Shatner...