Friday, November 9, 2012

6 Memorable Athlete Soap Opera Cameos

Below is a list of 6 Memorable Athlete Soap Opera Cameos from daytime history.  Tell us which ones have been your favorites over the years in our Comments section.

ATHLETE: Yogi Berra (MLB, New York Yankees)
SHOW: GENERAL HOSPITAL
DATE: August 16, 1963
COMMENT:
Star catcher Berra made a guest appearance as a brain surgeon on GH, which starred former baseball player John Beradino (known as Johnny Berardino during his playing days) as Steve Hardy. Berra, who is 87 today, coined the famous prahse, "It ain't over till it's over." United Press International said Berra "handled his three lines [on GH] without a hitch." He made $155 for the bit part.

Beradino played with the St. Louis Browns, Cleveland Indians, and Pittsburgh Pirates during his career winning the World Series with the Indians in 1948.

ATHLETE: Archie Manning (NFL's New Orleans Saints)
SHOW: ALL MY CHILDREN
DATE: September 1981
COMMENT:
Back in 1981, Archie and eight Saints teammates made an appearance on AMC when Erica Kane (Susan Lucci) taped a TV commercial for her company with the team.

Archie Manning's sons are quarterbacks as well. Peyton and Eli have each won Super Bowls and some are hoping they face off in the big game one day.

ATHLETE: Wayne Gretzy (NHL's Edmonton Oilers)
SHOW: THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS
DATE: November 12, 1981 & August 31, 1983
COMMENT:
Gretzy was a big fan of daytime drama and made two appearances in Y&R.  From 1981: "I’m Wayne from the Edmonton operation."

For his 1983 appearance, Y&R originally wanted Gretzy to play a computer programmer but it would have required him to shoot over multiple days, so he only taped a couple of scenes in a different role.




ATHLETE: Summer Sanders (Olympic Swimmer)
SHOW: ALL MY CHILDREN
DATE: September 4, 1992
COMMENT:
The nineteen-year-old Olympic gold medalist got the cameo role after admitting in an interview that her two favorite vices were cheesecake and ALL MY CHILDREN.  Sanders, who was a junior at Stanford that fall, said at the time, "I guess, being at Stanford, people expect us to be smart all the time, but I'm really protective of my All My Kids time."

"I really can't believe I'm here," Sanders said. "It's like a dream. I love this show."


ATHLETE: Luke Walton (NBA's Los Angeles Lakers)
SHOW: THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS
DATE: August 30, 2006
COMMENT:
Walton played a game of one-on-one basketball with Neil Winters (Kristoff St. John).

"Walton was a nervous wreck," Bergman said. "Even if you're an actor, soaps are difficult because we work at a quick pace."


ATHLETE: Jeff Suppan, Bill Hall, J.J. Hardy & Chris Capuano (MLB's Milwaukee Brewers)
SHOW: THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS
DATE: June 20, 2007
COMMENT:
The Brewers visited the office of Jack Abbott (Peter Bergman) for a photo op during Abbott's campaign for Wisconsin state senate.

Other athletes who have made cameos in soaps or played ongoing roles:

ALL MY CHILDREN: Danny Sullivan (Champ car, 1987); Boomer Esiason (NFL, 1996); Bill Guerin, Rob Niedermayer and Kevin Weekes (NHL, 2001); Allan Houston (NBA, 2005); Al Leiter (MLB, 2005); Tiki Barber (NFL, 2005).

AS THE WORLD TURNS: D.J. Lockhart-Johnson (NFL, 2004).

THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL: Mike Piazza (MLB, 1994).

DAYS OF OUR LIVES: Casey Mears (NASCAR, 2004).

GENERAL HOSPITAL: Jim Kelly (NFL, 1992), Sinorice Moss (NFL, 2006); Conor Jackson (MLB, 2009).

GUIDING LIGHT: Mark Schlereth (NFL, 2007); John Riggins (NFL, 2003); Carl Edwards (NASCAR, 2005).

ONE LIFE TO LIVE: Scott Gomez, Jeremy Roenick, Sheldon Souray, Chris Therien and Kevin Weekes (NHL, 2001); Jeanette Lee (billiards, 2003).

PASSIONS: Robert Horry (NBA, 1999).

RYAN'S HOPE: Nolan Ryan (MLB, 1975)

SANTA BARBARA: Florence Griffith-Joyner (Track & Field, 1992).

THE YOUNG AAND THE RESTLESS: David Justice (MLB, 1992); Muhammad Ali (boxing, 1999); Tara Lipinski (figure skating, 1999); Brian Jordan (MLB, 2000); Robert Griffith (NFL, 2001); Charles Woodson (NFL, 2004); Tony Dorsett (NFL).

7 comments:

  1. You didn't mention Nolan Ryan, when he guest starred as himself on Ryan's Hope.

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  2. Great one! Pier reminded me of Florence Griffith-Joyner on Facebook. I will add Nolan is. That clip is on YouTube somewhere.

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  3. There was also a hockey player that interacted with Amy Vining once. She took him into an exam room. ;-)

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  4. Olympic track star, Kerron Clement, was just on Y&R (Oct 12). But, boy, what a bust that was. He walked through Crimson Lights in the background of the opening scene, and there wasn't even a straight-on shot of his face. Really odd, since Sony touted his upcoming appearance at the Y&R website, and EW even ran a feature article on it. Doubly strange because Kerron said he's been a fan of the show since he was a kid. Ya think they could have at least had him odrer some coffee "on the run" or something .. lol!

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  5. Fox, I had already forgotten that one. I wonder if he taped more but it got cut?

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  6. Roger, Could be. Recall, October 12th was also the date Team Griffith scripts started airing, so maybe they opted to put some other scene in.

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