10 - Avid Jeff Gordon fan!

9 - Ran Benny Goodman's rehearsals from 1959-1961!

8 - Taught Paul Harvey everything he knows!

7 - Shot a man in Reno just to watch him die!

6 - Stole Ava Gardner from Frank Sinatra, and Debbie Reynolds from Eddie Fischer!

5 - One-time Vice-President of U.S. Chamber of Commerce!

4 - Played drums on "Start Me Up"!

3 - Respected science columnist for the Wall Stree Journal from 1949-1954. Nicknamed "Nuke" as a result!

2 - Has eleven toes!

And the number one little known fact about Sonny Rollins......



























1 - Never been fishing!

Played drums on Start Me Up? Are you shittin'?!!! I love that track!

Yeah, and Charlie Watts played the tenor solo on "Waiting For A Friend"!

Sonny invented the Happy Meal in 1971.

Case against Paul Simon for that Feelin' Groovy song still in litigation.

At one point, Rollins was considering filing suit against every composer who ever wrote a tune that contained a bridge (including that Led-Zeppelin-does-James-Brown-thing), but was disuaded by his attorney at the time - 10 points if you know that lawyer's name.

Mike

F. Lee (Sims) LaRoca?

Sonny nearly fought James Brown to the death over the title of the hardest working man in show business, but ceded the name when he learned it meant he would have to mix cocktails and draw draft beer during the set breaks.

















(I shamelessly adapted this from the Ben Stiller Show, now out on DVD. Check it out. Another great show cancelled before its time.)

10. Has cousins in Rawlins, Wyoming.

9. First instrument was the celeste.

8. World class collection of Hummels.

7. Favorite movie: "Whiffs" (1975), starring Elliot Gould.

6. Boxer briefs.

5. Once hitchhiked from Philadelphia to Norristown... without ever actually getting a ride.

4. Dated ex-girlfriends of pro bowlers Earl Anthony AND Nelson Burton, Jr. (both were secretaries- one named Lincoln, the other named Kennedy!)

3. Original bandleader for TV's "Thicke Of The Night".

2. Always told his family he would someday invent a new variety of Chex™ cereal.

...



1. Never really understood who the hell "Don Newcombe" was.

In conjunction with Don Cherry, Rollins holds patents for three refinements to equipment used to construct bridge piers.

And he makes the best turkey gravy ever.

Auditioned and got the part for "The Dude" in The Big Lebowski but skipped town the day of casting.

Ghost-writes Lenny Pickett's columns in Saxophone Journal.

Was lost walking down a concrete staircase, in a high-school in Upper Manhattan, and never seen again. His parts are now dubbed in by Ira Gitler.

Played B.A. Baracus in the pilot episode (and portions of the first season) of The A-Team, but quit when he couldn't get the timing just right on the classic line "I pity the fool", and the producers dubbed in Ira Gitler instead.

His son, Jimmy, plays shortstop for the Phillies.

"Blue 6"?????????

Once used circular breathing technique to re-inflate a downed Goodyear blimp prior to Superbowl XXII.