Soccer icon relives being mistaken for fan during encounter with LeBron James

Wayne Rooney has been one of the most recognizable faces in all of England for decades now. But his fame apparently didn’t follow him across the pond back in 2008.

The Manchester United icon recounted an old encounter with LeBron James during an episode of his eponymous “Wayne Rooney Show” podcast released Friday.

Rooney shared that he had first met James during a 2004 dinner commemorating Nike co-founder Phil Knight. The two athletes were still rising stars at the time, with James being just a year older than a 19-year-old Rooney.

Four years later, Rooney detailed seeing James again stateside during the soccer star’s honeymoon with wife Coleen.

“Me and Coleen were in Las Vegas for our honeymoon,” said Rooney. “… The U.S. Olympic basketball team come into this bar where we was. It was all cornered off. They were all there. Kobe Bryant was there, LeBron, all these massive superstars. I went over because I’d seen LeBron. Because I’d spoken to him a few times, I went over to say, ‘Hello.’ But the security went, ‘Please, step away from the table, sir.'”

The story did have a happy ending, as Rooney revealed that James later spotted him and called him over to have a chat. Rooney and his wife were also able to get a photograph with the then-Cleveland Cavaliers star.

It’s hard to fault the security personnel for failing to recognize Rooney. Aside from soccer just not being as popular in the United States, Rooney also doesn’t stand out in a crowd as much as someone like the 6’8″ James does. Rooney stands at just 5-foot-9 and was not wearing his recognizable Manchester United kit inside a dimly lit nightclub.

Years later, Rooney built his own American fan base when he made the move to play in MLS. His wife Coleen also gained some fans of her own in 2019 when she ran an incredible scheme to catch a mole feeding Rooney family information to the press.