Shaquille O'Neal confided in him about Kobe Bryant. Phil Jackson swapped stories about growing up in the Dakotas with him. 

He interviewed for his Los Angeles Lakers job with the NBA's "logo" Jerry West, who brought Vin Scully to their table at a golf club — and he tried to turn down all that. 

He moved on to work with Larry Bird and Reggie Miller, then coached Kevin Durant and Dez Bryant on how to handle the media. He lived several dreams of anyone who would want to go into major sports media, but meeting all those A-listers in the NBA wasn't actually his dream job.

His dream job was to work for the Indianapolis Speedway and Indianapolis 500, and he got to do that, too.

Now, he's living back in his native Sioux Falls and writing sports and news for the Brandon Valley Journal after a stint with the Argus Leader.

Meet Tom Savage — a Lincoln High School and University of Sioux Falls alumnus whose first full-time gig in professional sports was writing about and promoting the Sioux Falls Skyforce in their first championship season of 1995-96, when the Sioux Falls Arena was packed with 9,000 fans most nights.

Yeah, he has stories. And he spends over an hour telling them to host John Gaskins in the Orion Pub.