7 Times Celebrities Stole the Spotlight at Sporting Events

Baseball and the presidency have gone hand in glove since George Washington threw the ball around at Valley Forge. But it was Benjamin Harrison who became the first sitting U.S. president to attend a major league game.

On June 6, 1892, Harrison watched the Washington Senators lose to the visiting Cincinnati Reds in 11 innings. “I find a good deal of pleasure in watching a good game of ball,” Harrison once said, according to the Society for American Baseball Research. The society adds that Harrison arrived by horse-drawn carriage and sat in the front row of the press box. “He wore a large black derby, a frock coat, a white shirt and a black necktie,” it reports. “One hand rested on an ornamental cane. The ballplayers gazed up at him from the field, and the 2,400 fans were abuzz over the distinguished visitor.”

Just months after taking office, President John F. Kennedy threw out the ceremonial first pitch before the Washington Senators hosted the Chicago White Sox on April 10, 1961, at Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C.

Kennedy threw the ball from the stands, a tradition that lasted from William Howard Taft’s toss in 1910 until the Nixon administration. “He’d toss the ball up for grabs to congregating players from both teams,” The Washington Post reports. “The winning player would bring the ball over to the First Fan for an autograph.” And his aim? "The President is better than sneaky fast. He can really fire that thing,” White Sox manager Al Lopez said at the time, according to ESPN.

Frank Sinatra was a fixture at many big-ticket boxing events, but on March 8, 1971, he took his passion for the sport to a new level. At the Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier showdown at Madison Square Garden, dubbed the “Fight of the Century,” Ol’ Blue Eyes attended as a credentialed photographer for Life magazine.

According to the BBC, the partnership was a ploy to gain the best seat in the house. “Frank Sinatra couldn’t stand sitting in a ringside seat because he wasn’t going to be close enough, so he got himself assigned as a press photographer with Life magazine,” boxing journalist Colin Hart tells the BBC. “There was little Frankie up on the ringside snapping away.” He wasn’t the only celebrity in the arena: Norman Mailer, Dustin Hoffman, Woody Allen, Diana Ross, Bob Dylan, Barbra Streisand and Sammy Davis Jr. were just a few of the stars taking in the fight.

Actor Jack Nicholson practically defines the “celebrity superfan,” serving as a courtside regular at Los Angeles Lakers games for more than 40 years. Along with fellow actors Spike Lee and Billy Crystal, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame’s SuperFan Gallery in 2024.

One of Nicholson's most infamous game appearances came during Game 7 of the 1984 NBA Finals at Boston Garden. “With the Celtics pulling away, Nicholson stood and dropped his pants, mooning the rowdy Boston fans,” The Athletic reports, adding that Nicholson has never officially confirmed that he dropped his pants. 

Princess Diana’s appearances at Wimbledon’s Centre Court helped make the annual tournament a global celebrity event. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, she attended more than a dozen times, making headlines for her fashion choices as much as for the tennis.

In 1991, she watched from the Royal Box with Prince William, then 9 years old. “Her white pleated skirt in 1991 embodied an elevated tennis skirt, and in 1995, her pale suit jacket with sunglasses folded over the collar set her apart as a sleek modern woman,” The Royal Wardrobe author Rosie Harte tells The Independent. 

A lifelong Chicago Cubs fan, Illinois native Bill Murray became one of the most photographed faces during Chicago’s first World Series win since 1908. After the team’s Game 7 victory, Murray celebrated on the field before making his way to the clubhouse, where he played sports reporter, was soaked in champagne and chugged from a bottle with Cubs president Theo Epstein. "Pace yourself,” he told center fielder Dexter Fowler, according to USA Today. “You're gonna be doing this for a few years. You don't want to start drinking too hard too early."

Celebrities are regularly seen at New York Knicks basketball games, but the team’s first NBA Finals appearance since 1999 turned Madison Square Garden into a red-carpet event. At Game 4 on June 10, 2026, the crowd included Taylor Swift, Mariska Hargitay, Alana and Este Haim, Ben Stiller, Christine Taylor, Adam Sandler, Michael J. Fox, Jimmy Fallon, Jerry Seinfeld, John Turturro, Timothée Chalamet, Kylie Jenner, Edie Falco, Larry David, John McEnroe, Julianne Moore, Tracy Morgan, Nas, Fat Joe and other notables.

After the Knicks’ massive comeback to win the game, the celebs rushed the floor. “One of the greatest moments in New York sports history just happened and nobody here wants to go home,” Jerry Seinfeld told NBA.com.