When former NFL and Kansas University star John Hadl met Ronald Reagan, the then-governor of California knew more about Hadl than Hadl knew about him.

It was the late ’60s or early ’70s. Hadl, now the associate athletic director for development at KU, had flown to Wichita from Southern California to introduce Reagan at a function where the future president was speaking.

The two discussed their lives up to that day for at least 45 minutes, Hadl said.

“I felt like I knew him for 10 years,” Hadl remembered.

Reagan said he watched Hadl sling the football as quarterback for the San Diego Chargers, for whom Hadl played from 1962 through 1972. Reagan, too, had played football, at Eureka College in Illinois.

Hadl never met Reagan again, but he has been fixated on television coverage of Reagan remembrances and processions since the former president died Saturday.

“I’ve been right in the middle of it,” he said.