When you meet famous people in person - whether it's a top athlete, movie star or politician - rarely does the polished product you see on television live up to the hype.
When it comes to softball star Jennie Finch and running legend Kathrine Switzer, though, it's just the opposite. In this case, the hype doesn't measure up to the real thing.

Finch and Switzer met an adoring public Saturday as the star attractions at the seventh annual Women's Health & Fitness Expo at Tech City. Both spoke on the effects of Title IX legislation in the growth of women's athletics - Switzer as a pioneer in the evolution of women's sports, and Finch as a key beneficiary of those who came before her.


Switzer is best known as the first woman to officially enter the Boston Marathon in 1967, while Finch is the standout pitcher that won an NCAA-record 60 straight games at Arizona and guided the U.S. national team to the Olympic gold medal in 2004.

But fans couldn't stop talking Saturday about how impressed they were with Finch and Switzer - as people - and how approachable they are.

Switzer spent more time talking running with visitors to the Expo than signing copies of her new book, "Marathon Woman." She posed for numerous photos and hugged each and every person, as if she had been simply chatting with an old friend.

"(Meeting people like Switzer) inspires me to keep going," avid runner Michael Beames of Olivebridge said. "To do what she did (in 1967) is pretty amazing."

Finch was equally generous with her time, stopping often to sign autographs and pose for photos with adoring girls - and adults, alike. She repeatedly paused during a demonstration of her superior pitching skills to explain, in painstaking detail, everything from her blazing fastball to her rise ball, while answering questions along the way.

Finch said she tells girls first and foremost to "find what you love and do what you love."

And she said she wants to be seen as more than just a softball player.

"I want people to know me (as a person)," Finch said.

Mission accomplished.

"I always wanted to meet her," Kingston High junior pitcher Christina Boice said of Finch. "She's really made a difference in softball and what (women) can do. I want to be just like her."

"And she's soooo nice."

Boice's catcher with the Tigers, sophomore Andrea Feeney, was equally impressed.

"I'm not going to lie, it's pretty sweet," Feeney gushed. "It's pretty amazing (to meet her). I was hoping I could catch her."

The two people that did catch Finch on Saturday, SUNY New Paltz catcher Lauren Motzkin, an Onteora High graduate, and Kingston High senior C.J. Lukaszewski, the catcher for the Tigers' baseball team, had only more complements.

"The movement of her ball is something I've never experienced," Motzkin said. "I'd pay money to catch her."

Having never caught a softball pitcher before - much less a world-class one - Lukaszewski was a bit nervous going in.

"She told us beforehand that she wasn't going to go full speed, only about 70 percent," Lukaszewski said of Finch, whose fastball can top 70 miles per hour from just 43 feet (equal to 100 mph in baseball). "That made me feel at ease."

"It was privilege to catch her."

If that weren't enough, Finch ended her day by cheerfully taking a smaller group of girls aside for a lengthy question and answer session that lasted until about 4 p.m., making being on time for a scheduled 7:30 p.m. flight out of Newark Liberty International an extremely dicey proposition.

Through it all, both Finch and Switzer spent the day embracing their fans with wide smiles, making even bigger fans in the process.