My strategy is to completely ignore my heroes, so I don't freak them out by revealing myself as a fan boy, and then hope they come and chat with me first.
I think this can be summed up easily as just treat the person like a human. Even humans accomplish great things sometimes. These heroes even worship other people and the more calm you are, the more respectful you will often come off as. I observe this in Guido when he talks about Django. Guido is obviously a very capable guy and he talks admirably about Django without dropping into fanboyism.
Perhaps the real lesson is to pretend the person is your equal, which they probably could be, and let it go from there. They'll appreciate it. If they don't, well, you should probably stay away from that maniacal maniac.
Unless you were a crafty little devil and used the supposed obedience to easily get away with mischief and worm your way out of trouble, much to the dismay of your peers.
How is it working, pg? Are we BFF yet?