Character Interaction

Miss Animated

I know this works with cameras, but is there a way to have one character follow the movement of another?  To be very specific (G8M), a football player breaking a large run and someone on the sidelines following him.  the runner is still moving around others so it is not a constant motion.  I tried to make the head of the spectator point at the hip of the runner but that ended up in disasterous results for our spectator that even a chiropracter couldn't fix... thanks!