A fascinating Sports Illustrated piece on a late college basketball coach named Beryl Shipley included an early 1970s photo of the coach and one of his assistants that provide a fantastic glimpse at one of the era’s most popular looks:
Big sideburns.
Burns have always been sort of interesting to me, mainly because I can remember when my two older brothers busted out healthy renditions of them when they were in college, and also because that region is where my own whiskers first started coming in, when I was about 14.
Things were sort of peachlike at first, but by the time I was a sophomore in high school I could display credible burns in the manner of my brothers. I’ve never let them get crazy long or thick, but I suppose it’s a source of some kind of ridiculous pride that I could if I wanted to.
I’ve always, for the record, just tended toward moderate based on whatever the standards of the particular time have been.
And a cool thing about my burns is that they are still totally blond as opposed to flecked with gray like in the chin area.
Anyway, seeing that old picture in the Shipley story inspired this week’s list, my Top 7 sideburns wearers:
1. Stephen Stills
2. Norm Van Lier
3. Ben Cartwright, aka Lorne Green
4. Dick Allen
5. John Lennon
6. Elvis Presley
7. James Kirk, aka William Shatner
