Who has the best hands in Madison? If you're thinking Lee Evans, you're wrong. Devin Harris? Not a chance. No, they belong to Don the Barber.
Don the Barber?
Has Don ever caught five touchdowns in a single game like Lee? Nope. Has he ever dropped 97 points over a three-game stretch like Devin? Never. But then again, I wouldn't trust either of those guys with a straight edge against my jugular the way I trust Don.
Don has been cutting hair at the same State Street locale (in between the Starbucks and the UW Tech Store) for 51 years. Fifty-one for Pete's sake! To put that in perspective, that's 10 U.S. presidents, 12 governors of Wisconsin and, thankfully, zero World Series titles for Cubs and Red Sox fans. Suffice to say, this guy is a State Street staple. So legendary are his skills that two guys (one of whom was a hockey player) got into a fistfight over who was next.
\Both of them sat down waiting for me. One guy got up before him and this guy punched him in the stomach. He didn't say anything else about it,"" said Don, ""[But] after he got his haircut, he picked up the guy in front of his girlfriend and smacked him right in the face!""
But what makes Don so cool is not just his longevity (he has cut hair for 600,000 customers and counting), but also what he has amassed in sports lore. The 1952 Wisconsin vs. Northwestern homecoming media guide? Don has it. Al Toon's autograph back when he was a stud Badger receiver instead of an all-pro receiver for the New York Jets? Up there on his wall. The 2000 basketball team's Final Four team photo? Yeah, a lot of people might have one. But I bet you don't have one while they're getting their hair cut. That one makes me smile, seeing 6'10' behemoth Andy Kowske at the mercy of a person half his size with a pair of clippers in his hand.
But the greatest wealth of sports history lies not on the walls but within Don himself. He's cheered when the Badgers experienced a golden age of sorts with Alan Ameche, Elroy ""Crazy Legs"" Hirsch and Pat Richter of the '50s and '60s (he cut their hair too). And he cheered during the down times, when the passing combinations looked more like ""From Justin to Kelly"" than ""From Sorgi to Evans."" We complain when a team underperforms, but we sometimes forget what it was like when the teams we love had little to no expectations at all.
""It's so bad sometimes, but who are we to know? We're not the ones who are doing it out there,"" he told me sagaciously.
But here's my point. Many of us celebrate Valentine's Day solely as a day to express our love for each other through chocolates and cards. But I say let us not forget the love and commitment that we put forward in our everyday lives, whether it is in our sports teams, our craft or our community. For if we were all a little bit more like Don, then we'd all have a better grasp on what ""love"" truly is.
Michael Jones is a senior majoring in political science and international relations. He can be reached at michaeljones@dailycardinal.com.
