Lauren Grover/Collegian
Seniors Andrew Fink and Joe Hunt sitting outside Fink’s residence, The Riff, at 134 Oak Street.
Lauren Grover/Collegian
“There are only three to four days out of the year that I wear tennis shoes when I would have normally worn boots.” Joe Hunt
Lauren Grover/Collegian
When I have kids, I’ll make sure that [Western wear] is part ofour family traditions.” David Lowe
Lauren Grover/Collegian
“I’m just a hillbilly from Ypsitucky.” Andrew Fink III
Lauren Grover/Collegian
“If I do dress up, it’s usuallyjust jeans, boots, cowboy hat, button up—nothing too fancy.” Ryan Mauldin
The Everyday Cowboy
Practically Hillsdale’s resident cowboy, senior Joe Hunt of Chelsea, Mich. has a Western style more about comfort and tradition than horses.
Chelsea? “There’s one guy who sells tons of Western stuff there—I don’t know who buys it, besides my dad and I,” Hunt said. “The guy knows me as ‘Pistol Jim’s Son,’ which my dad is known as by some people.”
On horses “We have three horses, and I don’t touch them. I don’t mind them, but I don’t touch them.”
Staple items “Boots, definitely my brown Justins, and the Stetson hat, which is not made out of suede—it’s made out of beaver felt, that’s very important.”
Choice addition “I’m thinking of getting a leather vest. The guy who sells them at Chelsea assures me that you can conceal a gun in one. And yes, I’d go for another gun. It’d be cool to strut around campus with a gun—and I bet Hillsdale is the kind of place you could get away with doing that.”
The boots “I do feel different in my boots. I feel like I can’t kill anybody, but look like I might be able to. I have a pair of tennis shoes I got junior year of high school, but it’s hard to walk in tennis shoes.”
Midwest cowboys “In Michigan there seems to be a group that does [wear Western], but they’re all 45 or older, quite a few in biker gangs, and they hang out at gun shows a lot.”
Western women “There’s a difference between girls wearing Western attire and a cowgirl. Cowgirls smell like horses [pause] a lot of the time, and it’s hard to take the cowgirl home without the horses.”
The Texan
If a cowboy is measured by the size of his drawl, sophomore David Lowe’s accent needs the space of a 200-acre ranch. Behind this polite and thoughtful cross country runner is some Texas pride as loud and as big as the state. Attire “The staple of my Western wardrobe is my Texas flag shirt. It’s great for showing Texas pride any time of year, and it’s one of the few ways to get the ladies’ attention.”
Influence “One of my good friends back home is a real country boy—a genuine boots, Wranglers and Stetson kind of guy. When I do stuff with him and other friends who are real cowboys, like when I go skeet shooting, it’s always more fun to dress the part.”
Quintessential cowboy piece “A big ol’ Texas-sized rodeo belt buckle is the mark of a real man. And a genuine Stetson truly makes the cowboy. His head is nekkid without one!”
And the ladies? “There is nothing sexier than a hot Texan lady wearing boots and a cowboy hat and speakin’ with a drawl.”
The Western Rocker
Levis, a touch of ZZ Top, one 1989 Cadillac and a NRA hat proudly worn might describe this senior from Yspilanti, but summing up Andrew F. Fink III is about as simple as challenging him to an argument on politics. We’ll stick to his “hillbilly” style and love of almost everything Western.
Influences “Mainly Ypsitucky [the heavy Appalachian influence in Ypsilanti] folk, most of them over 60. I do wear a lot of old man shirts. [Other influences are] ZZ top, John Wayne and Hank Williams, who has both a hillbilly and a Western style.”
Western flare Fink listed a number of things, such as driving a Cadillac (“a lot of Texans drive Cadillacs”), liking Western movies and Texas blues, owning a pair of overalls, his revolver, working on a cattle ranch one summer and wearing plaid (“it’s a common misconception, but I don’t actually wear flannel all that much”).
Common thread. “My dad and brothers Sam and Isaiah all wear belt buckles. Sam is asking for cowboy boots for his birthday. And Isaiah recently outgrew a lot of his Western attire, but he had matching chaps and vest to go with his hat, shirts, boots and spurs.”
Final thought “I’ve had plans to get married in Western style, with the groomsmen wearing sidearms.”
The Classy Southerner
Clean-cut and articulate, senior Ryan Mauldin’s mix of Nautica and J. Crew makes it difficult to notice an occasional belt buckle worn by this Longview, Texas native.
Confession “I wear Western pretty rarely, actually, moreso when I’m in Texas. The cowboy hat’s really especially rare, more of a costume part of it for me.”
Cowboy style “The belt buckle is the personal touch to most people’s Western outfit—it’s your own accent to everything, and there’s a huge variety of different ones.”
All about location “If I’m in a barn or riding horses [wearing Western] is natural, but being here in Michigan, well, there’s all the looks you get.”