December 27, 2010 1 Comment Stories

Evolution of the pink hat

While first gathering up all of dad’s pictures, you cannot help but look at the pictures and wonder, where the hell did this pink hat come from. I pulled a collection of pictures that do a good job showing you the evolution of his pink hat. The pink hat actually started with a pink Rush Limbaugh hat. I think dad got this as a giveaway or it came with an order we made on the one CD he put out years ago. He actually got the CD for me, OK both of us. You see dad and I were huge fans back then when I was riding with him everyday after my accident.

Dad took this first pink hat and wore it until it faded completely out. There were a few more pink hats before mom found a company that would print Cutter Oil hats. The Cutter Oil hats were sought after by many including all of our friends. There were also neon green variations of the hat as well. Dad always hat a few hats laying around. He had one that was his old hat that he wore when he was working and at least one good hat that he wore when he went out. He just kept rotating them through and when one wore out, he had a box to pick another one out of.

After the first Cutter Oil pink hats were made, the hot pink color spilled over into a lot of other things. Cutter Oil had jackets with pink embroidery, there were hot pink clothes, and the biggest item of all, his boat was pink. I remember when mom and dad got the book of options when they were putting in the order for the boat. It was not even a question the boat was going to be pink.

Eventually the company that made the pink hat stopped carrying those lines so dad moved over to the black adjustable hat with pink embroidery. This hat lasted several more years until dad was convinced that a fitted hat was the way to go. This was the hat that he road into the sunset with.

My dad was very tough on the outside, but he definitely had a big soft side; he just did not like to show it very often. If he did show it, he definitely did not want it getting around! The pink was the evidence of this soft side.