After several weeks at the duck shack chasing waterfowl, I was long overdue for a haircut. Due to an unusually wet and warm fall, more than once I thought that itching on my neck was gnats rather than hair sticking out from under my camo duck hat.
Lo and behold, at 11 a.m. Thursday, Oct 12, while driving past Shag’s Hair Studio, April Horton could be seen through the window of her shop, working on a client. By the time I turned around and raced back, she and Don Scott were outside peering inside the hood of her husband Ron’s truck.
At first I didn’t recognize the vehicle.
The bright orange pickup had been changed to a dull grey hue. Being an OSU Beaver, I had enjoyed seeing the former color, but given the way the Boys from Corvallis have been playing this season, the new shade seems appropriate.
Anyhow, Scott was checking the automatic transmission fluid (ATF) in the truck. While cutting his hair, Horton had mentioned that the vehicle stalled in the intersection below her shop, and she barely made it up the hill. Scott had offered to take a look after his trim job, and sure enough, a couple quarts of ATF were in order.
In the meantime, Dave Branshaw had pulled up in his mini-truck for the next haircut. So Horton couldn’t zip down to get the fluid.
Ah. Timing is everything.
“I’ll run down and get the fluid, if you’ll give me a haircut,” I said.
“Deal. Although the earliest I can squeeze you in is at 1:30,” she replied.
“Perfect.”
So around 1:15 I showed up. The hood was still up; and Horton came out to watch while I added a couple quarts of fluid to the truck. It was a rare nice day, and I mentioned this was a haircut “first.”
Not only does Horton give a good haircut, she does it efficiently. However, there was time to squeeze in a couple barbershop tales from the good old days while she was clipping away.
One was about Bob Sabourin, who had his shop right on Main Street, roughly where Copper River Fleece is now located. Sabourin and the guys used to enjoy sitting around in chairs, looking out the window, and shooting the breeze. Right outside was one of those old metal street-lamp poles, topped by a huge round light-globe.
The boys were tired of watching dogs stop to relieve themselves against the pole, so Sabourin rigged up an electric wire, which he could use to zap the critters in the act, much to the delight of the onlookers.
Sabourin wasn’t much into hairstyles; regardless of what length you wanted it always came out short. Which was actually the style back then. More than once, Sabourin would drop his scissors in mid-cut so he could grab the dog-zapper button. After all, it’s pretty hard to screw up a crew cut.
But my favorite all-time Cordova barber was Benny Sanculi, who also cut hair at a Main Street shop. He would talk hoops a mile a minute while clipping away.
Sanculi was a huge basketball fan, and would sit in the balcony of old City Hall and issue this crescendo-peaking “Ooooooooh!” whenever a long shot was in the air. The crowd would erupt in a cheer when it went in, with Sanculi jumping up in excitement almost directly behind the backboard, which even today is still mounted directly over the entrance to the gym.
One of my most memorable moments playing for CHS came in 1962, the first year that solid white backboards were replaced by clear fiberglass ones. It was our first game at home; and I ended up shooting the first free throw at that end of the gym.
Byron Jones was our coach, and he was great at teaching shooting skills, especially at the free throw line. I bounced the ball three times, looked up to focus at the rim, and there was Sanculi, staring right back at me with a huge grin.
Startled, I launched a shot that went about 8-feet high, and sailed out through the entrance to the gym. Coach Jones never showed a lot of emotion; but that one earned a puzzled look when I glanced over to the bench.
The second one did go in.
Sanculi was an incredibly faithful fan, and always found much to cheer about. He took his unique, happy style to the new high school gym; and eventually received a special Award from CHS during the glory days of the Wolverine Express in the mid-’80s, for being their most faithful fan.
Dogs. Glass Backboards. Automatic transmission fluid.
And haircuts, too.
Only in Cordova.
