As a prelude to this post, I highly recommend reading the article on President Joe Biden in today’s USA Today!
“In the extensive and storied history of SLU Hockey, Wally Johnson may very well end up being the longest serving member of this hockey program,” noted Greg Carvel, men’s hockey head coach at SLU. “Wally has been a unique and important part of the heart and soul of this hockey program. He endured many, many miles on the team bus; made many calls on the air of defining goals – and did it all with his unique flair that always involved cowboy boots, and on cold nights, a Russian Ushanka.” (Excerpt from Ann King’s delightful article about me when I received CoSIDA’s Lifetime Achievement Award in July of 2016)
I always thought my statue in front of the Augsbury Center would hold a rocks glass in one hand and a cigarette in the other, but thanks to Carvy, my legacy may well be cowboy boots and Ushankas.
Before I progress further, I will note that I quit smoking in 2000 after a 33-year two pack per day habit. When I started, a pack of Tareyton 100s, my favored brand, was 26 cents. By the time I got to St. Lawrence in 1975 the cost was up to 49 cents. When I moved out to the Stiles Road in the mid-1980s, I would stop at the former Flanagan Dairy Store (now a 7-Eleven), get a coffee, the Watertown Times and two packs of Tareytons for three bucks on my way into the office. When 2000 rolled around the bite for the Wally Special at the same store was up to $11. Today’s cost for that same order would be really close to $20. I used the money I was saving by not smoking to upgrade my car to a PT Cruiser and the savings more than covered the monthly payments.
But, back to the cowboy boots and Ushankas. I actually started wearing cowboy boots when I was with the Free Press. One of the upper-level management guys wore them all the time and said they were really comfortable. I got a pair, a challenge to my salary at the time, and he was right! They are among the most comfortable footwear I have ever known. My interest in boots was further spurred by one of the VPs, Bud Randall, at St. Lawrence who wore them on a daily basis.
I started my collection modestly and fortunately was able to have some re-soled or re-heeled at Herb Haven’s shoe and boot repair business in Canton. Try to find a cobbler these days…if you do it will cost more than most pair of new boots. I really started collecting boots in 1990 while at the CoSIDA convention in Houston, TX. On one of my rare daytime excursions…CoSIDA likes to find hot and humid places for their annual confabs…I came across a very large boot store. I walked out with two pairs of your pretty much standard J-toe boots, one burgundy and the other black. I usually went boot shopping on other convention excursions to areas which were apt to have good western wear stores. The only other time I bought two pairs was in Calgary, Alb. In 2004 when the price of two exotic skin boots (one Ostrich, one snakeskin) was too good to pass up.
Then came the internet. Once I discovered internet shopping and my budget was able to support it, my boot collection grew exponentially. I also discovered eel skin boots, which are exceptionally comfortable and durable and come in any number of colors. The current collection includes, white, red, burgundy, cognac, black, silver-white fade and grey eel boots…. most of which came from Dos Altos Boot Company. My preference is a round toe (sometimes called J-toe) boot. I do have a few pairs of square toe boots, a couple of snip toe boots. I am not fond of broad square toe boots.
As I mentioned, eel is my go-to boot skin, but I have or have had alligator, crocodile, lizard, shark, sting ray, ostrich, elephant and rattlesnake boots. I would like to find a pair of Pirarucu boots in a round, square or snip toe, but they mostly come in the broad square toe and are a little out of my ballpark price wise. I rarely spend more than $300 on a single pair of boots and often find them in the $175-$225 range. I sometimes even find them for less than $100…and you can find them on some of the shopping apps like Shein, Temu and Light In the Box for anywhere from $30-$70. Many of those boots are faux leather or prints, which are basically fake exotics. They are not, obviously, the leather quality of the more expensive boots and they will not last as long, but they can be pretty flashy.
I also found a nice “leather” trench coat on Light In the Box for $35. I have had several over the last few years and I had a couple slashed, not with me in them, while sitting at the bar at the Best Western in Canton. It tells me the faux leather really does look like the real thing, and that there are some passionate tree-huggers who sometimes stop by the Inn.
There are some perils in wearing the boots in the winter. The soles tend to be smooth and wearers prone to slips. I cracked a couple of ribs when I walked out of Cornell’s Lynah Rink and slipped on unseen ice. Of course I was trying to protect m laptop and camera in the fall and my flat on the back landing got a four from the Russian judge. The back spasms which accompanied the cracked ribs were almost as bad as my first kidney stone in terms of pain and they were one of the reasons I missed a little time at work.
Speaking of the Russian judge…that’s where we get to the Ushankas. A Ushanka is a Russian fur hat with ear flaps that tie above the crown of the hat when not in use. When the flaps are down they cover the ears and the back of the neck and keep the whole head nice and toasty. I have a number of knitted hats, but nothing matches the Ushanka for warmth even with the flaps up, which is the way I usually wear it. I have two with synthetic fur and one genuine rabbit (sorry tree-huggers). You can find faux fur hats and what they call trapper hats (same principle, no fur) on Temu for less than $10. Mine came through Amazon and averaged around $30. The popular real fur for Ushankas is rabbit, but you can find them in silver fox, sheepskin, beaver, fox, and mink. Bring your favorite charge card if you are going for the silver fox or mink…although I did see a “real mink fur hat for men or women” for a reasonable price on Ebay.
They are comfortable, warm and easy to maintain and the one thing I can’t understand is why the State Police and local police in sheriffs departments in New York, Vermont and New Hampshire don’t issue them as standard winter issue. They very probably cost less than the regular uniform hat and will keep the wearer much more comfortable.
The above paragraph was my public service announcement for the month!