Colorful Characters: Polk McCullough

I suspect most folks are aware that in the Civil War, many Confederate soldiers ended up (or started out) going barefoot. In the south, they’d all probably grown up wearing shoes only occasionally, and as the war continued, supplies were hard to get.

Here’s a story, though, of a Union soldier known for going barefoot.

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Colorful Characters — Worley Stout

There have been a smattering of barefoot runners since Abebe Bikila. Of course there is Zola Budd, and I’ve written about Dale Story and Marcus Clarke.

Here’s another one: Worley Stout.

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Colorful Characters — Robert Nighswonger

Ever wish you had a doctor’s excuse that let you go barefoot? Well, Robert Nighswonger did.

Did it work?

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Colorful Characters — Allan Savory

There’s a new series on PBS called Earth: A New Wild. It takes a look at how, while totally wild places no longer really exist on the earth, the animals are being forced to deal with all the humans. This means that there is “a new wild.”

On the Plains episode, they featured a barefooter.

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Colorful Characters — David Brinkley?!?

Russell Baker was a syndicated columnist for the New York Times from 1962 to 1998.

This column by him appeared at the end of March in 1977. Which day it appeared in a local paper just depended on how the syndication went.

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Colorful Characters: Jerry Rubin

Many of you are probably too young to remember Jerry Rubin. He was one of the founders of the Youth International Party (the “Yippies”) to protest the Vietnam War.

He’s also probably at least partly one of the instigators of the proliferation of “No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service” signs.

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Colorful Characters: Judge Parker Fulton

This is from the March 15, 1954 issue of Life Magazine:

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Colorful Characters — Robert Allison Loar

In 1925, Robert A. Loar walked barefoot from Fairmont, WV to Philadelphia. I’d like to say it was because he was a dedicated barefooter, but I cannot.

He did the walk because he lost a bet.

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Colorful Characters — Tom Smiley

Suppose it is World War II and the government has just instituted shoe rationing. Furthermore, suppose that you are a lawyer in Texas and a bit of a publicity hound, and you really don’t like wearing shoes all that much anyways.

So, what do you do?

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Colorful Characters — The Shoeless Wonders

Back in the 1920s there was a High School football team in Lynchburg, VA that went undefeated for 8 years.

And oh yeah. They played barefooted.

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Colorful Characters — Joyce Miller

So, do you shovel your snow barefooted? Think it’s all the rage?

Nah, you’re just late to the party.

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Colorful Characters — Machi

Our most colorful character for today is Renato Alvarado Renato, also known as “Machi”, and by “colorful” I mean “interesting” and “impressive”.

Where do I even begin?

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Colorful Characters — Billy Barber

While bare feet were undoubtedly more popular in the past (at least here in the U.S.), they were still a rarity. In fact, they were enough of a rarity that adults who regularly went barefoot out and about had some degree of notoriety. And that meant the media wrote about them. Hence my series: Colorful Characters.

Today’s colorful character is Billy Barber.

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Colorful Characters — The Harrison Boys

You know how some people just keep having more boys while trying to have a little girl?

Well, meet the Harrisons from Johnson City, Tennessee, when they took a visit to New York City. Thirteen barefoot boys.

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Magazine Profile — Alan Bruens

Back in June, fellow barefooter Alan Bruens was profiled in the Advertiser-News (North). He’s now moved on to bigger and better things: New Jersey Monthly Magazine.

In addition to being a nice article, this one has a killer caricature of Alan

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