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My Shot

After finally getting rid of my lid, I'm bald, beautiful and back in the winner's circle

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For more than 25 years I was intent on hiding my baldness, so I covered my head with an assortment of rugs, some of which looked better than others. But now my bad hair days are over. Last fall, as I began thinking about turning 60 (my birthday was on March 9), I realized the time had come to go naked.

Brad Mangin

I had wanted to reveal my baldness -- like, who didn't know? -- for several years because I'd noticed that other professional athletes, including Michael Jordan and Emmitt Smith, looked great au naturel. I figured bald was in. But I had prostate-cancer surgery in June 1997, and my urologist suggested that some people might think I had lost my hair due to chemotherapy if I let the lid off my secret. He also joked that he would never get another patient, so I delayed my coming-off party.

I got my hairpieces from a salon in Las Vegas, and they cost between $600 and $1,000 each. I usually traveled with three or four of them because I never knew when I'd need to make a switch. The toupees served their purpose, but they didn't always go over so well. When I was doing Senior tour commentary for ESPN in the late 1980s, Andy Young, a producer, told me that my new toupee had too much hair and that I should go back to my old one.

The reaction to my lidless look on tour has been good. Some players call me Sean, after Sean Connery. Being bald might even be helping my game. Two weeks ago I got my first victory in three years, becoming only the 10th player 60 or over to win a Senior tour event. Tour spouses have been especially supportive, and I tell my peers, "Keep your wives at home. They can't keep their hands off me."

For years I was offered $10,000 to pose bald for one of those before and after ads by hair-replacement companies, but I never did it. Now those days are long gone. I'm bald and beautiful.

Jim Colbert has 20 wins in 11 years on the Senior tour.

Issue date: March 26, 2001

 

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