Houndstooth hat

A houndstooth hat at the Paul Bryant Museum

The houndstooth hat is a patterned fedora hat worn frequently by Alabama Crimson Tide football coach Bear Bryant, which became associated with Alabama's successful football program. Partly because the pattern is identifiable without being trademarked by the University, houndstooth patterns can be found on numerous products sold to Alabama fans.

Origins

The houndstooth pattern, a "duotone, balanced twill weave" originated in Scotland. Depending on the thickness of the yarn and the number of threads in the pattern, a "houndstooth" can appear as a tight "glen plaid" or as a bold, tessellated pattern. The weave became popular in the early 1800s when pattern-books were published, and again in the early 20th century when Edward VIII, then the Prince of Wales, sported a tightly-woven glen plaid. The pattern enjoyed a resurgence of popularity in the 1960s, with designers Geoffrey Beene and Anne Klein featuring it in their collections. Chevrolet even offered colored houndstooth upholstery for their Camaro sports car.

Bryant's hat

Bryant wearing one of his houndstooth hats

Bryant customarily wore a sport jacket and hat on the sidelines, using any of a number of hats, most of which were solid-colors. New York Jets owner Sonny Werblin and/or coach Weeb Ewbank is credited with giving Bryant a green and white plaid fedora after they selected Joe Namath with the first pick of the 1965 American Football League draft. The patterned hat caught the eye of Tuscaloosa retailers, who began stocking hats with bolder weaves.

The coach's first actual houndstooth fedora, however, was purchased for him at one of those Tuscaloosa shops by his tailor, Birmingham's Butch Baldone, to go with a black cashmere jacket and silver flannel pair of pants that he made for Bryant in 1968 or 1969. Baldone recommended to Bryant that he wear the houndstooth pattern only with solid-color suits, but Bryant liked the hat and sometimes paired it with plaid, creating a fashion statement recognizable by sports media and fans.

After the 1971 Iron Bowl an Auburn fan snatched Bryant's houndstooth hat as the coach left the field. Tide assistant Jack Rutledge took off after the thief and recovered the hat, which had fallen as the culprit leapt over a fence. Rutledge returned the hat to Bryant in the locker room. Nevertheless, fans had witnessed the crime and Bryant received boxes and boxes of hats from Alabama fans hoping their gift would be worn by the coach. Bryant handed out some of the surplus to media members during the Orange Bowl press conference later that year.

Around 1980 Brombergs jewelers commissioned a Waterford crystal "houndstooth" hat as a tribute to Coach Bryant. Around the same time, Bryant and Werblin marketed a line of houndstooth hats with a reproduction of Bryant's signature in the band. After Bryant's final victory against Illinois in the 1982 Liberty Bowl, Baldone swapped out the suede baseball cap Bryant had been wearing with his houndstooth hat before the post-game press conference, further cementing the trademark look in the public mind.

Two of the coach's "houndstooth" hats are displayed at the Paul Bryant Museum, one is a red and white plaid and the other a black and white houndstooth with a red feather accent.

Later popularity

The "Houndstooth Twins" posing with Big Al.

Despite the well-remembered association with Coach Bryant, the wearing of houndstooth by Alabama fans was relatively uncommon until the 2000s. No official university logos, seals, symbols, designs, service marks or trademarks contain houndstooth. Sports apparel manufacturer Nike, Inc. brought a line of houndstooth hats to a University of Alabama football game to give away to fans in the student section. Outside Bryant Denny Stadium, other fans offered large sums to buy the free hats. Sophomore business management student Chris Starnes latched onto the frenzy and began marketing a houndstooth beer koozy which became a hot seller on The Strip.

Beginning with a home win against Florida in 2005, twins Ashley and Maegan Bailey became well-known for wearing matching houndstooth hats in the stands at Alabama games. Though they were both students at UAB, the pair began attending Alabama games when Ashley was dating a Crimson Tide trainer. Easily spotted with their long blond hair and matching outfits, the "Houndstooth Twins" earned mentions on national telecasts and spent much of their time in the stadium signing autographs. They also took part in marketing promotions around the state.

Challenged houndstooth elephant designs by GameDawg LLC (top) and Original Houndstooth (bottom)

With the resurgence of championship football under Coach Nick Saban, the popularity of houndstooth spiked again. The university began licensing houndstooth products in 2009. Terry Saban wore an over-scaled houndstooth coat during the 2010 team's celebratory visit to the White House. In the aftermath of the April 2011 tornado outbreak which caused heavy damage to the Tuscaloosa area, a houndstooth patterned ribbon was used as an emblem to unite supporters of the recovery effort, and was painted on the field at Bryant-Denny Stadium during the 2012 season.

In 2008 the University of Alabama Board of Trustees and Paul Bryant, Jr formally opposed an application by Houndstooth Mafia to trademark its houndstooth-patterned logo for use on apparel and other items. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ruled in July 2013 that the houndstooth pattern was commercially available before it became associated with Coach Bryant and the university and that the university and Bryant's heirs could not claim trademark protection on the pattern alone. Bryant and the University countered with a lawsuit against the company and its owners.

In 2010 the University opposed a trademark application filed by The Tuscs LLC for a houndstooth elephant design. Another company, GameDawg LLC of Enterprise, filed a trademark application for an outline drawing of an elephant with a houndstooth pattern inside for use on apparel and other items. The University did not, at the time, oppose that filing, and the trademark was issued in July 2011. Meanwhile, that same year the University granted a license to the Tuscaloosa clothier Original Houndstooth to sell garments decorated with a houndstooth elephant. GameDawg filed an infringement suit against the store, but it was dismissed by U.S. Magistrate Judge T. Michael Putnam on the grounds that the University should have been named as a plaintiff in the case. The University has since filed a complaint with the USPTO in opposition to GameDawg's trademark.

References

• Marshall, Mike (March 27, 2008) "Houndstooth twins." Huntsville Times
• Cummings, Meredith ( ) "Alabama's Houndstooth History". Crimson Magazine
• Gast, Phil (September 3, 2011) "Crimson Tide fans remember tornado victims." CNN
• "Third Color" (n.d.) Paul Bryant Museum - accessed January 27, 2013
• Carlton, Bob (January 24, 2013) "Paul 'Bear' Bryant went shopping for a new wardrobe and found a tailor-made friend." The Birmingham News
• Faulk, Kent (September 23, 2013) "University of Alabama trustees and Paul W. Bryant Jr. in legal fight with Houndstooth Mafia." The Birmingham News
• Solomon, Jon (November 17, 2013) "Who has a right to use houndstooth? University of Alabama fights, even without a trademark." The Birmingham News