BABY BEAR
Among the trivia in this piece on star quarterbacks who went very late in the draft is this tidbit:
Running back Justin Fargas, who ran a 4.38-second 40-yard dash at the combine, is the son of Antonio Fargas, who played Huggy Bear on Starsky & Hutch. When Southern Cal coach Pete Carroll went to meet Justin in 2001 after the running back had decided to transfer from Michigan, he was met at the door by a familiar face.
“I had no idea who his dad was,” Carroll said. “I knocked at his door, and there was Huggy Bear.”
Justin Fargas, a third-round pick of the Oakland Raiders, hasn’t seen every episode of Starsky & Hutch. But he’s seen enough to know why he has been called “Huggy Bear” since he was a child.
“It’s all I knew [growing up],” Fargas said. “It wasn’t a big deal. Only now am I realizing how special it was to have a father in that type of profession. People come up to me all the time and say how much they liked my dad and the characters he played.”
Very amusing, at least for those of us old enough to remember the show.
You know the Iraq war is over and the world is safe for democracy when the top story in OTB is that Huggy Bear’s kid makes the NFL.
…and how could Carroll recognize Huggy Bear to begin with? Was he wearing that rainbow cap, bell-bottom jeans and the leather vest over the polyester floral shirt?
Indeed all around. Of course, I just presumed he still dressed as Huggy Bear. Indeed, the outfit you’ve described is back “in” among the younger set.
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