A Fitting Tradition

Name a fashion faux pas worse than wearing white shoes after Labor Day. How about wearing leopard slacks — ever? But then who in the world — or in the history of Holy Cross — would pay good money for a pair of slightly flared, faux leopard, hip-hugging pants?

Apparently no one would. That’s why John Quinn ’73 got such a great bargain when he bought his with a friend at a “two-for” sale during his early years at Holy Cross. Looking back, it appears that he simply may have succumbed to peer pressure or possibly was swept away by the euphoria of being young with a few bucks in his wallet on a Saturday morning. Maybe Sonny and Cher should shoulder some of the credit — or blame.

“You have to remember it was the 70s,” Quinn says in defense of his purchase. “I was with a friend from high school at a two-for-one sale at Regal’s, a men’s store in Manchester (Conn.). He bought a pair of striped pants that were unbelievably garish. I think they were really worse.”

“Metaphorically speaking, the leops have become bigger than I,” Quinn says. “I’ve become the guy in the leopard pants. The photo in our yearbook of me in the “leops” taken at Joe Miller’s Pub, a favorite haunt of ours, seemed to surface whenever we had a reunion coming up. Last year it appeared in the Reunion Weekend pamphlet. One of our class agents, Ed Meyers, started the leopard pants tradition by challenging me to wear them to Reunion about 10 years ago, so I’ve worn them to every reunion since. I’m not above moving the buttons; they’re a 34-inch waist.”

- Excerpted from Holy Cross Magazine