Rite of Passage
Hard to believe, but my Papa journey started in 1998 as a Papa supporter. My father-inlaw, Papa 2000 Carlie Coley and Mama Coley, came back home to Georgia from an anniversary trip to Key West in 1997 and explained to the family that he had competed in an Ernest Hemingway Look-Alike contest at Sloppy Joes and had all kinds of fun and was going to grow a beard and go back to compete the next year. That’s when some of the family got together and decided we would just show up at Sloppy Joe’s the night he was scheduled to compete to surprise and support him. It was a lot of fun and crazy out in the crowd and when he eventually won in 2000, the hook was set, so my Mama Sheryl and I have only missed one year since that first trip in 1998 before the Covid cancellation in 2020. The fun that we’ve had and people we’ve met while cheering on the other Papas and joining in with their cheering sections has been so rewarding to both of us and created some wonderful and lifelong friendships. We have had so much fun helping support the scholarship fund by being high bidder and winning all kinds of neat Hemingway memorabilia in the auctions that are held during the competition.
In 2018, out on the porch of the back bar, Papa John Stubbings told me I should compete since we were coming every year anyways, and I just laughed and told him I was having so much fun out there cheering for other Papas that I didn’t think so. But anyways, I grew out my beard and entered my first competition in 2019 and was selected to come back in the final 25 on Saturday night. Competing on Thursday and Friday nights really adds a different type of fun, but once you get lucky and get to move on to the finals on Saturday night, the stress comes out even though the fun is still there. It gets really real when you get two minutes to explain to the Papas why you should be selected as the winner. This year, in 2021, when I was fortunate enough to win, it was a truly special one in a few ways-my Mama Sheryl has been fighting some personal health battles and we had just gotten some good news before traveling down to Key West. Plus, it was the 20th Anniversary of Papa 2000’s win and Papa Coley’s Mama Coley, my mother-in-law, was there to join in our celebration when I won, as she also has been so faithful in supporting the Look-Alike Society since we lost Papa 2000.
Enough about our journey getting here, our commitment is to help preserve the heritage that our Papas have worked tirelessly to create and to promote and move forward our society in a positive manner that pays respect to the all the Papas before us and to the life of our society namesake, Ernest Hemingway.
Thanks again, Papas, for the vote of confidence you gave me in making me Papa 2021, and thanks also for making Sheryl a Mama. We hope to enjoy and celebrate this honor for years with y’all.