By JULIE CARLE
BG Independent News
No one can say Loring Todd is cutting his career short when he hangs up his scissors, razors and clippers at the end of April.
The owner of BG Barbershop has been cutting hair for more than 60 years, almost exclusively in Bowling Green. Over the years he has welcomed fathers, sons, grandsons and even some mothers and daughters into his barber chair.
With every haircut, he not only delivers a fresh look, but he makes good on a promise he made in barber school in the early 1960s to be a good listener and give the best cut possible.
Todd grew up in Bowling Green and got his haircuts from a barber who was also his neighbor. “He seemed to have an enjoyable life, so I thought it might be something I would like,” he said.
After graduating from Bowling Green High School, he attended Andrews (Toledo) Barber College, where he was one of 16 men per class or a total of 48 students. He learned the basics of how to cut hair, give shaves, and run a cash register, yet the biggest lesson, was ”the people side of the business, learning to listen,” he said.
When he came back to Bowling Green to work, he was one of 27 barbers in town. He has worked and learned from many of the great Bowling Green barbers throughout his career. “I was blessed to work with some of the best. If you are paying attention, you learn something new from every person, even when they don’t realize they are teaching you,” Todd said.
He worked for many years at Service Barbershop at 426 E. Wooster St., but 26 years ago, he started BG Barbershop, a few doors down at 412 E. Wooster St., and never lost a day of work with the move.
When he opened BG Barbershop, his mother, who is now 101 years old, called and said, “You know son, you haven’t gone very far in life.” He asked why she would say that to which she replied, “When you were an infant, we rented the house where this building is now.”
“She was right, I’ve been stuck in one spot all my life,” he quipped.
Humor and sports are essential conversation starters at most barbershops. Todd’s shop is no exception, especially because he is a huge sports fan and a former youth baseball coach. For 25 years, he coached in the local Little League and started an American Legion team, as a means of giving back to a sport that gave a lot to him. His business benefited from the coaching connections.
“Sports is one of the common conversations that men have, at least 80 percent of them,” Todd said. And the conversations have led to customers bringing in their favorite team banners.
What started as one customer suggesting he display a Tennessee pennant turned into its own competition. Bowling Green native Lou Best, whose father Mitchell indoctrinated Lou to the brotherhood of a barber shop, was appalled when as an adult he saw the Tennessee pennant in Todd’s shop.
“You know Dad, who was a former University of Alabama fullback, would be rolling over in his grave if he knew you had a Tennessee sign up,” Best told Todd.
It wasn’t long before Best brought in an Alabama pennant for a prominent spot on the wall. Now the walls are covered with banners of professional, college and local sports teams.
“Loring was one of the few people who knew my father,” Best said. “He was my dad’s barber for many years. It was a social event for Dad. He would sit in the shop, and with that southern drawl of his, they would talk sports.”
As an avid baseball player as a youth, Best knows the barber as Coach Todd. He was either playing on a team he coached or playing against him. “He is so knowledgeable and whenever I would go in, we would talk about baseball the way it used to be,” Best said.
He also called the barber a fount of knowledge about Bowling Green lore.
Sixty years of business where even the most notable locals sit, have put Todd front and center to hear the latest goings-on in Bowling Green. He’s been the barber for most of the mayors from Franklin “Gus” Skibbie, who served from 1960 to 1972, to current Mayor Mike Aspacher.
He has a pretty good memory about the town and his customers, but he doesn’t always remember names, Todd admitted. “I am used to looking at faces, especially eyes. I’m conditioned to focus on eyes. Ears grow forever, but eyes always remain the same.”
With his last day on April 28, he and Sandy, his wife of more than 60 years, will leave on April 30 to spend the next five months at their Michigan cottage. Harry Bento will take over the shop.
During his 60-year career, Todd estimates he has given hundreds of thousands of haircuts, but he never kept track because the joy for him was more about the people than the haircuts.
“I’ve loved every moment of this, and I’ve loved cutting hair,” he said, “When I leave, I won’t miss the haircutting so much, but I will definitely miss all of the people.”
