In June my neighbor’s mother told me she’d unsuccessfully been trying to reach SJ-R columnist Dave Bakke to tell him about a story idea she had. Her great-grandson at the end of the week was going to be the fifth generation of the Roderick family to get his first hair cut by Springfield barber Bob Brown.

Bakke was on vacation, and I knew this would be a fun story to tell, so I volunteered to do it. The result is the story below, which ran on Page 1 of The State Journal-Register. The photo above was taken by Justin Fowler.

Infant’s haircut continues five-generation tradition

June 13, 2009

Ten-month-old Quinn Roderick wriggled, shrugged and smiled his way through his first haircut Friday morning the way many toddlers do.

He sat on a booster in the big red barber chair looking around at a room full of smiling faces as barber Bob Brown tucked a white smock into the collar of the boy’s dinosaur overalls.

Parents often cherish their child’s first haircut, going so far as to take pictures or tuck away locks of baby hair. But Quinn’s had even more significance. He is the fifth generation of Rodericks to have his hair trimmed by Brown, who has been a barber in Springfield since 1955.

That’s not all. Quinn’s father, Seth Roderick, brought him here all the way from Stafford, Va., so Brown could give him his first haircut. Brown also did Seth’s first haircut around 1975 and the first haircut for Seth’s father, Keith, around 1953.

Brown also was barber to Keith’s father, Don Roderick, who lives in Alaska now, and Don’s father, G.G. “Doc” Roderick, who died in 1991. Keith Roderick’s other three sons — Micah, Noah and Joseph — also all got their first haircuts from Brown.

“He’s just always such a pleasant and gracious person and so patient,” Keith Roderick said of Brown. “He’s always interested in our family, so we always felt a part of what he was doing, and he was always interested in what we were doing growing up. He’s like an uncle you don’t see very often, but who’s always there.”

Brown, 73, grew up in the Lanphier High School neighborhood with the older members of the Roderick family. His barbershop was at 11th Street and North Grand Avenue for 48 years. He moved to a new location on Sangamon Avenue across from the Illinois State Fairgrounds about two months ago. Barber Gale Sandberg has cut hair with Brown since 1963.

“I haven’t seen the (Roderick) boys for quite a while. It was nice for them to bring them back,” Brown said, adding that it was somewhat emotional for him. “It brings back memories that you can’t believe it’s been that long ago. To think it’s been five generations…”

He said he doesn’t cut hair for children very often anymore, adding with a laugh, “My reflexes have slowed down and theirs have sped up.”

Seth Roderick said he was glad Brown hadn’t retired before getting a chance to cut Quinn’s hair, so they could carry on their father-son Roderick family tradition. He recalled Saturdays as a youngster when his grandfather would walk him and his brothers to the old barbershop on North Grand for cuts. Afterward, they would head to the nearby drugstore, where his grandfather would buy cigars for himself and candy for the boys.

Seth Roderick also attributes some of his love for baseball to Brown and Sandberg, who always had St. Louis Cardinals memorabilia — and some Chicago Cubs stuff — around their shop. Looking back, he’s pretty sure now that many of the men sitting around Brown’s barbershop all those years ago weren’t there for haircuts. They were there to shoot the breeze and talk baseball.

Quinn, who has six teeth and a happy disposition, also took part in another Brown barbershop tradition — he got to choose a Tootsie Pop to take home. He selected a chocolate one, then happily reached back into the box for a cherry one, too.

After the three-minute trim was finished, Brown shook Quinn’s hand.

“That was pretty good, wasn’t it?” Brown asked. “I think you did better than your dad did.”