Logan Lease was hoping the third time would be the charm.
Maybe the fourth time in 2025 will be his time.
After finishing third nationally a year ago in the teen division of the USA Mullet Championships, Lease again put his “business in the front, party in the back” hairstyle on the line.
And while he improved on previous finishes in the national competition, when the final results were announced Thursday, the 14-year-old ninth grader who lives in Gore and goes to school at Vian finished as runner-up in the teen division.
Winner in the division was Mason Padilla, 13, of Fremont, Calif., and third-place finisher was Chason Sachs, 13, of Wellsville, Mo. Voting totals were Padilla 3,793, Lease 2,519 and Sachs 2,077. Padilla raised $156.67 for Jared Allen’s Homes for Wounded Warriors, Lease raised $1,179.09 and Sachs raised $400.79.
In his bid for the title, Lease described his mullet — which he named “The Okie Mudflap” — as “just not a haircut, it’s a way of life.”
“This spectacular mudflap has been grown with the purest Oklahoma ingredients known to mankind,” Lease said in describing what “may look like just some goofy haircut.”
Proud of the hairstyle he’s had the past three years, Lease says his naturally wavy, blond hair “has been lightened by the warmth of the sun. It has been my comfort in the middle of deer and duck hunting, it has been a shield for me to fight off the killer mosquitoes of Oklahoma.”
When we think of the unique 1980s hairstyle, it’s not hard to visualize Brian Bosworth, Rod Stewart, David Bowie or Patrick Swayze.
In Sequoyah County, the magnificent mullet has be- come synonymous with Lease.
“I’m a young man who loves to fish, respects the hunt of wildlife, embraces the early morning hunt in a duck blind, respects my elders, attends church with my mother, protects the ones I call friends and, lastly, wears my mullet like a champ.”
The national competition that began with thousands of entries was whittled down to more than 30 semifinalists before the final tabulation.
It was Lease’s second consecutive trip to the finals, after competing in the kids division in 2022.
Lease says family and friends “think it’s cool” that he wears a mullet, which is at least one reason he doesn’t plan on losing the party in the back.
Lease says wearing a mullet sets him apart from others, but admits that there are those occasions when he’s been mistaken from the back as a girl — until his deep voice reveals it’s just a mullet.
“To some, it may look like just some goofy haircut,” he has written on a social media post of his mother, Nicole. “But to me and my family, it’s a reflection of the young man I’ve become. It tells a story that only a few will understand.”
Which is reason enough for not only a party in the back, but a party all around.
