Business in front, party in back, champion all around: Bernalillo boy competes for mullet championship

Ryder Garcia is only 4 years old, but already he knows about commitment, hard work, the importance of family and how to grow a mean mullet. He will need all those things to be crowned champion in the 2024 USA Mullet Championship.

A fourth-generation farmer, Ryder “The Gold Buckle” Garcia has a child’s face but a man-sized haircut and he wants everyone to know it ... for a good cause, of course. The USA Mullet Championship is a charity drive with 100% of donations going to support Jared Allen’s Homes and Wounded Warrior, according to a news release from Mullet Champ.

The mullet consists of a neat, clean flat top or buzz cut on top and a cascade of flowing locks in the back, giving rise to the popular, descriptive cliche, “Business in front, party in back.”

According to Garcia’s contestant page at mulletchamp.com, his family realized the mullet-potential in Ryder right away and have been working to mold and sculpt it from day one.

“We always knew Ryder's hair was gonna be thick and curly, so we decided to let it grow. Once it was long enough, we refined the mullet and haven't looked back. It has been growing since birth, and the compliments he gets just keeps it going.”

As first reported on KOB-TV, Garcia and his family have already raised $2,500 for the cause.

Voting for the 2024 Mullet Championship can be done through mulletchamp.com. Donations are not required to vote, but they are encouraged.

The Mullet Championship was founded in 2020 to raise funds to help build homes for military veterans.

Each year, mullet-sporting contestants register to compete in three rounds of voting. There are five age brackets: 0-4, 5-7, 8-12, 13-17, 18-plus — and a champion is crowned in each.

The third round of voting runs from Aug. 14-21 and can be done through mulletchamp.com. According to the website, “100% of donations go to Jared Allen’s Homes for Wounded Warriors to help our USA Military Veterans.”

In 2023, the competition managed to raise more than $220,000 for the Wounded Warrior Project, according to the news release.

The iconic hairstyle, popularized in the 1980s, became something of a pop culture punchline for most of the '90s and 2000s, until a resurgence of '80s nostalgia in the late 2010s gave it new life.

According to mulletchamp.com, some historians believe the hairstyle is one of the oldest in the world, dating back to the Neanderthal era, though it didn’t receive its well-known name until much later.

David Bowie is often credited with bringing the style into the mainstream, rocking the polarizing hairdo for much of the late 1970s. Through the '80s, the mullet was as prolific as legwarmers, MTV and Ronald Reagan.

Then in 1994, the deathblow came with the release of the song “Mullet Head” by rap-rock icons Beastie Boys (who in turn took the name from Mark Twain, who used the term“mullet head” to describe a person lacking in common sense in the 1884 popular novel "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.") The mullet became a source of derision and mockery.

Then in 2015, Netflix released Stranger Things, and a flood of desire for “all things '80s” seemed to grip the nation. In the tumult of changing fashion standards, the mullet seized its chance and returned to the spotlight of pop culture.

Now, a 4-year-old cowboy from Bernalillo stands posed at the edge of greatness, ready to take his place alongside the titans of mullet history: Patrick Swayze, Mel Gibson, John Stamos and Ryder Garcia.

1. THE MODERN MULLET: A shorter back, faded sides, longer on top.

2.THE KENTUCKY WATERFALL: Known for shaved temples, short top, but the sideburns stay.

3. THE SPIKY MULLET: Heavy gel and spikes on top. Try frosted tips for extra flare.

4. THE POMPADOUR: Just grow a long mullet and slick that puppy back.

5. THE BEAVER TAIL: Take the back of your mullet and create one thick, long mat of hair.

7. THE SHAG: Ideal for wavy hair, this style has shorter sides and a longer, unkempt top.

Source: mulletchamp.com