Chris Brackett before and after his transformation. (Courtesy Chris Brackett)
March 27, 2013
By Mike Suchan, OutdoorChannel.com
Chris Brackett really let his hair down in Minnesota.
The bow hunting expert of Outdoor Channel’s Fear No Evil" Show page and “Arrow Affliction” was among the celebrities to have their heads shaved to benefit cancer. And Brackett prepared by growing it all out.
“My girlfriend is a hair stylist and she says, ‘I don’t know how your hair grows this fast,’ ” Brackett said. “I looked like Willie (Robertson) from the Buck Commanders. It was like 8 inches long.”
With no guard on the shears, it all changed at the 2013 Cancer Shoot, organized by the Ultimate Hunt and Pink Arrow Project and benefiting cancer research at the Saltsman Lab at the University of Minnesota. It’s known as the Baldies, and Brackett was among those lending his scalp to a worthy cause, garnering an additional $1,000 donation for letting his beard be shaved off.
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The tremendous change in his appearance was the hit of the night as it left his friends in stitches.
“Nobody recognized me. Shawn Michaels and the Keefer Brothers (Chris and Casey), they’ve known me forever, and they literally laughed out loud all night long I looked so different,” he said. “It was a complete shock because I looked exactly like I did when I was in high school. I went 10, 15 years younger.
Click image for some shear delight
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“If the FBI was ever looking for me, I could change (appearances) pretty quick.”
While he has given his hunting expertise to ailing youth in Kids Hunt for a Cure programs, this in his first widely publicized endeavor. He sees how many more people he reached.
“I’ve been touching people’s lives on a one-on-one basis, but this was so cool for me to do and to have that big of chance -- it got tens of thousands of people to follow it on Facebook. Just the awareness it brought was amazing.”
Helping fight cancer is dear to Brackett. He’s had friends and associates affected by the disease, along with two special family members.
“My grandfather and my grandmother – my favorite people -- were taken from me when I was really, really young,” he said.
Brackett said people were following him before the fact, and he had even more salute him after he posted bald photos.
“They were all asking, ‘Did you lose a bet? Where did it go?’ “ he said. “When you tell them what it’s for, they’re all like, ‘That’s awesome!’ “
The event included a shooting day, and Brackett said he was glad he got to try out his new Remington Versamax during a pheasant hunt where 3,000 birds were released. Firing 300 shots should get the testosterone flowing and he hopes his quick-growing locks will soon allow him to sport his unmistakable sideburns.
“I’ll let it go and I might shave my sideburns back,” he said. “I’m letting it grow, that’s for sure.”
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