Head count
Barber recalls celebrity acquaintances
By DAVID LOWE Staff Writer

PHOTO BY DAVID LOWE Jack Luge, a semi-retired Lampasas barber, roomed with country musician Waylon Jennings while living in Scottsdale, Ariz. Luge's 50-year career in Arizona introduced him to a variety of memorable customers, including NASCAR driver Casey Mears and former Washington Redskins coach George Allen.

Jack Luge probably has moments when he feels like Forrest Gump.

Like the movie character who finds himself in the midst of almost every major event in mid-20th century American history, Luge's 50-year career as a barber has introduced him to numerous celebrities and memorable personalities.

Now a semi-retired Lampasas barber, Luge worked for 50 years in Scottsdale, Ariz., where he roomed with country musician Waylon Jennings.

Luge met Jennings and the singer's wife, Lynne, in 1962, when the aspiring musician moved from Littlefield -- near Lubbock -- to Arizona, driving in what the barber called an "old, beat-up" Cadillac. Luge lived for about four months in a house on 38th Street in Scottsdale with the Jenningses, Jennings' rhythm guitarist Jerry Gropp and bass player Ed Berub.

Luge said he first saw Jennings when the singer performed at Frankie's Cocktail Lounge. When the club owner denied Jennings' request for a $50 a week raise, the musician moved on to Wild Bill's, then to a club called "JD's."

The barber said he didn't consider himself much of a country music fan at the time, but he sat listening from the bar to support his friend the night Nashville "discovered" Jennings. Singer Bobby Bare, on a national tour, sent producer Chet Atkins a recording of Jennings' performance, and Luge's housemate signed with RCA Victor.

Jennings' style defied definition, Luge said, as the musician created a unique sound he called "country." Jennings hated the label "Western," his former roommate said, and he didn't tolerate being called a "rock" singer, either.

"You mention 'rock and roll,' and he'd get fired up," Luge said.

As much as Jennings and his band practiced, the house stayed quiet while Luge lived with them. When he wasn't in a club, Jennings usually relaxed in the game room at the house.

"When he wasn't playing music, he was playing pinball," Luge said of Jennings. "He probably played 16 hours a day of pinball."

The country artist was not the first eventual celebrity Luge met in Arizona, nor would he be the last. Luge attended fifth grade with Wayne Newton in Phoenix -- back when the city had only about 100,000 residents. And Jim Palmer, who graduated with Luge's younger brother from Scottsdale High School, won three World Series titles with the Baltimore Orioles and election into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Scottsdale's warm climate also drew many sports figures to Luge's barber shop, where he worked for five decades until moving to Lampasas in June.

"It's a pretty influential place there, you know," Luge said of Scottsdale. "A lot of people have winter homes there."

The barber gave trims to George Allen -- former coach of the Los Angeles Rams and Washington Redskins -- NASCAR driver Casey Mears and Brock Lesnar of World Wrestling Entertainment.

A picture of Jennings and a Mears autograph -- "Thanks for the trim," the driver wrote -- decorate the walls of Luge's shop on First Street. The celebrity encounters have left the barber with memories and conversation fodder, but the hair appointments didn't always yield a good tip -- especially in Lesnar's case.

"Most of them would give you a $5 tip," Luge said, "and some of them wouldn't give you nothing."

With a Forrest Gump-like life, the barber never knows what he's going to get next.