FREMONT — A 14-year-old Fremont boy beat out hundreds of other teens from across the country with his illustrious mane, earning a $1,000 cash prize and “best in flow” at the USA Mullet Championship.
Mason Padilla bested 500 other teens with his winning hairstyle, which he coined “The West Coast Wave.” The young East Bay native has grown out his 20-inch, curly, lofty mullet for the past four years and has competed the last three, earning a top five and top 10 finish.
But this year the esteemed hairdo of his own design, brought to life at Fremont’s own Rick’s Sundale Barbershop, earned the eighth grader a championship belt.
“I just thought it was a cool haircut,” Mason said in an interview this week. “It makes me feel good.”
It didn’t always, though.
In 2019, after Mason watched the cult comedy movie “Joe Dirt” with his three brothers, he began plotting a climb to the top. His inspiration came in an explosive scene where the mullet-wearing Dirt, played by David Spade, sets off a whole lot of fireworks. In between school, playing baseball, basketball, wrestling and riding dirt bikes, Mason started to grow his luxurious hair.
Mason Padilla, 14, of Fremont, won $1,000, and a championship belt for his award winning mullet called “The West Coast Wave,” in the national USA Mullet Championship contest. Photographed on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Fremont, Calif. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)
But after he began sporting the mullet, Mason was bullied by some of his peers at school over it, his mother Michelle Padilla told this news organization. Some classmates “were calling him a girl,” or said he “had a rat’s tail” on his head, she said. Upset, he abandoned it.
“The negativity really took its toll on him, and he made the decision to shave his head,” Michelle Padilla said.
Eventually, however, after some soul searching and support from his family, he decided to make a major comeback.
“Soon after, he regretted it,” his mother said. “And then when Covid and the pandemic happened, he just seized the opportunity for a fresh start. He came to us and said that he wanted to regrow his mullet and that he wasn’t going to cut it again unless it was his decision.”
The rest is hair-story.
The unique mop Mason grew is a showstopper – a head-turning and eye-catching blast from the past popularized throughout the 80s and 90s by the likes of Billy Ray Cyrus, Patrick Swayze, David Bowie, the Beastie Boys, famous athletes and more.
“I like when I get compliments when I’m out places and stuff,” Mason said.
Mason clinched the title by winning two online-voting rounds with over 1,200 more votes than his competition. Different from other hair-centric tournaments, the Mullet Championship was founded in 2020 in Nashville as a benefit for the Jared Allen’s Homes for Wounded Warriors organization, which raises money for wounded military veterans.
Contestants are judged online, with categories for children, teenagers and adults. Along with a championship belt, the adult and child winners receive $5,000, and the teen champ gets $1,000.
Mason also received special recognition at a recent Oakland Ballers baseball game, where he was featured as the distinguished “first batter.” At the game, he met former San Francisco Giants superstar Brandon Crawford — who like Mason is known for his curly locks — and the Savannah Bananas baseball team.
Mason said he’ll be donating $250 of his $1,000 prize money to charity, hoping the money goes toward buying Christmas gifts for other kids, he said.
“I’d like to thank my barber and my parents,” Mason said.
His barber, who has cut the Padilla family’s hair for two generations at Rick’s, was thrilled Mason won.
“I’m proud to be Mason’s barber. We’ve been here long enough, I don’t need to put our business out there. Everybody knows Rick’s,” barber Clayton Reboca said. “I’m just very happy for Mason. I’m glad he did it.”
Over the 30 years Clayton has cut hair in his father Rick Reboca’s shop, he’s seen an uptick in the number of clients requesting the “business-in-the-front, party-in-the-back style” cut.
“That’s all I’m doing now, mullets,” he said. “I’ve talked a few kids into getting them. I don’t think anybody’s bullying people about a mullet anymore.”
Mason Padilla, 14, of Fremont, won $1,000, and a championship belt for his award winning mullet called “The West Coast Wave,” in the national USA Mullet Championship contest. Photographed on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Fremont, Calif. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)