The 6-year-old from West Pottsgrove plans to buy his sister an alpaca with his prize money. Five-year-old Kamden Cunningham, from Luzerne County, came in third place in the mullet competition.
Pennsylvania’s five-year championship drought has ended. Six-year-old Rory Ehrlich, of West Pottsgrove, Montgomery County, has been crowned the winner in the kid’s category of the USA Mullet Championships.
Rory’s business on top, party in the back hairstyle earned him more than 16,000 votes to take the top spot in the competition. He was also able to raise more than $6,600 for Homes 4 Wounded Warriors, a nonprofit affiliated with the Mullet Championships that builds and remodels accessible, mortgage-free housing for critically injured veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
Rory’s mom, Airen Ehrlich, isn’t exactly sure what inspired her son’s mullet fascination, though she thinks Phillies folk hero John Kruk — one of several mulleted players on the 1993 National League pennant-winning team — had something to do with it.
“Every morning when he wakes up, and every day when he comes home from school, he watches reruns of old (Phillies) games online,” Ehrlich said. “We think he saw a game with John Kruk. And Rory just soaks everything in.”
As the first-place winner, Rory will receive $5,000, money his mother said he plans to use to buy his 7-year-old sister, Emma, an alpaca.
Rory isn’t the only Pennsylvania kid being rewarded for his mullet. Five-year-old Kamden Cunningham of Swoyersville, Luzerne County, came in third place, earning more than 9,600 votes. Kamden was able to raise more than $8,700 for Home 4 Wounded Warriors. As second runner up to Ehrlich, he’ll take home $500.
Patrick Berkery Pat Berkery is the senior community editor of The Keystone
