Happy Father’s Day! Following the theme of our Coolest Mother’s Day scrapbook, we gathered photos of our dads / dad-figures from way back when they either didn’t know us yet or we barely knew them. Either way, they sure are some hip, hip guys, and we love them more than our hearts can hold! Thanks for every single thing forever, dad people.
Randy
Laneia’s Dad
Here’s me and my dad at the Smyrna Air Show in 1986, where the shorts were shorts and the sleeves were shorter. Air shows make me a nervous wreck but man, my dad sure did love them. Air shows, hot air balloon shows, national parks, flea markets the size of city blocks, the band Yes, outer space, being smarter and more hilarious than anyone else in the room — that was my dad. That’ll always be my dad. Also who needs shoes when you’ve got a human crow’s nest? Not this girl!
Jerry
Laneia’s Stepdad
This is a guy who means business. As you can tell by his prominent hat, my stepdad was on the Marijuana Task Force and as such, he would fly around in helicopters and burn your pot fields to the ground. Don’t let that casual country decor fool you. No, sir. To the ground.
Bubba
Erin’s Dad
I’m not sure exactly where my dad is posing here but what I do know is that puppy he’s holding would grow up to leave scars on both my face and arm. I love my dad but I’ll see that dog in hell.
Roland
Alaina’s Grandpapa
My grandpapa just turned 20 in this picture. He just turned 80 this year. We aren’t sure who that baby he’s holding belongs to… and neither is he. He’s still got that sweet smile though; I’ve seen it many times. He’s a good guy.
Alfredo
Isabel’s Dad
This is my dad with his brand new Sony Betacam camera circa 1984. It was always his goal to work in film, so those are the eyes of a man that’s living the dream. That camera is also the reason why my older brother’s first steps were professionally lit and shot by a full film crew.
Don
KaeLyn’s Dad
My dad was a cat person until he got this cat, Butchie, for my mom. Dad and Butchie had an antagonistic relationship for most of the 18 years of Butchie’s long cat life, but at least for a little bit, there was love between them. Also, my dad has always had amazing hair.
Steve
Rachel’s dad
My dad isn’t generally a very chill or fun-loving person, but there’s a whole swath of photos from before I existed where he does indeed look chill as heck and generally happy with life. I love these photos and am fascinated by them: who is this person?? What was the secret to his serenity??? Also what happened to him?? Someday when we invent time travel I will visit this period, have a glass of iced tea with him, and find the answers to these questions.
Marc
Stef’s Dad
Here’s my dad sitting on my great grandmother Sophie’s lap – I never met her, but I was named after her. I don’t recognize any of the furniture but I do recognize those photos of my uncles, so this must have been at her place? I believe this would have been before my dad met my mom because there is no way she would have let him out in public in those pants. He wears mostly standard Dad Uniforms now.
Rene
Laura M’s Dad
I’m about two years old in this photo, which would make my Dad about 33. It looks like we’re on the porch in our house in Kentucky. Within a year, we’d move to to upstate New York and my Dad would start a private practice. His future partner there would name a sheep after him.
Abu
Sarah’s Dad
It’s 1991 in this photo, I’m three, and my dad and I are watching the Disney parade in Orlando, FL. My family lived about 5 hours away from all the parks, and some of my best memories of being a kid involve packing up my mom’s Toyota and spending a weekend at Disney or Universal Studios. I love how strong my dad looks in this photo–and how seriously amazing his mustache is.
Victor
Riese‘s Dad
This is my Dad on a camping trip presenting, with gusto, a large slab of meat which he has apparently been preparing in the great outdoors. I can’t imagine my mother, the camera person, being excited to eat this slab of meat, but I think she was pretty excited about my Dad in general so maybe we all contain multitudes and love is a many-splendored thing. It’s the late ’70s, so they’re either on a weekend trip or this pic is from their road trip back to the Midwest from Los Angeles, where they lived for a minute. I can’t imagine that either — them living in LA — any more than I can imagine my Mom eating this slab of meat. If this picture is from the road trip that means they’ll be in Illinois soon and my existence should begin shortly thereafter. My Dad loved camping, loved traveling, wanted to see everything he possibly could before he died, which ended up happening a lot earlier than anybody expected. I had so many pictures I wanted to use for this post but I picked this one because SWEATPANTS. YELLOW SWEATPANTS.
Alok
Kayla’s Dad
This photo captures the very rare moment of Baby Kayla existing outside of that backpack strapped to my dad’s back. I was my dad’s first kid, and he was obsessed with me. Seriously, there are hours and hours of home video footage just of me sleeping in my crib. My dad’s unwavering love for me meant that he was constantly holding me—either in his arms or in that handy backpack. My mom wondered often if I was ever going to learn to walk given how infrequently my dad let my feet touch the ground. Here we are on a family camping trip in northern Michigan. I guess he needed a moment of rest and took me out of the baby-backpack for a photo opp. Nowadays, my dad has replaced carrying his children around on his back with CrossFit.
Eric
Mey’s Dad
This picture is from the spring of 1983, three and a half years before I was born. My dad, with help from his terrific sideburns, is teaching sign language. He was a student at Loyala Marymount University getting his teaching certificate so he could become a science teacher, but he was also taking counseling classes because he maybe wanted to become a counselor. He says he thinks the sign he’s doing in the picture is “study”? Also, his shirt says “Let your fingers do the talking” and has the ASL alphabet, which is incredible and way more sexual than he meant it to be. I asked if he still owned the shirt, because I would kill for a thirty year old shirt that said “Let your fingers do the talking,” but alas, he hasn’t had it for years.
Bill
Cecelia’s Dad
Despite this cute set of Bake Your Way Into the Patriarchy toys I’m playing with, as it turns out I have no actual cooking skills as an adult, and I hope my father isn’t disappointed by this fact. I guess the most inspiring thing about this photo is that during the time it was taken my father was in school to get a PhD in Sociology, and he looks like a total nerd. But he definitely got a lot cooler as I got older. I’d like to think this was my influence. So that’s a hopeful tale: your kids can make you cooler. You’re welcome, pops.
Gary
Audrey’s Dad
I can’t tell you much about this photo. It’s probably in Missouri, where his extended family lived. It was definitely the 70s, as proven by the Eric Forman haircut, the mustache and the couch. But I don’t know what child’s leg he has suspended or who took it or who the lady is next to him. My dad died when I was 10 and I don’t know his family. I have no stories, just this weird, perfect picture.
Bruce
Maddie’sDad
This is a photo of my dad in Key West circa the late ‘80s. He went with my mom. I believe this was one of the several times he has accidentally ended up in some type of gay bar and/or resort while on vacation. He also owned this button-up until at least 2005.
Juan
Yvonne’s Dad
My dad says he’s about 16 in this photo which I think is ridiculous because he looks at least 20 with those killer sideburns. He’s sitting in his brother’s ‘69 Ford Gran Torino, which reminds me of the Dukes of Hazzard car. There are numerous photos of my dad posing with various badass cars that weren’t his when he was young and he always looked like a cool dude. My dad is still a cool dude.
We’d love to see an older picture of your dad / grandfather / uncle / dad-like person! Here’s how to make that happen in the comments:
Find or upload a photo on the web, right click (on a Mac, control+click), hit “Copy Image URL” and then code it in to your comment using these tags, like so:
The most common mistake y’all make when making image links is foregoing the http: or using two sets of quotes instead of one.
To upload the photo you love from your computer, try using imgur. To learn more about posting photos, check out Ali’s step-by-step guide.
