There’s been a rumor circulating about John Clayton for a while now. Some people have suggested that Clayton may rock a ponytail. It makes some sense since he is a weird ass looking guy and always faces the camera directly. But as much as I had hoped it would be true, it looks like the Clayton Ponytail is a work of fiction.
The most recent mention of Clayton’s potential ponytail came when an alleged ESPN staffer “eyespian” talked about it anonymously on reddit:
freddyprinzjr
Does John Clayton’s ponytail look ridiculous?
eyespian
No one has ever seen it, but it is talked about. I used to work his remote cameras (he does his hits from his house) and never have seen any evidence of one! It seems to be an urban legend.
iiviip3
I have seen it in person and it is quite long, perhaps to the shoulder blade region. I hadn’t heard any rumors about any such ponytail before either so it took me by surprise. I have to say, John Clayton is just a weird looking guy in general!
This occurred at a funeral service last year for Mike Kahn, a longtime friend of Mr. Clayton’s whom I had the pleasure of working with.
Intrigued, I decided to do a little more digging. At first, I just saw the same old pictures of him directly facing the camera. When I saw this picture, I started to have hope that I would actually find evidence of the mangy mane. It seems like he could have some extra hair on the back of his balloon-shaped head in that image. Though, it would seem as if a ponytail would be a poor style choice for Clayton. A ponytail would just make his bulbous head look even rounder.
Finally, I came across the image that shattered my hopes and dreams. It’s a shot from the ESPN NEXT party last January. Clearly, Mr. Clayton does not rock a ponytail. Believe me — I’m just as disappointed as you are. How about we just pretend that he cut it off at some point during 2008?
