Every day for 19 years, Harry Bowley wore a white T-shirt to work.
Now, the 82-year-old Gainesville retiree has 309 T-shirts for nearly every occasion and day of the year.
Around Christmas, he wears one of his 26 Christmas T-shirts. For Halloween, he dons one of 17 themed shirts instead of a costume. On St. Patrick’s Day, he has eight more to choose from.
It began with his kids buying them as a gift, but now he says he buys any funny T-shirt he sees.
“It just started from there, and it got out of hand,” Bowley said.
The shirts vary from puns and national holidays to comedic quotes such as, “Money isn’t everything, but it sure keeps the kids in touch.”
“I didn’t want the wife washing clothes every day, so I just started buying T-shirts,” he said.
Bowley and his wife have traveled to 48 states and bought a shirt from each.
Any time he visits a local restaurant, he checks if they have any T-shirts available for him, Bowley said.
He saves other shirts for special occasions, like his tuxedo T-shirt for events at The Village at Gainesville, a retirement community where he lives.
Every day, Bowley said he wears a different T-shirt, and everyone looks forward to seeing which one he picks.
“I’m glad I do it,” he said.
Harry Bowley, 82, also known as "T-shirt Harry," stands in front of his 309 T-shirt collection. It began with receiving shirts from his children, he said. Now he buys every funny shirt he sees.