Former Rep. Howard Coble, the North Carolina Republican who died Tuesday , was a character, known as much for his tennis game and proud tobacco habit as his policy interest in intellectual property.  

And, of course, there were his clothes. Loud madras plaid jackets. Bright yellow dress shirts. Duck hunting braces. Tennis racquet ties. His district had deep links in the textile industry, as did many North Carolina districts.  

So perhaps it wasn’t a surprise when he helped drape the Capitol in a pair of gigantic denim jeans, as we noted in our Oct. 31, 1985 edition of Roll Call: