Cam Newton’s crazy fashion sense actually started as a punishment in sixth grade that backfired

Cam Newton has developed into the greatest football player on the planet and has a shot to win his first Super Bowl on Sunday against the Denver Broncos.

While Newton makes headlines for his play on the field — he is expected to win his first MVP award — Newton also turns heads with his fashion choices off the field.

There were the $900 Versace pants he wore on the plane to the Super Bowl (“The mantra of the Super Bowl is black and gold. The black and gold attire that I had in my closet was extremely limited”), the 60 fox tails that set him back $12,000, and the towel he turned into a bandana at media day, to name a few.

Well, it turns out, Cam can thank his dad, and a punishment in sixth grad that backfired, for his lack of fashion fear.

Cecil Newton was a guest on “SportsCenter” and told a story about how he tried to punish Cam for acting out and drawing too much attention to himself in school by making him wear something that would bring unwanted attention: Cecil made Cam wear a suit to school.

“[His love of fashion] started ultimately as a punishment,” Cecil Newton said. “He was being disruptive. ‘You want to draw attention to yourself? I’ll tell you what we are going to do, Cam. You’re going to dress up, intellectually. You’re going to wear a suit, a tie, all this.’ It started as, we were trying to mock him, make him stand out in a way that I didn’t think he was going to embrace. Low and behold, two or three weeks in, Cam is up early ironing his shirt willingly, putting his slacks out the night before, ready to embrace the moment.”

APSome of Cam Newton’s fashion choices during media sessions.

In an interview this week for Sports Illustrated Kids, Cecil added to the story, noting that as Cam started to embrace dressing up, other kids in the school started to dress up also. Cecil then added that not worrying what others think is just who Cam is.

“He always had a strong will to self-identify who he is and appreciate his person,” Cecil said. “He never cared whether people enjoyed or appreciated that or not. He was who he was. He is who he is. That always propelled him forward.”

Cecil did tell ESPN he was not going to take credit for the Versace pants, noting, “attribute that to his mother, please, please, that’s all mom’s fault.”