A Dallas, Texas gym teacher named Dale Irby caught the attention of social media Web sites when pictures of him surfaced wearing the same clothes for 40 years in the school yearbook. The 63-year-old Prestonwood Elementary school teacher unintentionally wore the same collared disco shirt with V-necked brown tank top in two successive yearbook photos, and his wife, Cathy, dared him to do it again for the third time.

After that, Dale decided to make it a crazy yearly tradition to don the shirt and tank top combination that he bought from a local shopping mall. "It all started by mistake. After I got the photos back from the second year I realised what I had done. I was so embarrassed I had worn the very same thing as the first year. So my wife Cathy, who I met in my first year teaching, dared me to repeat it again for a third year and we didn't stop," Irby explained.

The gym teacher further added: "After five pictures, I was like: 'Why stop?' It really wasn't stylish and, to tell you the truth, it was a little bit tighter in the latter years than it was in the beginning. But I could still wear it and button it. The shirt is now faded and the wool vest has several holes but it has all been worth a few laughs."

Dale Irby is now a retired teacher who is experiencing sudden popularity after his funny pictures went viral. The Dallas Morning News featured Dale's story with a slideshow video of the captured yearbook photos showing the teacher's transformation as the years pass by.

A couple of online users gave their reaction to Dale Irby's yearbook photos. "I had no idea polyester lasted that long," Elizabeth Rozyskie wrote on Gawker. "He aged well too, a few fat years in there but he came back every time," Joe Somers commented.

Dale Irby revealed that his favourite getup will retire as well inside his closet. "I doubt that I'll wear it again, even in a dare. I don't think even the Smithsonian would want them," Irby stated.

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