Young Robert Novak was a notorious slob. His parents often visited his dorm at the University of Illinois to clean his room and wash his clothes. (Classmates once investigated a horrible odor emanating from his closet and found a moldy sponge cake in his laundry bag.) Even joining the army had little impact on Novak's personal hygiene; his roommate promptly painted a white line down the middle of their room and threatened to burn any of Novak's effects that crossed it.

[Years later, Lyndon B. Johnson reportedly remarked that he could always tell when Novak was around -- because he could smell him.]