Loran Smith - The Varsity

Loran

Smith

WATKINSVILLE – Since the Varsity on Broad Street in Athens closed its doors, I have not had a chilidog and a frosted orange in many moons until last week when I stopped by the location on Hog Mountain Road near Watkinsville. Believe it or not there are eight Varsity locations, including the original establishment on North Avenue in Atlanta—but not one in Athens. That means for local Varsity aficionados there is no chance of heartburn, but we would gladly settle for that over the frustrations that come with having to drive twelve miles instead of right around the corner.

There are six additional locations— Gwinnett, Kennesaw, Dawsonville, Bethlehem, Cartersville, and Rome— which is a reminder that Varsity food is still in demand.

Old timers will remember the halcyon days when you could drop by the downtown Varsity in Athens for a warm welcome from the late Epp Suddath, the impresario of the restaurant for many years, which means that in many respects he was the de facto mayor of Athens.

Nothing went on in our town in the fifties and sixties that Epp did not know about since The Varsity was the coffee drinking hub of the downtown business regulars, and the UGA administrative gang, anchored at the old Academic Building. They gathered at the Varsity for coffee, snacks, lunch, gossip, and small talk.

Two of the mainstays who managed the counter and were as highly regarded in the downtown community as Uga, the Bulldog mascot, were “Brown and Doyal,” whose driver’s license identified them as Otha Brown and Doyal Jarrett.

“Dog-talk” was on everybody’s agenda year-round. If a player was in academic distress or was having trouble with his girlfriend, Brown and Doyle knew about it. They were more than behind-the-scenes purveyors of whispers and hushed conversation—they were worried men “singing a worried song.” They wanted the ‘Dogs to reign supreme.

During my recent Varsity excursion, I felt the atmosphere was reminiscent of the past except we were out in the country and not at arms-length of the Arch and Barnett’s News Stand. There was continued from page

one thing missing however, and that was the time-honored Varsity lingo sounding forth by the cast of the past, led by Doyal.

If you are long in the tooth, you likely remember many of them: A “Skeet” was a Coke; an orange was a “squirt;” a PC was a chocolate milk with ice; NIPC was a no ice PC; a “hobo soda” was a glass of water; “Joe” was black coffee and “white Joe,” was coffee with cream; Mayo was “grease.” If you wanted apple and peach pie with a scoop of vanilla, you asked for an “Alamo.”

If you were interested in a “naked steak,” that meant you were ordering a hamburger with nothing on it. When Epp Suddath attended the World’s Fair in Chicago in 1933 and learned about burlesque dancer Sally Rand, a naked steak became a Sally Rand.

A “C-dog,” was a regular hotdog with catsup. A “Chilli dog walking,” was a Chilli dog to go, a “naked dog” was simply a hot dog and a bun.

George Suddath, Epp’s youngest son, grew up at the Varsity and has this memory: “I can hear Doyal right now, ‘Gimme two dogs all the way, Chilli steak, ring, a fry, two skeets, peach, apple pie, walking. Before the customer had his wallet out of his pocket, he would have calculated the cost including sales tax in his head. If the customer had the correct change, he would throw the money in a washed out two-gallon mayo jar to be counted and put into the main cash register later.”

You may have noticed there is no signature reference to a very popular Varsity staple, a hamburger. I have a reason for addressing this item last. A hamburger in Varsity vernacular wasa“steak.” Ifitwas “glorified” or “through the garden,” that meant lettuce and tomato were added.

When in high school, our coach brought a couple of carloads of his players to Athens. We could get student tickets for a dollar as I recall. Lunch at the Varsity was truly a treat, not just a filling meal, but a cultural experience.

My memory is that a hamburger cost 15 cents and a Coke was a dime. So, I counted out 40 cents and meekly worked my way up to the counter from the street and whispered to Doyal, whom I did not know at the time, “I’d like to order two hamburgers and a Coke.”

With that Doyal yelled out, “Pair of steaks and a skeet.”

I immediately panicked since I did not understand the lingo, crying out, “No, no I said hamburgers not steaks.” Doyal could not stop laughing as I was dumbfounded by all of the hullabaloo.

When I ordered my lunch at the Watkinsville Varsity last week, I enjoyed my meal like always, but when I finished, I stood aside near the counter afterwards and bowed in memory of Brown, Doyal, Epp and the unforgettable characters who hung out at the Downtown Varsity as I was learning the facts of life.

The Varsity in Athens, GA.