ATP Founders Rounding Third and Heading for Home

“Back in the year 1982,

A sweet young couple was wondering what to do

The Locker Room was fun in the era of The Big Red Machine

But a mustache-laden man had yet another dream.”

That was the first stanza of a poem written seven years ago by Josh Gerth. Josh wrote it then to celebrate the 30th anniversary of The Anderson Township Pub on Clough Pike. Today I heard it recited by Josh’s mother, Linda, as people gathered during a private party to say goodbye to ATP’s original founders, John and Sue Stump.

Except for a few laughs and sniffles from the crowd, the dimly lit ATP was silent as Linda read Josh’s words. I was witnessing the end of an era. Tomorrow, John and Sue, the “sweet young couple” Josh invoked years ago will retire after 37 years and The Anderson Township Pub will be in new hands.

It was an honor to be invited to document the original Anderson Township Pub’s final day. It was good ol’ Ben Stocker once again who called me up.  Ben works at the ATP on weekends as a cook and tipped me off to the pub’s transition.

“You should come down to the private party and do a story,” Ben suggested during a phone call a few days prior.

And so there I was on March 1, 2020, at The Anderson Township Pub for my first time (ironically), observing a historic departure as Josh’s poem continued.

“30 years old – but it’s not the food or the drinks,

It’s the things between the doors that make this place unique.

So let’s take a tour as we’re slammin’ them down,

Stick with me my friends, as I show you around.”

I sat down with John and Sue Stump at the end of their bar. “A drink for my friend,” John told the bartender. As I took possession of my ice cold Yeungling, it took me a moment to realize Sue was John’s wife and not his daughter.

I noticed a series of brass plates affixed to the bar. Each had a name etched into it. “If you were an employee or a regular, you earned one of these,” John told me.  “If the name is upside down, that means they’re no longer of this world,” John added. “They’re dead,” John clarified. There were dozens of plates scattered down the bar, some were right side up and some were not.

Back in the late 1970’s before ATP, John and Sue owned the Locker Room sports-bar on Beechmont Avenue. After five years of business there and the birth of their first son, they sold the Locker Room and John entered the real estate business. During that time John designed and built several baseball fields in the Cincinnati area. A couple years later in the winter of 1982, they would buy Pete’s on Clough Pike and rename it the Anderson Township Pub.

“But alas without the staff there’d be no drinks to pour,

Sammy, Trey, Karen, Sue – running over a peanut covered floor.

But it’s our beloved Ginny and Mary – servers like no other,

We’ll miss them with all our hears – they were our friends – they were our mothers.”

A woman came over to John and embraced him. “I’ve been crying all day,” she said tearfully.  She handed John an album of pictures she put together. “There are a lot of good memories in there.”

“It’s going to be okay,” John told her. 

“Karen works for us. She’s been here many years,” Sue told me. 

“She’s our Carla,” John added.

Karen Parker’s first day at the pub was March 18th 1986. “In 17 days it will be 34 years,” Karen remarked.  Visibly sad and a little unsure, Karen expressed how great it has been to work for John and Sue over the years, but with new ownership looming, her fate as an employee was uncertain.  “I don’t know what they are going to do,” Karen said.  “They could want to hire some younger people, I don’t know.”

Karen was not alone in her apprehension. In fact none of the employees I talked to knew exactly what to expect after the new ownership takes over. As far as they are concerned it appears to be business as usual – for now.

Sue Snow, another long time employee, has been around even longer than Karen.  Having worked for John and Sue as far back as their Locker Room days puts her around the 40 year mark.

John told me how he met Sue. “She came in for lunch one day at the Locker Room and said, ‘I’ve always wanted to work behind a bar.’ It was a Monday and I told her she can start Wednesday and she’s worked every Wednesday since.”

Having two employees put in more than 30 years each is quite a testament to John and Sue’s leadership.  I asked Sue Snow what it was like working for them and what keeps her coming to work after all these years.

“John and Sue are great people and great bosses.  They always had our back and let us do what we had to do,” Sue told me. “And at my age, this is my entertainment.  I’ve watched families grow up here. People have stopped in on their way home from the hospital to show us their newborns. It’s like a big family.”

Family was instrumental in the early days. In fact, John’s mother Ginnie helped out with the business from their days at the Locker Room to the ATP up until she was about 80 years old. I’m told she was an icon. Sue Stump said Ginnie was instrumental to their success.

Even John and Sue’s boys, Justin and Jeremy, started to work at The Anderson Township Pub from about seventh grade.  They would start out washing dishes and bussing tables, then cook, and eventually help out behind the bar when they got old enough.

John’s nephew Trey Jones started working for his uncle at the ATP under the table when he was just 11years old cleaning and hosting.  Skip ahead 23 years later and you will find Trey still working at the pub.

I was told not to forget about Mary Lucas.  She came from Pete’s and transitioned to the ATP when John took over.  “Legendary” is the way she was described.  Between Pete’s and the ATP, Mary put in around 50 years of service.  I’m told people came in just to see her. If you disappeared for 10 years and came back in suddenly, Mary would remember your drink or your usual like it was yesterday. She retired in 2010 and died November 7th, 2012. I’m told her retirement party was something special.

Though only officially joining the crew within the last six or seven years, Mike Chapman had his hands in the pub from the very beginning. He worked on the original bar top back in 1982 when John took over. Since then, he did most of the remodeling including building the back patio.  Today he is the general manager. “John and I are a good team,” Mike told me.  “He’s the fun one and I’m the straight and narrow one, but I still like a good cocktail.”

I watched Mike bustle around the pub while I was there, checking on people, making sure everything was flowing smoothly.  Between Mike, Karen, Sue, and the rest of the staff, it was evident John had formed a self sufficient team. Although Mike told me John was present at the pub every day, I’m guessing he didn’t need to be.

“Everything changes so we’ll see,” Mike told me. “I think everyone is hoping the new owners will keep it similar to what it is today and try to maintain some of the history.”

Mike told me one the new owners’ father was friends with John.  I think everyone is hoping that connection will help keep some of the founding traditions alive.

“The regulars were many, Danny Reed and Don Paro,

Jeff the bartender, yes, off to Fox Sports he would go.

Carpenter, Renfro, and Gary the cook,

If I had a dollar for all the “Hey Coach” Doerger’s took.

Scott, Roberto, Jonas, Snow – all these seats were taken,

Two Tim’s – Shipp & DeZarn & Bobby “the brain” Macon.

Cunningham, Doc Wehby, Linda Hoover, John,

Hang on Tuke and a lot of guys named Tom.”

The final day was meant to be a party for just the employees, but I was told John invited so many regulars that it pretty much became a giant goodbye bash. 

I talked to Nick “Chicken Man” Motz and his brother Matt who were privileged enough to attend the farewell festivities. The Motz family has a lot of history on Clough Pike, from their early settlement in the area to their agricultural enterprises that bloomed in the region over the years.

Nick told me about how in the past at the ATP on your birthday you could get the fishbowl, which was just a really big glass and they would put any kind of alcohol you wanted in it, beer or liquor. Needless to say it was a little awkward when Nick ordered the fish bowl for his 21st birthday after already being a regularly drinking patron there for about 3 years.  

“You should have seen Karen’s face,” Nick said laughing.

“People come in the back door, turkey clubbing or to watch TV,

Slow dancing to the jukebox or singing Karaoke,

Yes, the Pub’s about the patrons so remember this line,

“It’s where you meet the same people every week for the first time.”

Bob and Tricia are also long time patrons. Bob started a tradition of reserving out the side room for private parties with his friends after he joined the Navy in the early 1990’s.  That room became so important to Bob over the years that when John removed a mirror to make room for a fireplace, John gave it to Bob to put in his basement where it still hangs to this day.  

Later in life, Bob and Tricia would bring their children to The Anderson Township Pub for breakfast on Saturday mornings.  The kids, still dressed in their pajamas, proved that the ATP felt like home for Bob and his family. And of course their wedding reception was held at the ATP as well.

Bob also hopes the new management will keep the atmosphere the same.  He offered to contribute in any way possible to help ensure it happens.  However, they both seem confident the pub will be in good hands.  

“They [the new owners] have memories here too, everyone does,” Tricia said.

“I think they turned the pub over the right guys,” Bob added.

You already know Ben from several other stories, but it was a pleasure meeting his mother, Rainie, and his sister Nancy.  “She’s the one who showed me how to plug in the Easy Bake Oven,” said Ben pointing at his mom.  “They were baking cupcakes and I was throwing chicken wings in that thing,” Ben added laughing.

“The Bar is adorned with many names all gleaming in brass,

On these stools have there sat many a famous ass.

Some have been celebrities and some have been jocks.

Nehring, Curtis, Krumrie, Brenneman, Walker & Wilcots.”

It should be no surprise that John would develop a powerful list of connections over the years being in the restaurant and realty business, but I was not expecting to learn of such an extensive connection to the pro sports world.  Among just some of the pro sports connections John made over the years were Jimmy O’Toole, “Puddin’ Head” Jones, Tommy Helms, Pete Rose, Ed Bailey, and others, including a good chunk of the 1988 Bengal’s Super Bowl team.

In fact, I got to talk to Kevin Walker who was present at the party. Kevin met John during his rookie year with the Bengals in 1988. Kevin is known for making the tackle that ended Bo Jackson’s career.  John was Kevin’s realtor and sold him a condo in Anderson back in ’88. Currently Kevin lives in Hyde Park.

“I’ve been coming here for 32 years. A lot of the guys from the team would come here and hang out,” Kevin told me.  That included Solomon Wilcots who was standing right next to Kevin in the pub.

Solomon and Kevin were teammates during the Bengals’ 1988 Super Bowl season.  After playing football Solomon worked for Sirius XM NFL Radio, ESPN, CBS, and the NFL Network doing commentary.  He now works for fellow teammate Cris Collinworth’s company Pro Football Focus (PFF). 

“Other guys that used to come in here were Joe Kelly, David Grant, Tim Krumrie, Tom Tumulty, and Tim Naehring from the Boston Red Sox, it was our neighborhood bar,” Solomon told me.  “John is the guy, for many of us who came from different places, who helped us feel at home. He had all the connections.  If you needed a new deck or a new driveway, John had a guy.  When you’re new to the area, you need someone around you that you can trust and John was that guy.  He was the hub of the wheel.  All these people are connected and they are connected through John.  John is one of reasons why I still live in Cincinnati – why I still live in Anderson Township.  He’s that important to me.”

Solomon and I flipped through one of the photo albums on display.  We laughed as I pointed out John’s heyday resemblance to Mike Ditka (minus the flat top). “He did kind of have that Ditka swag,” Solomon chuckled.   

Last Call

John is clearly a tough guy, but it was the last line of Josh’s poem that got to him when Linda read it out loud.

You had to look for it to see it, but it was there.

Only John knows what it was that he realized at that moment.  Would he simply miss all his workers and customers? Perhaps it was at that moment all his accomplishments were laid out in front of him and he was proud.  Maybe it was a little of both. 

“If the PUB were not here, Anderson would not be the same,

It really is our Cheers – where everybody knows your name.

It’s the place some of us had our first real drink,

I’m pretty sure I was 21 or at least 17 I think.

So here’s to the ATP – raise you drink to Sue and John

And let us not forget that you are never really gone!”

There is no question that the first 37 years of The Anderson Township Pub was a grand slam for Anderson Township. John and Sue Stump should know that they have served their community well as they head to the locker room after an almost 40 year long inning. Now all eyes are on the next batter, the rookie, as the new ownership steps up to the plate.

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