Memories for sale

A bar Southeast Missouri State University students and alumni have considered their hangout for 45 years had its final homecoming Monday.

Closed since June 1, The Pladium sports bar once again bustled with personalities from the famous watering hole's long history. They were pointing at pictures on the wall and reminiscing about the past. But instead of snowballs, Bloody Marys and quarter beers, the people packed into the building at 1127 Broadway sipped sodas and munched on the last batch of free Pladium salted popcorn. The sounds of a ballgame or "Jeopardy" that used to blare from the bar's televisions were replaced by the twangy ramble of an auctioneer selling off pieces of this town's and these peoples' past.

The Pladium is out of business because the building that houses it has been sold. In April, owners Mark and Paul Dirnberger terminated the lease of Mike "Schmiddy" Schmidt, who has operated the bar for the past 10 years. The Dirnbergers plan to open a sports bar of their own but did not buy the fixtures or the bar's name.

Before the auction's start, Schmidt stood at the door, welcoming those who came in to bid the bar farewell, calling most of them by name.

"Quite a crowd you've got, Schmiddy," said one patron, shaking Schmidt's hand while surveying the near-capacity crowd.

"It's just like homecoming," Schmidt shot back. "You take your chances."

Southeast's Homecoming was always big at the Pladium. For years parade participants could expect loud shouts and beer showers as they passed 1127 Broadway. But the reception was always warm in the Pladium's always air-conditioned confines.

"Anybody that's been to SEMO knows the Pladium," said 51-year-old former bar patron and student Les Lindy. He said it was a hangout for current students as well as alumni.

"When everybody came home, everybody came here," he said.

Lindy came to the Pladium on this day to buy something, anything by which to remember his old watering hole. There were plenty of things to choose from.

On the barrel head were cigars, shot glasses, signs, pictures, bar stools and an assortment of local sports memorabilia ranging from a pair of former Southeast basketball star Riley Ellis' old sneakers to a framed photograph of Jerry "Big Dog" Priest, the bar's original owner and legendary pool shark, posing with some of his many billiards trophies.

While the scene was permeated pieces of the past, not all the faces were old. Seven-year-old Alex Johnson and his 4-year-old brother, Andrew, came to see an important setting from their parents' past. In the early 1990s, when their parents were dating, their mother, Jenny, lived in St. Louis, and their father, Kelly, was in Paducah, Ky. The Pladium was their rendezvous point.

"Mom and Dad used to come here almost every Friday night," Jenny told her sons.

The Johnsons didn't just come to reminisce, however. They came to buy a shadow box replica of the Pladium facade that hung behind the bar. It was made by Kelly's father, a longtime Pladium regular, Bill Johnson.

Wish list from D.C.

Also there with the intent to buy was Tom Hinkebein. He came on his son's behalf. Former Southeast student Gabe Hinkebein wanted to make it himself but had business in his current home of Washington, D.C. Instead, he e-mailed his father a list of things he hopes to acquire as mementos, including a white Southeast football helmet, a Pladium sign and a license plate that hung on the Pladium wall and used to belong to one of his fraternity brothers.

Not everyone was there on business. Many came for the same reason they came when the bar was open. They were there to see old friends they knew would be there.

Former Southeast basketball player and bar regular Mark Bentlage spent much of the time at the sale hanging back and just taking it all in.

"We had a lot of good times here," he lamented.

One of the people he'll remember most is the Beav -- Jerry Beaver, in 30 years as bartender at the Pladium always clad in shorts no matter what the season and always offering an ear to a customer who wanted to talk.

Beaver was at the sale as well, shaking hands and patting backs, almost as if to console those who were expressing their grief at a friend's or relative's passing.

Schmidt also did his share of consoling and received some from concerned patrons and friends. He told one former patron he set aside a bottle of champagne from the Pladium's closing inventory to toast his old bar one last time after the sale was over.

"I'm all right now," Schmidt replied to a patron inquiring about how he felt. "But it's early."

trehagen@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137