The Jayhawk Cafe

After the Kansas Jayhawks Victory Parade, I walked over to The Jayhawk Cafe and did a quick walk-thru. This bar is more well known to its students as just "The Hawk". They were gearing up for a big crowd to show up following the parade, so they had cleared out all the tables and booths to make room. No longer do they have the pool table in the back, and the side room was closed off as well. I'm not even sure if they have that side room any longer. That room had two more pool tables. I was able to sneak out the back door and check out the covered outdoor bar set-up that has been added in the past years.

Back in the 1980's when I attended KU, The Hawk sold "Hawk Barrels". You would purchase the iconic glass schooner for $2.75 filled with the beer of your choice ( Budweiser or Bud Light usually ), and then for every refill, the cost was only $1.00 on "Barrel Nights", which back then was Thursday nights, if I remember correctly. You'd have to remember to bring your Hawk Barrel, and make sure you didn't damage it or drop it. Many a Hawk Barrels got dropped and shattered over the years. Such sad incidences happened frequently. Each Hawk Barrel was a limited edition: Only 1,000 to 2,200 were usually made for each edition.

I was at The Hawk the night KU won the National Championship back in 1988, when the Miracle Jayhawks led by legendary Danny Manning, defeating the Oklahoma Sooners in the Final Four finale. We all rushed up the campus back then to celebrate. Me and a roommate were the last ones to leave the campus that evening, probably around 4:00 AM.

1340 Ohio St
Lawrence, KS 66044

Contact: John Heleniak
Title: Owner
Phone: (785) 843-9273

https://www.jayhawkcafe.com/

Other tidbits:
The Hawk, officially known as The Jayhawk Cafe, opened in 1919. Now, 90 years later, the bar is the oldest existing campus establishment and a popular bar. Ken Wallace bought The Hawk in 1974 as a 22-year-old Kansas University graduate and inherited the building as well as well as its colorful history.

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