While I was attending Wichita State University, I did many things. Looking back, I really don’t know how I actually accomplished all of the things I did. Remember my Dad accused me of burning the candle from both ends. Well, that is pretty much what I did for four years at WSU. While I was attending the University one of the jobs, I had was working for Pizza Hut. Right on the corner of the campus at Hillside and 17th Street there was this incredible structure that we called Grandview. It was an amazing building. At some point it must have been a club. You would park underneath and climb steps to the second floor. Once you reached the second floor there was this massive club with no windows. Booths all around the edge, a huge bar and a large kitchen area in the back. I am guessing that you could probably get around 300 people into this place without violating any fire codes. It was amazing. It was also probably one of the most popular hangouts for the college crowd. As a bonus you could get Pizza Hut pizza there as well. I was the manager for over a year. While I was the manager several things happened. The first and most notable was the assassination of John F. Kennedy. I can remember the day it happened and I came up the stairs to go to work and there was this big crowd and I ask what the crowd was all about and they said that the president had just been shot in Dallas. It was a very somber day.
There were many things about Grandview that made it like no other Pizza Hut. First of all a huge bar, no windows, fully carpeted, an amazing sound system, a huge kitchen, awesome booths around the entire perimeter of the main eating area. It was also totally on the second floor. Without windows I don’t know where the name Grandview came from because there was no Grand View but that was what it was called. The other thing that was unique was we sold these amazing ham sandwiches, with chips not fries and a pickle. We only had one kind of bread for the sandwiches, but I remember the bread was amazing. We sliced the hams…mainly shaved the hams so that the ham wasn’t really in slices and you would stack the ham on the bread, add condiments and cheese and serve them to the customers. I never got tired of those sandwiches. I mean I liked the pizza, but these ham sandwiches were addictive. We also sold more beer than any other Pizza Hut ever sold. The primary beer of choice was Coors. We sold cases and cases of those bottles of Coors. I was always amazed that everyone opted for Coors even though they actually got only 11 ounces instead of 12 ounces with all the other beers. The Coors people were genius to package and bottle their beer with only 11 ounces. Think of the impact of that extra ounce times a million bottles. What a great idea and it never slowed down the sales of Coors. We probably sold 10 to 1 Coors over any other brand. The main thing I remember was the sound system and the juke box. The music was always playing and when we were closed, we could play any song we wanted on the juke box for free. I remember “Since I Fell For You” by Lenny Welch and “You’ll Never Find Another Love” by Lou Rawls, Anything by Johnny Mathis and Earth Wind and Fire. Chicago and many more. We wore that Juke Box out, and the speaker system was amazing.
Like I said Grandview was one of the most popular hang outs for the WSU students. During that time the Shockers had one of the best basketball teams in the country. We went to the final four in the NCAA Tournament. Unbelievable. Both Dave Stallworth the power forward and Nate Bowman, the center for the Shockers, spent many nights at Grandview. I didn’t really know either of these guys, but they were hard to miss. Dave was 6’ 7” and Nate was 6’ 10”. They hung out together a lot. One of the rules we had at Grandview was that you couldn’t wear a hat in the building. For some reason the powers that be felt that a hat would determine the persona of the wearer and that somehow was a negative thing. I was the manager and I was the one who had to go to the tables and remind whoever it was to remove their head wear. I am 5’ 7” and I had to go to the tables and request that they remove their hats. What I remember most is that I never had anyone give me a hard time over the rule. Dave and Nate were always gentlemen about it and whenever I asked, they would willingly remove their hats and move on. These were both great guys and I was happy for them when they were drafted into the NBA. Both of them went in the first round…Dave #3 and Nate #7… It turned out that both of them were on the New York Knicks team that won the NBA Championship in 1970. What an incredible outcome. I believe that Dave actually lived the rest of his life in Wichita after leaving the NBA. My main point is that as amazing as both of these guys were, they were also great people and I was glad that our paths crossed. This was another brush with fame for me. Both were very classy individuals. It is no wonder that they were part of the team that won the NBA Championship…sometimes the good guys win.
I don’t know if Grandview is still a Pizza Hut. Probably not, but when it was, it was a great place to enjoy music, pizza, sandwiches and beer with your friends. I have great memories of the place. Even though it didn’t look or feel like a normal Pizza Hut and it really didn’t cater to families. It was a special place and I am sure that many WSU students have fond memories of Grandview… the Pizza Hut like no other.
