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Any Big Tree Inn people on here?


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I haven't seen any talk of this anywhere but I saw on Twitter recently the owner/founder of the Big Tree Inn passed away.  I didn't know him personally but I did get a chance to shoot the ***** with him for awhile when I was in there one night.  Great guy, I was sad to hear about this news.  The Big Tree is a staple in Buffalo Bills history.  Does anybody know what happened and if there are plans for the bar to continue to operate or is this pretty much the end of the Big Tree?

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5 minutes ago, BillsPride12 said:

I haven't seen any talk of this anywhere but I saw on Twitter recently the owner/founder of the Big Tree Inn passed away.  I didn't know him personally but I did get a chance to shoot the ***** with him for awhile when I was in there one night.  Great guy, I was sad to hear about this news.  The Big Tree is a staple in Buffalo Bills history.  Does anybody know what happened and if there are plans for the bar to continue to operate or is this pretty much the end of the Big Tree?

I believe its under new ownership.

 

Was friends with the previous owner. Fantastic person, one of the nicest guys you'd ever meet. 

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1 hour ago, BillsPride12 said:

I haven't seen any talk of this anywhere but I saw on Twitter recently the owner/founder of the Big Tree Inn passed away.  I didn't know him personally but I did get a chance to shoot the ***** with him for awhile when I was in there one night.  Great guy, I was sad to hear about this news.  The Big Tree is a staple in Buffalo Bills history.  Does anybody know what happened and if there are plans for the bar to continue to operate or is this pretty much the end of the Big Tree?

Back in the day, (73 -74) it was the only  bar really in the vicinity of the stadium.. tailgating was nothing back then like it is now, my buddies and me would go in there , place was overwhelmed with people. , just a small bar , with a back room.. it really evolved , to say the least  sorry to  hear of the passing of the owner , cant remember

his name  maybe rudy?  could be wrong 

Edited by dwight in philly
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I grew up in the Northtowns, so the only time I was near Big Tree was on gameday, and we always ate and drank at tailgates, so I have never been there.  Given the proximity to the stadium, the history with the Bills and the reports of great wings, I have always wanted to get there.  May its former owner RIP.

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13 minutes ago, msw2112 said:

I grew up in the Northtowns, so the only time I was near Big Tree was on gameday, and we always ate and drank at tailgates, so I have never been there.  Given the proximity to the stadium, the history with the Bills and the reports of great wings, I have always wanted to get there.  May its former owner RIP.

 

Yeah, I lived nowhere near the place and left WNY for college when I was 17 (I had to stick with the places close to home where age was almost irrelevant!). Being the iconic institution that it is, I made a point of going for lunch back when I was there for a home opener last year or the year before. Game day would be too crazy so I went on Friday when my flight landed. It’s something I just had to do once!

 

 

RIP 

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I believe it was sold a year or two ago- I'm sure it will still be kickin' once Covid dies down. Great place esp. in Super Bowl years... Andre mentioned it in his Hall of Fame speech!  Danny was a great guy; very sad... (Btw, best wings around...)

 

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2 hours ago, dwight in philly said:

Back in the day, (73 -74) it was the only  bar really in the vicinity of the stadium.. tailgating was nothing back then like it is now, my buddies and me would go in there , place was overwhelmed with people. , just a small bar , with a back room.. it really evolved , to say the least  sorry to  hear of the passing of the owner , cant remember

his name  maybe rudy?  could be wrong 

Danny.

 

So it sounds like he sold the bar a year or two ago...does anybody know what happened to him?  Sounds like he might have been fighting an illness for awhile.  Sad news regardless

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I've only been to three Bills home games, but I do have a  Big Tree story from the first trip.

 

1998, a co-worker that I'd had beers with a few times asks me if I want to go with his friends (who I'd never met) to a Bills game. Hell yeah! 

 

As it turns out my b-day was on Friday and my close friends had me out way too late. I got less than 3 hours sleep when they picked me up. The hangover hit about halfway to Buffalo. Regardless, we hit a club that night and the game the next day (13-10 over the Pats).

 

After the game we went to another bar (yup, The Big Tree). Little did I know some of the Bills would be showing up. Cool as hell. What I remember most was squeezing past Bruce in the packed bar. Wall of a man, holy crap.

 

Funny thing is none of the guys I was with were hard core Bills fans, one guy was marginal.

 

Good times.

 

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It’s on my must do bucket list, have never been but my old college roomie hailing from Amherst through whose acquaintance I claim partial Buffalo citizenship (shoveled an honorary sliver of driveway snow on a visit so that counts I think) already agreed to buy the first round when the Bills host the AFCCG next. Covid needs to take a hike before then, is all I can say. 

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18 hours ago, BillsPride12 said:

Danny.

 

So it sounds like he sold the bar a year or two ago...does anybody know what happened to him?  Sounds like he might have been fighting an illness for awhile.  Sad news regardless

i think he must have purchased it from the people who owned that were there at first.. in 73.. 

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I’m so sorry.  Danny was friends with my brother.  When I came home from FL, after college he would make me stop there on the way to our cousins out in East Aurora.  I’ve been there 100’s of times and love the culture.  The real MGK invited my sister and I for wings there once after we went to a signing at Wegmans.  She was a VP so when we got off the plane she put us at the top of the line for a signature.  I didn’t care about that, but was nice to get my boys a pic with Kelly tough.  We didn’t do the wings thing as we had a huge family party for us, but the offer was nice.  He was very gracious.

 

The Big Tree is part of our family as I grew up a few miles from there and it was a great culture.  Yes, it was a pub, but it was a place you could even bring you’re family and they wouldn’t allow bad language back then.

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