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[ S T. L O U I S S TA N D A R D S ]
Winging It Longtime mainstay Sportsman’s Park connects the history of Ladue’s dining scene to the present Written by
CHERYL BAEHR
J
ames Probstein cannot verify the urban legend that surrounds the chicken wings at his Ladue mainstay, Sportsman’s Park, but the rumors have been swirling for years. The word on the street is that Jackie Smith, the NFL Hall of Famer and former co-owner of the restaurant (along with James’ dad Norman), was the person who brought Buffalo wings to St. Louis when the restaurant opened in the 1970s. It makes sense; Smith’s football career regularly took him to Buffalo, where he would play the Bills and nosh on wings when he was off the field. s robstein explains, no one knows if it’s actually true, but the mystery is part of the fun. “Legend has it that he tried them in Buffalo and brought them to town,” Probstein says. “We can’t prove it, but when we opened as Jackie’s Place in 1974 they were on the menu not at the very beginning, but soon after. We still sell a lot of them, but we are known for other things now.” Even if Sportsman’s Park’s status as the fountainhead of St. Louis chicken-wing culture is untrue, it does not diminish the special place it holds in the city’s heart. Since opening 47 years ago under the name Jackie’s Place, the restaurant has become a beloved gathering place, not just for its immediate neighbors in Ladue but for sports fans throughout the area, thanks to its impressive collection of photographs and memorabilia amassed over the years. Probstein’s dad, Norman, had such a vision in mind when he happened upon the place nearly five decades ago. longtime hospitality professional who operated several businesses around town
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RIVERFRONT TIMES
Sportsman’s Park has been a Ladue institution since 1974. | ANDY PAULISSEN in area hotels, the elder Probstein was looking for a standalone spot in a good location to open up a small neighborhood restaurant. The building at 9901 Clayton Road tic ed all the right boxes, and he was eager to sign the lease and get to work with the right partner by his side. That person would be Smith, who Norman was introduced to through the Cardinals football team’s then-owner Bill Bidwell. Norman, who knew Bidwell socially, was a regular at football games, often bringing his son with him to watch the action on the field and meet the players. That connection led to a business relationship between Norman and Smith, and the two men operated the restaurant together for four years until Smith decided to pursue other interests. Two years after that, Norman changed the restaurant’s name to Sportsman’s Park, a nod to the storied former home to both the St. Louis Browns and St. Louis Cardinals baseball teams. From the beginning, James Probstein was there alongside his dad and began earning his keep as a dishwasher as soon as he was old enough to work. Though it was never explicitly stated or expected of him that he ta e over the restaurant when his dad was
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Favorites include chicken fingers, wings and turkey chili. | ANDY PAULISSEN ready to retire, he knew, deep down, that he was going to be in the hospitality business in some way, shape or form because of his early exposure to it. “Growing up with my dad in the hotel and restaurant business, I’d go to work with him every Saturday morning,” Probstein says. “I never really knew anything else; I just assumed I’d be in the busi-
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ness, went to school and got a degree in hotel and restaurant business, and went into it with my dad, never thinking too much about it. I never took for granted that I would still be here at this place at this age, but it just happened. And I think of that as a good thing.” robstein finds fulfillment in operating Sportsman’s because he knows what it means to the com-
