Buster Corley was found dead in his Dallas home. It is believed to be a suicide; the family says he had suffered a severe stroke four months ago
There is a Razorback football angle in here, which I will get to shortly.
Dave and Buster’s was founded in Dallas, but it has Little Rock roots. Buster owned a Little Rock bar called, amazingly enough, Buster’s, in the late 70s in the Train Station, which was next to a game emporium called Slick Willy’s, owned by David Corriveau. Buster noticed how people drifted back and forth between the two establishments, joined forces with Corriveau, and D&B was born – a restaurant, bar and arcade aimed at young adults.
The football angle is that for a few years, Buster’s was the happening night spot in Little Rock, and if we had an afternoon game at WMS, many of the players could be found at Buster’s that night (I know because I was there on a few Saturday nights).
I would also be completely unsurprised if some of the players were pushing the limits of curfew at Buster’s on Friday night, but I was never there to witness it if so.
Busters and Slick Willys. One was a nice place to take a date for lunch or dinner (such as the future Mrs. Buzzard) and the other was a place to drink beer, shoot pool and play arcade games.
Slick Willys had this one waitress who had the most incredible… oh never mind.
I was thinking Cash McCool’s had something to do with this and I found this in an article. I played a lot of pool and shuffle board in Cash McCool’s.
Corriveau opened his first business, a “saloon and game parlor” called Cash McCool’s, in 1975 at age 24, and two years later followed up on his success with Slick Willy’s World of Entertainment. Corley ran a popular bar called Buster’s, which he opened in 1978 right next door to Cash McCool’s
LR and NLR in the 80’s had a lot of night clubs. Some lasted longer than others. SOB, Bobbisox, the Wine Cellar, Champions, Bennigans are some off the top of my head. I know I’m missing some.
Ah, the Swine Cellar, the late night place to be because there were not a whole lot of other places to go. The Checkmate Club in downtown North Little Rock was rougher, and sometimes lovingly referred to as the Select-A-Mate.
John Barleycorn’s Vision in west Little Rock was a restaurant/bar that was pretty trendy at one point. The feature drink was kind of like a Hurricane. A lot of girls liked going there for a nice date.
The first time I ever saw Joe Kleine in person he was coming off the tiny dance floor at Bennigans. The dense crowd peeled away in front of him in a way that made me think of Moses parting the Red Sea. Joe is a large human being.
I loved Buster’s & Slick Willy’s. Went to both often after work. Yes, Bennigan’s & SOB were good. The Wine Cellar was owned (or maybe managed) by a very bad person. He was convicted of some major crime in Tennessee but got out with a bribed-pardon from disgraced TN governor Ray Blanton. Said club owner is now in prison in Ark for solicitation of murder.
But back to the great places to go in LR & NLR. One was Shakey’s Pizza on Old Rebsamen Rd (a bank sits there now.). Another great place just across the street was One-Eyed Jack’s. Another place that was a little more upscale & mostly a dinner establishment was Steak & Ale.
A HS buddy was a State Trooper on Bill’s security team. I’ll not comment on what he said. And my other HS friend (allegedly) introduced Jennifer Flowers to Bill. When asked he said “I can neither confirm or deny that rumor”.
