Dad's bucket

Click here for "Dad's Bucket," the full project, including photos and video.

When I was in high school, I knew a few things about IU.

I knew my parents met here at an apartment near the Varsity Villas. I knew about Bob Knight and Assembly Hall and the five banners. And I knew about Nick’s English Hut.

If my family would come to Bloomington for a football game or campus visit, we’d have lunch at Nick’s. I put the key to my first car on a keychain emblazoned with a red bison holding a frothy mug. Whenever I opened our cabinet at home, I’d see a rusty metal bucket proclaiming in bright red paint, “Nick’s Bucket Brigade.”

There’s something about Nick’s that makes it inseparable from the IU experience. It’s not just the decidedly cream and crimson decor. It’s a more humble bar than other establishments on Kirkwood. It’s a place to sit down and drink a God-fearing pound of American beer out of a jar. It’s inherently Hoosier.

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