You Know The Name, You Knew His Place, But Do You Know Jack Erkert?
Editor’s note: The timing seems just about right. The Avalon Historical Museum is preparing to open a new exhibit this summer, Last Call at 3201 (Ocean Drive). That, of course, was the site for almost 90 years of The Black Eagle, Gallagher’s Pub, and the name that it held the longest, Jack’s Place. So, it only seems fitting that we find out just exactly who Jack is.
Avalon Police Officer Erkert with his patrol car at 14th Street in 1961
Jack Erkert was born in Philadelphia in January 1938. Thanks to his parents, he quickly adapted to being a “summer kid,” spending his first seven summers in Avalon. Once moving to Avalon and living on Ocean Drive between 22nd and 23rd streets, he attended Avalon Elementary School (the building on 26th Street) for third through sixth grades before finishing seventh and eighth grades at St. Ann’s in Wildwood.
While a student at Wildwood Catholic, Erkert worked at the American Store on 21st Street (which later became Acme Market, now Circle Pizza). After graduating from Wildwood Catholic High School in 1955, Erkert served in the Navy.
Back in Avalon after his honorable discharge, Erkert started working in construction until accepting a position at Gallagher’s Liquors (now Fred’s Avalon Liquors), owned by his aunt, Marie Gallagher. Erkert worked the day shift at Gallagher’s through that summer of 1959 while also adding night shifts as an officer with the Avalon Police Department. He served as a police officer for about three years before taking a position with the First National Bank of Stone Harbor, and still maintained a weekend work schedule at Gallagher’s.
Eventually, Erkert moved to full time at the liquor store while obtaining his real estate license through Otten’s Real Estate. He’d remain at Gallagher’s until Marie purchased The Black Eagle and asked him to manage what would become Gallagher’s Pub. He held that position until he and his wife, Joanne, purchased the property in 1968, giving way to Jack’s Place.
Obviously ahead of his time, Erkert reimaged the property into a “sports bar” long before the term was commonplace. Walls were covered with photos and mementos from some of Philadelphia’s greatest sports heroes, and it wasn’t uncommon to walk into Jack’s on a sunny weekend afternoon and find several Flyers from the 1974 and ’75 Stanley Cup champions or Eagles on a respite before training camp. Those same sports heroes were often photographed wearing Jack’s Place apparel.
Erkert was a pioneer when it came to special events, including winter reunions, holiday parties, season-opening parties, and the incredibly popular charity celebrity softball games down at the Eighth Street fields with Flyers and Eagles players that drew hundreds of spectators while raising funds for Helen L. Diller Vacation Home for the Blind.
In the mid-’70s, it was impossible to walk around Avalon without seeing a red T-shirt inviting you to “Put Yourself in Jack’s Place.” And there was also the signature red van that reminded everyone “When it rains, we pour.” And long before email, in a day when tavern operators marketed by simply opening their doors, Erkert built a large and loyal customer base with which he kept in touch with year-round via postcard invitations. With Sunday jam sessions, food and drink specials, celebrity appearances, live music every night, Erkert quickly achieved his goal to set his establishment apart from all others. Jack and Joanne operated the property until 1993, when they sold it and moved to Delray Beach, Fla.
Tavern owner, marketer, Navy veteran, president of the Avalon Chamber of Commerce, AAU swimmer, president of the Avalon Athletic Association, member of the Avalon Board of Education, and all-around good guy … now you know who Jack is.