One of my SEC Tournament traditions is no more

I'm in Hoover, Ala., for the 10th straight year to attend the Southeastern Conference Tournament (as a fan). I'm tickled the SEC decided to keep the tournament here through at least 2016, but it's not going to be the same.

Constantine "Gus" Koutroulakis, (above) owner and operator of Pete's Famous Hot Dogs in downtown Birmingham, died in early April. I'd been stopping by there at least once per trip since discovering the place around 2004. I drove by today and found the tiny neon marquee down and a "closed" sign on the door. Once I got to my hotel room I checked the internet and learned of his passing. He started working there for his uncle, Pete, as an 18-year-old in 1948. He later took over the business. He must have known every Greek in the South. When I told him I was from Greenville, S.C., he asked me if I knew Nick Theodore (former lieutenant governor of S.C. and a longtime Greenville resident). Then, he asked if I knew John Rousakis (I knew of him - he was the mayor of Savannah when the Savannah Braves moved to Greenville in 1984). He said he had played in basketball tournaments against them as a youth. It's virtually impossible to adequately describe how small the place was. The customer area was a wide as a door and about 12 feet deep. You straddled crates of drinks as you ate standing up. It was tough for people to pass as one was leaving and another coming in. There wasn't that much room on the other side of the grill. As long as I knew Gus he had a curved back. I don't know how much was because of the cramped quarters - he had bun storage shelves above the grill - and how much was because of 63 years of bending over and making hot dogs. His "special" was a hot dog with sauerkraut and a type of loose meat resembling chili used at Upstate S.C. restaurants but larger, coarser and without a detectable taste of chili powder. His wife was helping him during our early visits, but her health deteriorated and she wasn't at the shop the last couple of years. He had a helper to operate the cash register, but I think Gus made every hot dog - sometimes while sprinkling with a profanity as he saw fit. Below is a long-range picture of the marquee being removed. It was as wide as the storefront. At the top of the post is a close-up shot of the marquee.
RIP, Gus