Beloved Smoke's bartender dies at 63

Mr. Hogan, as he was called by Smoke's student clientele, died last Monday of lymphoma at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He was 63. "Bobby Hogan touched the lives of Penn students from every walk of life, every socioeconomic background," said longtime friend and Smoke's patron Tom Kierney, a 1980 College graduate. "Mr. Hogan knew all the students and treated them all like his angels." "Bobby Hogan gave me the biggest smile and he would make me feel like the most important man in the world," Kierney added. Pat Ryan, who has operated Smoke's with his brother, Paul, since 1974, said this time of year was Hogan's favorite, because he was delighted to see the students return. "He sat at the end of the bar by the telephone and he remembered everyone," Ryan said. And Smoke's cook Joe Scelza, a friend and colleague of Hogan's for more than 20 years, recalled, "Whenever you had a problem, Bobby was always there to listen and give you advice." Others reflected on Hogan's undying love for Penn sports -- especially basketball. "[Hogan] would always sit there and talk about the games with us while we ate our chicken parm pre-game meal," Quaker basketball star and College senior Michael Jordan said. "He was the consummate Penn fan." Hogan's genuine concern, fatherly advice and warm smile live on through the memories of the patrons who knew him and a wide-mouthed caricature above the wood-paneled entrance directly across from where "Mr. Hogan" once sat. "When people would come back to Penn, they would come back to Smoke's and see 'Hoagie,'" Ryan said, referring to Hogan by the nickname his friends and co-workers would use. According to Ryan, hundreds of Penn alumni from across the country have called to offer their condolences and memories of Hogan -- some of whom were students when Hogan first tended the bar at Smoke's in 1959. And hundreds more -- including representatives from the Penn football, basketball and wrestling teams -- attended his memorial service last week at St. Agatha-St. James Church at 38th and Chestnut streets. Born in Baltimore, Hogan grew up in West Philadelphia and graduated from West Catholic High School in 1954. He served in the Army for three years before working full-time at Smoke's in 1959. Hogan continued working even after his diagnosis in early July. He is survived by his brother John and the family of his lifelong friend Jack McCafferty, whose son, Vincent, was Hogan's godson.