For a good time:
It may have started as just a bar, all those years ago, but it has been much more than that to many aggies. For over 50 years, we’ve been on Northgate, celebrating the big wins, knocking back a few after a tough test, reminiscing and reconnecting with friends. We’ve been there for the awkward first dates, the 20 year wedding anniversaries, the nights to remember and the nights to forget!
Love Story
Welcome to Miller Time
Friday, February 3, 1989, my husband, Dennis looked up from playing a game of pool to see me (a 5’2 blonde, blue eyed girl) walking through the crowd carrying and trying not to spill a pitcher of beer. My girlfriend and I had gone out to dinner and then headed over to the Chicken that evening. She knew one of the guys playing pool with Dennis, and we hung out with them and drank way too much! We were married almost 15 months later (April 28, 1990) and are inseparable! We have the pleasure of coming back to visit the Chicken through the years (especially when our son was going to school class of ’14) and enjoy how welcoming young Ags are when we older Ags come in!
Gig ’em and God Bless,
Dennis ’88, ’92 and Peggy Hill
From throwing bones to being at a wedding
A group of friends, class of ’90, met in town at the Chicken over the Christmas break. It was a Saturday afternoon and we were playing dominos. In walked a priest followed by the groom. The wedding march played over the speakers and in walked the bride. They served champagne to all in the bar and held a dance after. Of course the war hymn played following the kiss!
John Bush ’90
A short story and a long relationship
To keep it short… Let’s just say that I got the complete tour. Including an escort to Don’s office. Closest I ever got to the Wild West. Many amazing times with my buddies playing pool and 42. Still stop by for a burger and Tijuana fries when I can! Met Tara Long (now Hutton) on the Fish Camp bus and have somehow got her to hang around… Still convince her to shoot a little pool there now and then.
I took my ring to the Chicken to dunk it before I put it on...
On April 7, 2017, I received my Aggie Ring. Receiving my Aggie Ring was one of the most anticipated moments of my life. Surrounded by those who have impacted my life in enormous ways, I finally joined what I like to call the “Real Aggie Club.” Like my dad, FTA Class of ’90 did before me, I took my ring to the Chicken to dunk it before I put it on. My family and I sat around, had a couple pitchers, lunch, and generally enjoyed each others’ company before I finally managed to get through an entire pitcher mostly by myself. I have worked hard to be where I am today, but that could never have happened without the support of my parents. I am so thankful to attend this university, and the part of my life I am most scared for is any path that takes me away from Aggieland.
Charolotte Hammer ’18
18 years apart
Our family sat down for lunch on November 8, 2015. My husband looked up on the wall beside our (randomly picked) table and found our names – signed November 8, 1997. We were in the exact same spot on the same day 18 years apart.
– Dana Chancellor
42, it's the answer to life...
42. It’s the answer to life, coincidentally, it was the game of my life at the Chicken. I shot pool a lot as well, but most of my faded memories involve playing Bones. With my fish buddies, with old friends and new, it was a staple. I actually learned how to play at the tables in front of McInnis. It was practically a requirement to play if you did bonfire. I remember going to the Chicken almost weekly one year.
It was either sophomore or junior year… I can’t remember which because it all blends together. But I remember. I guess it was junior year, as beer is in many of those blurs. But I remember. The clacking of the dominoes hitting each other as someone dropped down the box onto a table. When someone was washing, I was watching for the one with the little nick on the corner? It was a good one. The laughs that ensued as we played. Follow me. Trying to improvise signs with my partner. It was never successful. Slamming down my last piece signaling I wouldn’t be the bitch in a box as we closed down.
Stories were always shared over a game of bones with a side of beer. Deep conversations were had. Philosophical discussions. Obnoxious arguments. Dumb jokes. Slightly drunkenness and a sad attempt to play but not remembering all the rules and bullshitting my way through a round? Yeah. My tenure at A&M was the best four consecutive years of my life. The Chicken certainly deserves some credit for that.
Wedding pictures
My husband (’08) and I (’09) are proud members of the Dixie Chicken family! So many memories and lifelong friendships were made.
– Lauren Diehl
Archive
Roger Creager playing to the crowd.
Dub Miller singing "Fightin' Texas Aggie"
June 14, 2014, the Dixie Chicken celebrated its 40th birthday with live music from Aggies and local talent.
Pat Ryan, Austin English, Dallas Shipp, Geoff Spahr, Rosehill, Clayton Gardner, Dub Miller, and Roger Creager all shared their talents to a large crowd packed throughout the promenade.
We’ve been married 35 years this year
One perfect summer afternoon in 1983 I met my future wife at the Dixie Chicken. She was sitting a few tables over playing 42, wearing a low cut summer dress with her perfect legs and big blue eyes. I decided I just had to meet her.
I talked my Corps buddy James to go with me to meet her. On the way over James stumbled and knocked the stove and stove pipe over into me. Resulting in me dumping a half-pitcher of Lone Star onto her barefoot. Classic smooth moves for two Ag major cadets.
Fast forward to Fall 1983. We were steady dating, she was a good catch because she could talk JD into a free pitcher with her big blue eyes. One night, she was sitting on my lap while I played 42 with my Corps Zip buddies Dondo, Terry, and Old Man ( Jay). I carved our initials into the tabletop inside a heart.
My nickname was Gramps. I got caught as a freshman one bitter cold morning in Fall 1980 wearing thermal underwear under my uniform at formation. Just like an old Grandpa.
My steady girl and I got married a few years later and raised a family. A couple years ago she went to The Chicken and found “ our table”. And it stunk, like three decades of spilled beer. And bought it. $$$$$. One of the best presents I was ever surprised with. We’ve been married 35 years this year.
The top is worn smooth. I calculated a minimum of 20 domino games a day, for at least 320 days a year, for over 35 years. That table was worn slick with over 200,000 domino games. The tables were old in 1983.
I cut the legs off and hung it on my wall. Our initials are in the lower left corner. My nickname is on the lower right side. Amazing they didn’t get worn off.
Love you sweetheart!
– Louis Peter
We have been happily married for 40 years now, and it all started at the Dixie Chicken!
Our love story began at the Dixie Chicken back in 1979! I had been standing in line that day to register for summer classes
(we didn’t have computers) and saw this gorgeous man in front of me. We were standing in the “S” line and he had “JOHN” on his belt. He was talking to another student so I wasn’t able introduce myself. I went home and told my roommate and best friend about John S. That night we all went to the Chicken as usual. When we walked in, a guy named Steve motioned for us to come over and join them because he really liked my roommate. When we sat down, THERE WAS JOHN S!!! We played 42, drank a few rounds, and became instant friends. We went dancing at Lakeview the next night and had a great summer together. Friendship grew quickly into love and he proposed in November of that year. We were married the next summer. Fast forward to 2009. My future daughter-in-law goes to A&M to take skiing lessons at Mount Aggie. She and her friend go to the Dixie Chicken. They see a bench that has been carved with “JOHN + DANA”. She asks if this is us. I never knew about it, but John confirms that he had done it that summer we met. It was still there after 30 years!! Last time we went there, our bench had been moved by the snake pit. We have been happily married for 40 years now, and it all started at the Dixie Chicken! 
– Dana Smith Swanson
A chance meeting leads to forever
Archive
My family has always been Ags. My stepmom and brother both graduated there. As the only non-grad, I had to find a way to get there. As a firefighter, I was able to attend the annual TAMU fire school. When I became a Dad, I knew the college I wanted my daughter to attend. When she was in elementary and middle school, we made nearly every game we could. Each time we came to The Chicken.
At first, my daughter saw it only as “a bar where Dad drank beer.” But after her first bite of a Freddy burger, I knew she was hooked. Why you ask? Because I couldn’t get a darn bite! I bought it only as a hunch she might like it! Now. If we’re in town for a game, she will know the time the game ends and the time The Chicken gets crowded and let me know it’s time to go.
I’ve told her the history of the place and explained the names etched in the walls and th tables. After about her fourth trip there she snuck in a Sharpie and while waiting on our food, left our mark at the Chicken. It’s now or defacto place to go on trips there. She limits her dear old dad to two beers but states she’s not limited in her food choices or her places to sit.
As a single Dad, it gives me such an honor to pass on to my little girl, the sense of feeling that the Dixie Chicken is. For all of us that have inhabited it since it’s glory days and the gravel parking lot; we know it’s more than just a bar or burger joint. It’s a way of life, it’s a family dinner on Sunday, it’s the pace you see your friends, it’s the place you’ve shared losses and gains. More greater than that, it’s a place we call home. And the Beasley’s, Kristen and Troy, call it home too. Thank you for all the memories!
– Troy Beasley