Pressbox, Missoula
Pub Date: 1/1/2003
In 2001, the Missoula County Tavern Association donated to over 30 charitable causes around the city and state. But the donations of the TA provide only a fraction of the picture of charitable activity by hospitality business owners around the city.
To get a better sense of what tavern owners do in addition to their contributions through their local associations, one need only get ahold of a few and ask them.
Tavern operator Gordie Fix was raised in Missoula, graduated Missoula County High School in 1964 and went immediately to work in a pulp mill in nearby Frenchtown. He worked shifts in the bleaching plant until the late 1970's, believing, he says, "I'd be there all my life."
But in 1975, Fix partnered up with some bowling buddies and bought Five Valleys Bowl. Then, in 1977, he went on his own and bought a small tavern business, The Elbow Room. Though it was nothing he could've foreseen, Fix says the move from the mill to the hospitality business was one of the great decisions of his life.
"I just fell in love with it," he says. "The bar business turned out to be my touch, my niche."
In the early-80's, Fix decided to go deeper in the tavern business, investing in the then fledgling Pressbox Sports Bar, and making what would later be important connections with the players and staff of various University of Montana sports teams particularly the Grizzlies football team, then not quite the powerhouse they are today.
"I got a real closeness with coaching," he explains. "I learned what it took for them to win'; and when they didn't win, I'd still give them support."
In 1989, when the University decided bidding its stadium site for the playoffs was too risky, Fix and his partner decided to back the bid themselves and brought the game to Missoula. A financial and athletic success ("the teams would come up from the south and we'd just kick their butts," Fix says) the Pressbox continued to back the bid for several years. Eventually, the bidding process was eliminated by the league.
The University and Missoula community quickly recognized Fix's commitment, so when there was a victory to celebrate or, less happily, a loss to assuage, the fans, staff and athletes would head to the Pressbox for a drink, a bite to eat and sense of camaraderie.
After more than 20 years in the business and a lifetime in Missoula, Fix say he feels a strong sense of gratitude and an obligation to give something back to the community that has supported him and his endeavors.
"I give donations to most anyone who walks through that door," he explains. "They come in, find me in the back room and, usually, I just can't say no. Sometimes, if it seems like just a minor thing, or something really ridiculous, I'll just give a pizza or something small, but I always try to give something."
Because he mainly relies on people approaching him, Fix says at the end of the year his list of donations is eclectic.
"They come and bang on the door every week just every sort of cause. You get people raising money for someone who's been hurt in an accident'; the high school band might want money, the sheriff's posse It's a long list," he says with a sigh.
Fix says It's tough to pick a favorite cause, but that It's especially gratifying when you "get to help someone who's been hurt.
"Occasionally, you feel like you might've helped save a life, allowing a child to get an operation or something he couldn't get otherwise. I bet there have been a lot of operations performed in this town that wouldn't have happened without financial help from the taverns and casinos. I don't know a lot of operators who can turn down something like that."
Besides supporting the Grizzlies, Fix says the business is also involved with many, lesser-known sports and extracurriculars.
"We support a lot of the sports that don't get funded, like rugby," he explains. "We buy tickets to all the concerts, then have drawings in the casino or give them out to our employees. We also work with the fraternities and sororities."
Fix says he thinks tavern owners are usually among the first to be approached for donations because "the word spreads. People say, "Go see this guy'; he never says no," and it catches on."
The immediate availability of tavern owners is also a factor.
"You call one of these big corporations and they tell you to send headquarters a letter. With us, you just stroll in the door and look us in the eye."
As a business operator who deals intimately with his community, Fix says, "You hear a lot of the troubles and needs first hand from bar talk, coffee talk, lunch talk. You're in the forefront'; right there. People talk to you and, naturally, you respond."
Source: Special Reports, Jan. 2002, published by Continental Communications, 125 W. Granite, Suite 102, Butte, MT 59701.