Key West Bar Pays Tribute To Former Patron Mike Leach With Awesome Barstool Tribute: 'Ironically, They're All Liberals'

Mike Leach frequently vacationed in Key West, Florida and one of his favorite watering holes was the iconic Capt. Tony's Saloon. The sudden passing of Leach affected the small beach town and its residents just like it did every other corner of the United States. Capt. Tony's came up with a unique way to honor the late football coach.

Leach, like other iconic figures that have visited the bar, had a barstool with his name on it. Following his death, the barstool was put on the stage alongside a memorial candle and his favorite drink - grape vodka and water.

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Joey Faber, the owner of the establishment, recently decided it was time to take Leach's barstool from the stage and find a spot to hang it from the ceiling.

Then came the decision of where to hang the barstool. Not too easy a task in an iconic bar like Capt. Tony's.

Faber decided Leach's barstool needed to hang between the barstools of none other than Ernest Hemingway and two former United States Presidents, John F. Kennedy and Harry Truman.

"I really think we have to stick a guy like Mike between Hemingway and two presidents," Faber told the Palm Beach Post. "I know he can tell better stories than Hemingway and is a lot smarter than Kennedy and Truman."

"Ironically, they're all big liberals."

Leach was no liberal, so fitting the coach's barstool between those three seems like a great choice.

The 171-year-old building that Capt. Tony's calls home has been frequented by the likes of Bob Dylan, Ted Kennedy, Clint Eastwood, Dan Marino, and Hemingway. It's also where Jimmy Buffett got his start in the music industry and of course one of Leach's favorite spots to tell stories.

"Anything you want to talk about Mike has the knowledge to pick it up," Jerry Hughes, a longtime high school football coach, said. "Sometimes he just threw me a curveball and I didn't know what the hell he was saying."

Yep, that sounds like the late, great Mike Leach alright.

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Mark covers all sports at OutKick while keeping a close eye on the world of professional golf. He graduated from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga before earning his master's degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee. He somehow survived living in Knoxville despite ‘Rocky Top’ being his least favorite song ever written. Before joining OutKick, he wrote for various outlets including SB Nation, The Spun, and BroBible. Mark was also a writer for the Chicago Cubs Double-A affiliate in 2016 when the team won the World Series. He's still waiting for his championship ring to arrive. Follow him on Twitter @itismarkharris.