Tank's to continue in wake of Dan "Tank" Tankersley's death

A day after his death, customers had high praise for the bar Dan "Tank" Tankersley established in 1987 at 2033 Wayne Avenue in Dayton.

Rose Kirby says she can't help but ask people she meets if they have visited Tank's Bar and Grill.

"'You have to go to Tank's. It is so good,'" the Springboro resident tells people. "It is like a part of Dayton."

 →→Funeral service set for Tank's owner Dan “Tank” Tankersley

Kirby said the tavern Tank built is much more than just a tavern, and hopes it will remain open in the wake of Tankersley's death Sunday, after he suffered a heart attack Thursday.

Tank's wife of 18 years Debra Tankersley said the bar's tradition will continue as her husband wanted.

"I plan to keep it going for the next 29 years," she told WHIO-TV Channel 7. "We've been open for 29 years in May. And he was proud of that."

In the years since it opened in the former home of Walnut Hills Bar, Tank's has become an iconic Dayton instution.

You can grab breakfast any time of the day, as well as one of several menu items named for its namesake: The Tankburger, Tank's "Road Kill" Dawg or the Tankasauraus -- a hefty meal of three eggs, a 6-ounce New York strip steak, hash browns and toast.

It can count college students, politicans, Walnut Hills neighborhood residents and business leaders among its fans. Kirby first went to Tank's for the first time shortly after moving to Dayton more than 25 years ago.

She and her co-worker Stacy Oda have eaten lunch at the restaurant at least once a week for the past four years.

They are the kind of customers who don't really need to place an order, because the servers know what they are having.

There are a lot of customers like that at Tank's. 

Oda said her husband Bob has known Tankersley for years.

"He just seemed like a nice, great guy," she said of the 63-year-old tavern owner, an Oakwood High School graduate. 

Due to its location, the bar draws a large University of Dayton crowd, including Oda's daughter Delaine.

"If she comes here before a UD game, she says they'll win," Oda said.

She says her daughter didn't go to the bar before Friday's game. UD was routed by Syracuse in the NCAA Tournament.

Out to lunch with his friend Chris Dahm, nearby resident Gene Noonan, the owner of E. H. Noonan Heating & Air Conditioning, said he got to know Tank over the years and even did some work for him at his home.

"He was pretty jovial --  just a happy-go-lucky kind of person," Noonan said. "He talked to everybody. He was a real good guy."

Kyle Himsworth, a UD graduate who now calls Cincinnati home, started going to Tank’s 10 years ago when he was in high school.

He drives in about once a week and eats at the restaurant. He's seen Tank sit at his tavern's bar many late nights.

"I've had first dates here. I've had second dates here," said Himsworth, who ate lunch Monday with friend Matt J. Evans, a UD lecturer and the technical director of Boll Theatre. "It is a special place. When I am really hungry, this is the place I go."

Evans said Tank's is a must stop for theater stagehands who come through Dayton.

"This is one of their 'to-dos' (in Dayton)," he said.

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