Muncie Loses a Legend

Somewhere in the midst of watching the curtain close on the Billy Gillispie basketball era at the University of Kentucky, some sad news broke out of Muncie today that the local icon known as "Bubba", the friendly Muncie Liquors employee who made the trip to the liquor store an enjoyable one, passed away.

The story from the Star Press can be found here, as Bubba, or Christopher Smith as he was legally named, was found dead in his home, of probable heart failure. I asked our Muncie Bureau Chief, Edge, to check in with his thoughts...

Alan let me in on the news today that Bubba had passed on to the Great Gig in the Sky. What an unbelievable loss. I don't want to make comparisons between the two, but I remember back in 1995 when a teammate walked into the football locker room and mentioned that Jerry Garcia died. It felt like a gut-punch then, and it feels like a gut-punch now.

Bubba was - is - an institution. We never said, "We're going to Muncie Liquors." We always said, "We're going to Bubba's." I don't know Bubba's love for Ball State football, but I do know Bubba's love for Ball State and its students, and it was unquestioned. Of the few things that personifies "Ball State", Bubba was surely at the top.

Whether you bought your booze from the man, whether you ever had the pleasure to shoot the shit with him, or whether you simply heard Bubba stories secondhand, without a question you feel a huge loss to the Ball State community.

If you are in the Muncie area and know Bubba, stop into his place and pay your respects. Buy a sixer, a fifth, or nothing at all, but remember to honor a true Cardinal.

So, Bubba, I'll see you at the liquor store in the sky. And on your journey, as you've told us hundreds of times... "Y'all be careful out there."