The Epic Story of GoodTime Docs

GOODTIME DOCS opened in October of 1985. I named it after my dad, “Doc Springer,” who passed away shortly before we opened. His caricature is still part of one of our logos. Back then, we were “Goodtime Doc’s Bar & Grill – Jacksonville’s #1 Sports Bar.”

We were open seven days a week, 11 a.m. to 1 a.m., serving lunch and focusing mostly on sports and food. No dance floor yet. Later, we added breakfast, dinner, pizza — and became known for our huge burgers, horseshoes, and homemade soups.

We sponsored about nine sports teams, and Tuesdays back then were as busy as Saturdays are now. Both our men’s and women’s softball teams went to state more than once, and our dart and pool teams made it to Vegas more than once.

Back then, “Happy Hour” was legal in Illinois. Wednesday through Friday we had free food buffets, 50¢ drafts, $1 B.O.B.s (“Big Old Beers” — thanks Kevin Travis), and DOUBLE BOBLES. At 5 p.m. on Fridays, there’d be a line out the door. UPDATE: On July 15, 2015, Illinois brought Happy Hour back!

Around 1987, we put in our first dance floor (1st one in town)— where FORTUNES is now. The DJ booth fit entirely where the balcony landing is today.

In 1989, I remodeled the 3rd floor (yes, there’s a whole other bar up there) with a HUGE dance floor and a massive banner (now on the south wall) that used to raise up into the ceiling and disappear. The upstairs opened at 9 p.m., and there’d be a line to get up there starting at 8. The stairway? 27 steps straight up. Going up sucked… coming down was a blast. People even slid down on their stomachs.

We had two sets of identical twins — one guy set, one girl set — split between upstairs and downstairs. You should’ve seen the looks on first-timers who thought they were seeing double. I even ran a comedy club up there for about a year.

In 1991, I sold the place. Two years later (to the day), the owners defaulted, and I got it back. I reopened as “Springers” — I’d sold the original name and wasn’t sure I could use it again. In 2000, I switched back to “GoodTime Docs.” Funny thing is, after 15 years under that name, most people (and even employees) still call it “Springers.”

Fast forward to 2017. Business was rough — bars in Jacksonville had lost 70% of their sales. I had two choices: keep paying bills until I went bankrupt, or put what I had left into a remodel and gaming parlor and risk foreclosure. I chose the latter. On 5/10/17, I went into foreclosure. But I remodeled, added gaming, and worked 80+ hours a week. Business doubled. I wasn’t going down without a fight.

Now here we are — our 40th year in business. Covid changed everything, and legalized weed hasn’t helped bars much either. But we’ve adapted. We’re still here, still strong — just a different kind of strong.

Fun Facts from 40 Years:

Over 1,000 people employed

Over 1,000,000 customers served

Over 7,000 half barrels of beer poured

Over 80,000 cases and 1,500,000 bottles sold

Over 700,000 cocktails mixed

Over 45,000 lbs. of hamburger grilled

Over 4,000,000 cocktail napkins used

Over 700 people have “lost their lunch” inside

Toilets flushed over 2,000,000 times

Over 800,000 hangovers created

And… one woman’s water broke four feet inside the front door.

If you’ve been with us since the beginning, thank you for the memories. If you’re new here, welcome to the party — we’ve been warming up for 40 years.