Joe Davis McClard

Obituary: McClard's Bar-B-Q patriarch liked to joke, laugh

Joe McClard and his father, J.D. McClard (right), talk about their family's famous restaurant Tuesday, April 15, 2003.
Joe McClard and his father, J.D. McClard (right), talk about their family's famous restaurant Tuesday, April 15, 2003.

HOT SPRINGS -- Joe Davis McClard, better known as "J.D.," the patriarch of McClard's Bar-B-Q, is remembered by relatives as a proponent of tourism and proud of his community.

McClard, 91, who retired from the restaurant in 2005, died late Tuesday.

"I've been up all night with phone calls of people, some I've never even met, telling me stories about my grandfather," McClard's co-owner Scott McClard said Wednesday. "They're telling me stories, most of which I've never even heard before, about how he touched their lives in some way.

"He was suffering and in pain for a long time and got a lot worse last Sunday. He had a great life and was a great man. It's bittersweet."

It's not just the food that gained recognition for McClard and the restaurant, known nationally as a top Southern barbecue spot.

"He loved Hot Springs and was a big proponent of tourism," McClard said. "It wasn't just about his business. He was a big fan of Oaklawn and active with the Chamber of Commerce, and I don't think you'd ever meet a bigger Bill Clinton fan than J.D."

J.D. McClard's daughter, Brenda Thomason, said he was a fair man who loved to laugh, and was proud of his family and community.

"He went to work every day and provided for us and his family, just like every working father does for their family," she said. "He loved to joke around with everyone, and his grandkids used to tell him he was famous. He loved that."

Thomason and her daughter, Micah Castleberry, said he knew everyone in town.

"Like Will Rogers, Dad never met a man he didn't like," Thomason said. "He used to tell people he was in Playboy, but that was just an article about barbecue, and when he would answer the phone, he used to tell people he was Robert Redford. We still don't know why."

Thomason said her father was "proud that a Hot Springs boy became president," adding that Clinton had personally invited the McClard family onto Air Force One.

But he was more proud, she said, of his grandchildren, whom he and his wife would visit every Saturday morning, "when everyone else wanted to sleep in, but the doorbell would ring and there would be Mamaw and Papaw."

Scott McClard said "he and my grandmother were married for 72 years -- which is really something for these days.

"They went for breakfast at the Pancake Shop every morning and then walked the Promenade, holding hands. Their love is something to be admired."

McClard's Bar-B-Q, at 505 Albert Pike, has the reputation of being among the finest barbecue restaurants in Arkansas, having gotten its start in 1928, almost by accident.

According to their history, the McClards owned and operated the West Side Tourist Court on Arkansas 70 east of Hot Springs, which included a gas station and a diner that served barbecued goat.

When a guest who stayed for a few months back in the 1920s went to the innkeeper and confessed that he had no money to pay the bill, Alex McClard accepted from him a recipe for "the world's greatest hot sauce" as payment, believing that it was better than nothing.

As the Great Depression deepened, the elder McClard tried the recipe, and with a few changes, it became the nationally known sauce that McClard's offers today.

The recipe is a secret, kept locked up.

What isn't a secret, Scott McClard said, is the way his grandfather never met a stranger and offered a hand up to anyone in need.

"The reason we became so well-known wasn't just the barbecue," he said. "It was a matter of McClards just being good people who cared about people. He influenced his family in a big way -- my dad and me -- to be good people and care about people.

"I'm doing nothing more than mimicking what he did all these years to carry on what his father started and carry on his legacy."

Scott McClard said the outpouring of support from the community and "people from all over" has been tremendous in the hours since his grandfather's death.

"A lot of the calls have been from these old-timers saying, 'Oh, J.D. helped me out when I needed money to buy some land,' or 'Your grandfather loaned me some money to help me get back on my feet,'" he said. "There are so many stories, and it's good to hear them -- in some cases for the first time."

McClard's will be closed Saturday for the funeral.

"He always wanted to make the customers happy," Thomason said. "He probably wouldn't be happy that we're closing Saturday. He will be missed."

State Desk on 09/25/2015

Upcoming Events