Conner Cagle Sr., never met a stranger.
Mr. Cagle, the former owner of the Olive Drop Martini Bar on Pensacola Beach and a musician who opened for many entertainers, including Freddy Fender and The Righteous Brothers, died Thursday after a lengthy battle with lymphoma. He was 67.
Friends and family remembered him as an energetic entrepreneur who was outgoing and friendly. "He would do anything for his friends," said Mr. Cagle's eldest son, Conner Cagle Jr., 37.
This fall, Conner Cagle Jr. will begin his first year as a football coach and math teacher at Pensacola High School. He's proud that he'll walk the same halls of the school his father attended. "On Thursday around 12:30, he started asking me about training camp and the upcoming football season, Cagle Jr. said. "I said, 'Dad, don't worry. You're going to be at every football game.' He was the hardest working man I knew. He was my best friend."
Known for his piano playing and soulful, velvet voice that drew comparisons to Otis Redding and Percy Sledge, Cagle sang everything from rock'n'roll to gospel.
Over the past 30 years, the Pensacola native and entrepreneur also opened restaurants, hotels and other businesses. In 1983, he built Ward's Hamburgers in Navarre, selling hamburgers, chili dogs, root beer floats and othe comfort food. He also opened several restaurants and bars in Pensacola, including B.J. Duckwaters Restaurant, Chan's Saloon and Eatery and Big Daddy's. He sold the Olive Drop Martini Bar in May because of ill health.
"Everybody liked Conner," said Ashton Hayward Jr., 67, a longtime friend who graduated from high school with Mr. Cagle in 1960. "One of my only regrets is that I didn't get to see more of him in the past few years."
Buck Lee, executive director of the Santa Rosa Island Authority, remembered seeing Mr. Cagle sing with his band at The King's Inn, a popular nightclub in Pensacola in the 1970s and '80s. "He was always in a great mood," Lee said. "He was a good host for many, many years."
Mary Owens was Mr. Cagle's caregiver up until his death. She said the couple planned to marry if his health improved. She said Mr. Cagle often was known for his humorous, light-hearted antics, including a time he walked a duck on a leash - right into the San Carlos Hotel's lounge.
"Conner loved Pensacola," she said. "He loved the people here. He loved meeting old friends who used to come listen to him play music."
(Adam Ziglar, Pensacola News Journal)