BRADENTON BEACH – The Sports Lounge has had a connection with Chicago since John and Helen Brown, both formerly of Illinois, bought the Purple Porpoise in 1988 and renamed it.
John and Helen’s great-grandson, Camden Hammacker, paid tribute to the family’s history and connections to Chicago by recently painting a large mural of four Chicago sports stars on the west side of the building.
Hammacker spent about three weeks completing the mural that features Chicago Cubs infielder Javier Báez, Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams, basketball legend Michael Jordan and Chicago Blackhawks center Jonathan Toews.
“These are all Chicago players,” Hammacker said. “My great-grandpa John Brown was from Illinois, so in making the design I already knew there would be Chicago players in it. Honestly, I picked random players. I thought that looked pretty cool.”
While wearing a Chicago Cubs hat, Sports Lounge owner John “Butch” Brown said his parents ran the business from 1988 until July 1990, when he and his two sisters took over. He’s run the bar on his own for the past 10 years.
Butch Brown gave his grandson the opportunity to paint the mural, and he said he’s pleased with the results.
Hammacker, a tattoo artist, said he took a break from tattooing for about two months following a car accident. During that time, he experimented with spray paint on a smaller scale.
“I experimented on fences and then I felt like I could go for the actual wall,” he said.
He said he used ChatGPT to help structure his design before sketching the figures in chalk and creating a stencil. The mural background is painted in latex, with the player portraits done in spray paint.
Because he had resumed tattooing by the time he started painting, he said he worked on the mural late at night when he had time.
“The biggest thing for me was experimenting with it,” Hammacker said. “I wanted to do murals, and this is my first one. I kind of jumped into it, and I think the whole process has been fun.”
Hammacker’s mother, Shannon Smith, is Butch’s daughter and she’s a longtime Sports Lounge bartender. She said art comes naturally to her son.
“The funny thing is, he never took an art class,” she said. “I tried to get him in art and they put him in theater.”
The mural faces the Bradenton Beach Post Office, and Hammacker said a postal worker from Illinois recently stopped by to compliment the mural.
Hammacker used to work across the street at The Fish Hole mini-golf course. He said he and the business owner, Jake Spooner, have discussed possibly painting a mural there.
Samples of Hammacker’s tattoo work can be found on Instagram at @camden.tattoos.
