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"path": "/obituary/2026/05/15/sam-cheezborger-sianis-legendary-owner-of-the-billy-goat-tavern-dies-at-91",
"publishedAt": "2026-05-15T18:51:33.683Z",
"site": "https://www.wbez.org",
"textContent": "<p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Sam Sianis, legendary owner of the Billy Goat Tavern, died Friday from natural causes at Endeavor Health Swedish Hospital. He was 91.</p><p>\"My dad was always a person who lit up the room when he walked in, always in a good mood,\" said Mr. Sianis' son Bill Sianis, who, along with his brother Paul Sianis, has operated the family tavern since their father mostly retired about a decade ago.</p><p>\"I think he became a part of Chicago because of how he was, a hard working person but also with a big heart,\" Bill Sianis said. </p><p>Mr. Sianis opened the Billy Goat Tavern on Lower Michigan Avenue in 1964, three decades after his Uncle William \"Billy Goat\" Sianis opened its predecessor on West Madison Street. </p><p>It was at this subterranean location on Lower Michigan that Mr. Sianis became famous for telling customers in his thick Greek accent: “Cheezborger, cheezborger, cheezborger. Cheeps, no fries, Coke, no Pepsi,” thanks to a 1978 <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puJePACBoIo\" target=\"_blank\" >Saturday Night Live skit </a>that mimicked him.</p><p>Mr. Sianis became an icon who could be found behind the bar or at the grill, often taking pictures with customers.</p><p>Mr. Sianis' uncle, William Sianis, was behind the legendary \"Curse of the Billy Goat\" that some believed plagued the Cubs for decades.</p><p>A goat had been William Sianis’ mascot since he found one outside his original bar — then named the Lincoln Tavern. It apparently had fallen off a truck and was injured. He took it in and cared for the animal.</p><p>His customers got a kick out of it. So William Sianis, who lived above the bar — at the time at 1855 W. Madison St., where the United Center now stands — decided he'd keep at least one goat in a little pen behind the building.</p><p>Not long after, he renamed the joint “Billy Goat Inn.”</p><div class=\"Enhancement\" data-align-center> <div class=\"Enhancement-item\" data-crop=\"\"> <figure class=\"Figure\"><a class=\"AnchorLink\" id=\"image-0d0000\" name=\"image-0d0000\"></a> <picture data-crop=\"medium\"> <source type=\"image/webp\" width=\"490\" height=\"275\" srcset=\"https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/4e83a57/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2872x1612+0+229/resize/490x275!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F22%2F4b%2F3ca04da54c5ca937ad2a9a22753b%2F267-siania-sam-tavernkeeper-img00487967a-4720.jpg 1x,https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/931d090/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2872x1612+0+229/resize/980x550!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F22%2F4b%2F3ca04da54c5ca937ad2a9a22753b%2F267-siania-sam-tavernkeeper-img00487967a-4720.jpg 2x\" loading=\"lazy\" /> <source width=\"490\" height=\"275\" srcset=\"https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/bb1bc04/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2872x1612+0+229/resize/490x275!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F22%2F4b%2F3ca04da54c5ca937ad2a9a22753b%2F267-siania-sam-tavernkeeper-img00487967a-4720.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" /> <img class=\"Image\" alt=\"267 SIANIA, SAM TAVERNKEEPER -- IMG00487967A.4720.jpg\" srcset=\"https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/bb1bc04/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2872x1612+0+229/resize/490x275!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F22%2F4b%2F3ca04da54c5ca937ad2a9a22753b%2F267-siania-sam-tavernkeeper-img00487967a-4720.jpg 1x,https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/9c89ad5/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2872x1612+0+229/resize/980x550!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F22%2F4b%2F3ca04da54c5ca937ad2a9a22753b%2F267-siania-sam-tavernkeeper-img00487967a-4720.jpg 2x\" width=\"490\" height=\"275\" src=\"https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/bb1bc04/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2872x1612+0+229/resize/490x275!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F22%2F4b%2F3ca04da54c5ca937ad2a9a22753b%2F267-siania-sam-tavernkeeper-img00487967a-4720.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" > </picture> <div class=\"Figure-content\"><figcaption class=\"Figure-caption\"><p>On the 50th anniversary of the business, Billy Goat Tavern owner Sam Sianis feeds beer to a goat. </p></figcaption><span class=\"line\"></span><div class=\"Figure-credit\"><p>Sun-Times file</p></div></div> </figure> </div> </div><p>William Sianis brought his billy goat named Murphy to Wrigley Field for Game 4 of the 1945 World Series, Cubs vs. Tigers, with the Cubs leading the series two games to one.</p><p>He and the goat were kicked out, legend has it, when the animal began to stink during a rain delay.</p><p>According to legend William Sianis threw up his arms and exclaimed, “The Cubs ain’t gonna win no more. The Cubs will never win a World Series so long as the goat is not allowed in Wrigley Field.”</p><p>William Sianis died in 1970. His nephew, Sam Sianis, who just passed away Friday, was a Cubs fan who continued the legacy of his uncle's curse.</p><p>Weeks before the Cubs won the 2016 World Series, the Sianis family held a \"Reverse the Curse\" ceremony on Oct. 6 — the 71st anniversary of the goat getting booted from Wrigley Field.</p><p>To “awaken the spirits,” the family hung the same trokani — a Greek goat bell — that the original Murphy had worn around its neck to Wrigley around the neck of a new goat.</p><p>Mr. Sianis, who lived in Park Ridge, previously had tried to break his uncle's curse multiple times, including in 1984 when he brought a goat onto Wrigley Field on opening day.</p><p>Mr. Sianis came to the United States from Greece in 1955, first staying with family in San Francisco before moving to Chicago in 1960 to work at his uncle's tavern.</p><p>There are now a total of seven Billy Goat locations in Chicago.</p><p>The Billy Goat's location on Lower Michigan near the former offices of the Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune made it a favorite watering spot for reporters and columnists.</p><p>Columnist Mike Royko was a regular and became close with Sam Sianis.</p><p>\"He felt like they were brothers,\" said Mr. Sianis's son.</p><p>Mr. Sianis is survived by his wife, Irene, his sons Bill Sianis, Tom Sianis, Paul Sianis and Ted Sianis, his daughters Patty Sianis and Jenny Constantinou and 12 grandchildren.</p><p>Services are pending.</p>",
"title": "Sam 'Cheezborger' Sianis, legendary owner of the Billy Goat Tavern, dies at 91",
"updatedAt": "2026-05-15T18:51:33.683Z"
}