Dog n Suds was a popular choice for fast food in the 1960s and 1970s, and remains a recognized root beer brand today. A co-founder of the chain was formerly a high school music teacher in Illinois.

Seven decades ago, Don Hamacher, who helped build Dog n Suds into a juggernaut, was a former music teacher in Robinson, in Crawford County in southeastern Illinois. He later accepted a high school teaching position in Champaign, where Dog n Suds was born.

A product of Richmond, Missouri, Hamacher graduated from the University of Missouri and began his teaching career in 1944 at Robinson High School. He stayed there until 1950, when he was appointed the director of the college choir at MacMurray College in Jacksonville.

In a 2012 memoir, Hamacher described his time at MacMurray as “a great cha

See Full Page