Tommy Dobczyk's friend Gene Trent opened a bar called Field of Dreams in Lockport, Illinois, built around a softball league. Five years later, the studio behind the 1989 film sued for $1.2 million over the name. Gene settled for 10 percent of the claim, rebranded to Dreams, and eventually sold at a loss.
Chapters
You're famous when people sue you. Okay, do a little story to this. I'm in my hometown of Lockport, Illinois. You can Google it. And a buddy of mine that I grew up with lived right behind me, literally in the backyard on the other street. His name was Gene Trent. When we got older, he went away to college, come back, and he was like six years older than me. But when he came back from college, he decided he wanted to open a bar in town and called it Field of Dreams.
Oh, like the moon. Yes.
100 after the movie. Field of Dreams. Made the baseball diamond on it. Everything Pitcher and blew his arm out in college. And he was a hopeful that didn't get to go. And so he ended up coming back home and just setting up softball leagues and getting all the local businesses to be in the softball league. And so he literally started the ball. The bar to have a softball team. And he's called it Field of Dreams. Right. So me and my dad, of course, went out there and played, and it was amazing for me and my dad because we were young enough and old enough in age to play together. And so we got to play two seasons together for Gene and stuff like that. But it only took him about five years, and he got a letter from the Hollywood studios and said, cease and desist. You had to change the name of your bar. Took him five years. It was 100%. 100% his intentions. He wanted. He wanted Kevin Costner to come walk in the bar and tell him to quit using the name. That was cool.
That's funny.
That was his.
I didn't know you were from Lockport. That's crazy.
Yeah. Yeah. I grew up in Lockport, Went to Lockport high, graduated in 93, and went to Joliet Junior College for two years. Got recruited to SIUC, and my was there six weeks and found out my wife was pregnant with my daughter and quit school, so came home and started being a dad right away. So. But yeah, the field. The bar was. The bar's name changed to Dreams. He had to get rid of the field of. And get rid of the baseball theme. They sued him for $1.2 million. He settled to get out of it for 10% and change everything. And then he sold the bar and new owners bought it. And then it caught on fire one night and the whole bar burned to the ground.
Good thing he sold it. Wow.
For 30 cents on the dollar and opened it back up and called it Embers.
