Muggsy's Still Serving Up Subs After 24 Years

by Jill Johnson
February 15, 2013 5:59 PM


It's been a staple in Yankton for nearly 24 years. Although it's listed on the menu, this restaurant isn't known for it's cheese balls or popcorn chicken. It's famous for it's homemade sub sandwiches, and the famous people who have eaten them. That's why we think the couple that makes them is 'One You Should Know'.

As you take the drive down Broadway Street, the first thing that will catch your eye is the big yellow sign. However, the sandwiches inside aren't your normal subs. As the saying goes, they're to die for.

John Murray, aka 'Muggsy' said, "The buns and the bread are laid in everyday, it's Pam's recipe. We use fresh produce cut everyday."

Each sandwich made fresh. Each bearing it's own special name. This particular one, perhaps the most famous, is called 'Muggsy's'. And no where else can you get one, but at Muggsy's Sub Gallery in Yankton.

Pam Murray said, "Everybody loves them so we continue to do them and every now and then we come up with something new to make it more fun and exciting."

Behind the making of these sandwiches, is John and Pam Murray. It's his nickname, but the two together, are Muggsy's. If you can't already tell, John, from Massachussetts, is the east coast style and Pam, a Yankton native, is the Midwest Smile, a motto they got behind in 1989.

John said, "We thought it was time to you know, set roots, set up a home where dad would be home every night, so, we thought, 'Why not Muggsy's?'

That's when everyone else got behind Muggsy's too. Everyone from famous rocker Ted Nugent and Florida Men's Basketball Coach Billy Donovan to NBC Nightly News Anchor Tom Brokaw and United States Senator John Thune has come through their doors. So many in fact, the sub shop created 'The Door of Fame'.

John said, "We've had a lot of influential people come through the area and dine with us, so it's been quite an experience. Every day you never know who might walk in."

However, there are a few customers who are a sure thing. Come 9 o'clock, it's where you'll find Pal Christensen and Dutch Erickson and half dozen other Yankton residents, enjoying their morning coffee.
Something they've done for the last 18 years.

"We just talk about sports and different things going on in the community and a lot of non-sense," said Erickson.

Non-sense, you'll only find at Muggsy's.

John said, "It's a melting pot of Yankton. We have it all here. We have young Yankton, middle Yankton, we have working Yankton. We have retired Yankton. I mean, they have a lot of fun here. The issues of the day are discussed."

Discussed over a bun filled with hot Pastrami and cheese, or, perhaps, Dutch's favorite.

Erickson said, "The 'Subomuggomuffin', you can't get any place else in town. And that's a sandwich that has bacon, sausage, ham, in a sub bun with two eggs splattered in there."

And the one place in town, where everyone is welcome.

Pam said, Y"If anyone hasn't tried Muggsy's, come on in and have lunch."

John and Pam say they started Muggsy's in downtown Yankton with just four tables and moved the store to Broadway Street in 1990. The couple says they won't continue the family business forever. One day, they'll likely sell it to spend more time with their grandchildren, but hope whoever does buy it, will carry on their name and make the business even more successful.