Beer, games and friends: Unleash your cheers at Brookings’s newest sports bar, The End Zone

By Mondell Keck | The Brookings Register

BROOKINGS — Tracy DeJean’s story begins in her beloved Huron, where she was born and raised — but sometimes change is good, and that’s what took her first to Sioux Falls and now to Brookings, where she oversees the city’s newest sports bar, The End Zone.

It’s apropos that DeJean is where she’s at. After all, she’s a huge football fan, and the fondness for the sport runs deep in her family. Just how deep? Well, perhaps the name Cooper DeJean rings a bell — he’s her nephew, and he plays in the NFL for the Philadelphia Eagles.

That put Tracy DeJean in a bit of pickle, because she was once solely a San Francisco 49ers fan. Emphasis on the word “was.”

“Now I go between them and the Philadelphia Eagles. (Cooper’s) very fast, very good,” DeJean said.

She said she’s right at home in The End Zone’s relaxing, sports-centered environment.

“A lot of people like the atmosphere … it’s not so loud (and) people can come and visit,” DeJean said. “We try to make the atmosphere fun — we’re working on karaoke. It’s homey and we try to be personal.”

She touted the sports bar’s customer service and its food, pointing out that customers love its wings and burgers. A big factor in that, DeJean said, is because the beef they use for the burgers, chislic and beef sticks is bought locally from her nephew Kyle Verhoek, who lives near Estelline and has it processed in Watertown.

“We have a lot of people come back because they heard about our burgers and our wings,” DeJean said. “It’s all good-quality beef, fresh beef.”

It shows, too, especially with The End Zone Burger and the sports bar’s Brookings Area Burger Clash entry: The Street Corn Smash Burger, which consists of beef, sauce, street corn, tortilla and a bun.

Verhoek’s mother, LeeAnn Verhoek, is DeJean’s sister. Tracy had nothing but praise for her sibling, calling her her “right-hand person” in helping getting The End Zone to where it is today.

“We have top-notch food. (Folks) have to come out and try it,” DeJean said.

Beyond the burgers, wings and chislic, other delectables include chicken strips, cheese curds, onion rings, pot stickers and French fries, along with chicken strip sandwiches, pizzas, gyros and salads.

‘Make it work’

With The End Zone up and running, DeJean said she’s now focused on succeeding at the location, which has been home to other restaurant ventures.

“When we first started, people would say, ‘Oh, there’s been so many businesses that have been there. They don’t last’ — blah, blah, blah,” she said. “We want to make it work. We want to make it a popular place so that everybody wants to come see and hang out.”

Having pool and dart tables — and an associated league with the latter — certainly helps, along with special evenings, including a planned Ladies Night on Wednesdays from 7 to 10 p.m. A great atmosphere and great food are other pluses as well — “A place for people to come and relax and have a beer,” as DeJean described it.

Community important

Besides overseeing The End Zone, DeJean has spent the last 18 years working for Avera Home Medical Equipment — first in Huron, then Sioux Falls and now in Brookings. Put everything together, and it’s likely she rarely has down time.

When she “fled” Sioux Falls — its traffic problems and population density were big reasons why — for Brookings, DeJean started working at Wilbert’s, now known as Domellie’s American Steakhouse, doing such things as events and managing the bar for two years.

After the changeover there, her bosses — Dennis and Susanne Biefeldt — asked if she wanted to run a sports bar, and so that’s how DeJean came to manage The End Zone.

DeJean leaped at the opportunity. Getting the premises properly prepared took some time, involving a lot of cleaning, painting the walls, bringing in new decor and so on.

“My kids are grown, so it’s like, ‘Well, what else do I have to do? Why not? Let’s do this!’” she said. “It’s good for me because I haven’t lived here, so I get to know the people (and) the community.”

One such connection DeJean’s already made includes a table of six regulars that come after every South Dakota State football and basketball game.

“I’ve gotten to know them … (so) it’s just getting to know the community and being more involved,” DeJean explained.

— Contact Mondell Keck at [email protected].