Depending on who you ask and how many beers they've had at the time of their answer, Nick's Ice House opened its doors nearly 50 years ago – sometime during the mid 1970s. Owner Nick Kolinksy opened Nick's at decided to put down roots in the Hub City after several years playing football at the University of Southern Mississippi. Kolinksy, once described by award-winning sports columnist Rick Cleve
land as a "square-jawed, bull-strong lineman" was a Pennsylvania native and Army veteran who was originally a walk-on at Southern Miss. In a column published following Kolinsky's death in 2016, Cleveland said Kolinsky first learned about USM while in the Army and drinking beer with some other soldiers in a German beer hall. According to Cleveland, Nick decided right then he was going to go to college in the funny-named town of Hattiesburg. When he left Pennsylvania in 1960, he told his mother he was headed for Mississippi. Her reply: "Son, that's a river, isn't it?"
Nick was a member of USM's 1962 national championship team, served as co-captain, and was inducted into the university's alumni association Sports Hall of Fame in 1984. "Sometimes to be a successful football player, you have to be a little crazy," the induction note said. "Talent is important of course, but so is the ability to sort of detach you from everything else and totally throw yourself into the moment of the game. "Nick Kolinsky was that type of player. One who had the skills and the abilities to play the game at its highest levels, but who on occasion could let go and be a little crazy." Sort of like its namesake, Nick's Ice House is a no-frills dive bar. We only accept cash, but have an ATM on site for your convenience. For the most part, we only sell bottled beer and only the basics: Budweiser, Bud Light, Yuengling, Miller Lite, Pabst Blue Ribbon, Coors Lite, Miller High Life, Michelob Ultra, and Truly Hard Seltzers. We also try to have bottled water, and cans of Coca Cola, Diet Coke, and Sprite on hand. Southern Living magazine named Nick's one of the South's Best Bars in 2016 along with legendary watering holes like the Napoleon House in New Orleans, Pinewood Social in Nashville, the Salty Dog Saloon in Gainesville, and Gallettes in Tuscaloosa. Here's what those fancy writers at Southern Living had to say:
"There are no frills at this Mississippi dive bar, which means cheap beer from a bottle (no draughts—sorry, beer nerds) and barstools topped with … toilet seats. But locals swear what it lacks in polish it makes up for in character. Kick back here for a round of darts or a game of pool with friends in the most casual of atmospheres."
