A recent email announced plans to put a pub in the student union at the University of Oregon, where Joe and I met. This might be an even bigger deal than the infamous food fight staged there during filming of “National Lampoon’s Animal House.”

Joe would have loved it.

When we were in Eugene (cue the violins), we had to dash through traffic to get to our favorite pub, and even though I was 21 and Joe was 30, the R.A. gave us grief when she caught us smuggling a six-pack or $2 bottle of potato vodka into the dorm.

Our first date was at an off-campus tavern that quickly became our favorite spot. We could sit at a spool table and watch ducks float down the Millrace or rent a canoe for a few bucks and paddle alongside them. Murphy & Me was not only close, it also had no cover charge and plentiful free snacks. Underscore the free. A pitcher was $1.25. We’d nurse one for such a long time the barkeeper would stop refilling the Beer Nuts to shoo us out.

Here’s to you, Joe! I’ll hoist one for you at the EMU when the new pub is finished.