Gregory Hughes has always been a huge sports fan. When he moved from Washington, D.C., to Atlanta in 1992, he bought tickets to watch his new home teams, the Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta Hawks. But he didn’t readily find the community he was searching for.
“I didn’t know a lot of other gay men that were so into sports,” he said.
But he soon discovered Atlanta’s thriving LGBTQ+ sports leagues and joined bowling and softball leagues. Eventually, he met more gay men who enjoyed playing and watching sports.
In 1993, he hosted his first Super Bowl party at his home for about 30 friends. Nine years later, there were about 400 people packed into Hughes’ home to watch the Super Bowl. It was time for a bigger venue — it was time for Atlanta to have its own gay sports bar.
“The thing was, we couldn’t go to a Taco Mac or Hudson Grille and hang out, watch sports and hug on our friends and kiss our boyfriend and kiss our girlfriend in those environments,” Hughes said. “I felt like there were enough gay people that would enjoy sports and would enjoy a place where they could be themselves.”
In November 2002, Hughes and two other investors opened Woofs Sports Bar on Piedmont Avenue and invited the hundreds of people on Hughes’ Super Bowl party list.
“We opened day one with a big crowd and we’ve been successful ever since,” said Hughes, now the sole owner of the bar.
In 2019, Woofs relocated from Piedmont Avenue into a new, expanded space at 494 Plasters Ave. NE. The bar survived the COVID-19 pandemic, Hughes said, because loyal customers kept ordering their favorite sports bar grub — hamburgers, tacos, wings, beer.
“Our customers are like family,” he said.
