Hecky Powell, Restaurateur And Civic Leader, Dies Of Coronavirus

EVANSTON, IL — Hecky Powell, a longtime Evanston community leader and founder of Hecky's Barbecue, died Friday at 71 from complications of COVID-19, city officials said.

"You can be anybody," Powell told young black men from Evanston at a 2018 mentorship event. "The reason we're rated number one on the North Shore in Chicago is because I outwork everybody, and that's the key. You got to outwork them, and you know something? It's real simple these days to outwork somebody, because nobody wants to work."

Powell opened up the restaurant in 1983 at the corner of Green Bay Road and Emerson Street — it has since been given the honorary title "Hecky Powell Way" — while working as executive director of the local social service organization Neighbors at Work.

A major early publicity boost came in 1985 when more than 2,500 fans arrived to see Chicago Bears player William "The Refrigerator" Perry at the restaurant. Powell managed to secure the rookie lineman's appearance just months before the Bears' historic Super Bowl win for just $300, though Perry had by that time begun commanding fees of 15 times that amount, according to newspaper accounts from the time.

Initially, Powell expected the barbecue restaurant to be run primarily by his parents. His mother, Verna, was the source of many of Hecky's recipes, including the famous sauce passed down from his Creole grandmother from New Orleans. Powell's father, Forrest, whose own grandfather was born into slavery, would become the namesake of the foundation Powell formed to help local young people with vocational training, education, mentorship and jobs.

Powell found his work as a small business owner was more effective at lifting people out of poverty than working as a social services administrator, according to a 2014 release. He said his wife, Cheryl, asked if he was happy becoming a full-time restaurateur.

"I replied that I enjoyed helping the kids learn responsibility, social skills with customers and a way to make a living," he said at the time. "I found that teaching kids how to fish, instead of giving them a fish, was really rewarding."

In 2015, Powell received a liver transplant after getting a diagnosis from a doctor in 2011 that he had less than a year to live.

"He fought for his life then and came out on top," Frank Black, Powell's nephew and a former employee at Hecky's, said. "To have this take him out—"

In 2016, Powell founded the Evanston Work Ethic program, which offers vocational and educational opportunities to local high school students.

"Everybody who came through Evanston Township [High School], everybody who needed a job, he employed them," Black said. "He definitely was for the community, that I can say."

Powell has received the key to the city of Evanston, been named the small business person of the year by the Evanston Chamber of Commerce and served as president of the District 65 school board, according to the release issued ahead of the "Hecky Powell Way" honorary street sign unveiling. At the time of his death, Powell was serving his second term as an at-large member of the city's Economic Development Committee.

Hecky's has managed to keep all of its workers on staff during the coronavirus pandemic, while adjusting to new safety precautions, Powell told the Daily Northwestern earlier this month.

If it were not for the pandemic, Black said he expected Powell's funeral could have attracted a larger crowd than former Mayor Lorraine Morton's 2018 memorial.

"To be honest, you know, if it was any other time and he passed away this would probably be bigger than the mayor's funeral," Black said. "This would be a big one."

Ald. Ann Rainey announced at a community meeting Thursday night that Powell was hospitalized in intensive care after being diagnosed with COVID-19, Evanston Now reported.

Friday morning, Rainey was among the hundreds of Evanston community members who expressed grief about Powell's death, describing him as "one of my dearest friends in the world" in a social media post.

"Everybody knew him," Rainey said. "This is a huge loss."

Meleika Gardner, founder of Evanston Live TV, recalled Powell was her first paying client. Far more important than the check he wrote was his approval and the "old school" lessons he would impart in intense private chats.

"He taught me a lot about politics and business and race and family in Evanston," she said. "He would say, 'Get hip to the game, Meleika!'"

"Hecky was a legend in our town. He was passionate about helping disadvantaged youths launch successful careers and was a lifelong advocate for young people," according to a statement from the Evanston Community Foundation. "We have lost a true leader in our community."

Mayor Steve Hagerty issued a statement about Powell's death on Friday afternoon.

"Hecky embodied the very best of Evanston, and he loved our city and its residents unconditionally," he said. "Although we will miss him dearly, we will be forever grateful for the lasting impact he made in our community."

The Evanston Fire Department also issued a statement Friday acknowledging Powell's death and thanking him for his years of support: "Today Evanston lost Hecky Powell to COVID-19," it said. "Hecky was a wonderfully kind and generous man and a pillar of the Evanston community."

"What I'd like to be remembered for is that I was able to help a lot of young people," Powell told the Daily at the 2014 unveiling of his honorary street sign. "I was able to help a lot of young people get on the right track."