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Pizzeria Popular With U of I Students Turns 40
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) -- A beloved Champaign pizza restaurant turns 40 on Sunday.

Papa Del's is a favorite of University of Illinois students. It opened on Oct. 24, 1970, the day of a home football game. Bob Monti recalls the Illini lost to the No. 1 Ohio State Buckeyes, but the crowds were hungry for pizza.

Monti was making pizzas a decade before opening Papa Del's. His grandfather ran a restaurant in western Chicago. His father ran a pizza joint in Lombard.

The name Papa Del's comes from Monti's Phi Sigma Epsilon fraternity brothers. They nicknamed him "Del Monte" for the food company. "Papa" was because he was fraternity president and a father figure to the younger members.

Monti plans to run newspaper $5 coupons for to mark the birthday.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
10 23 10 by Newsroom
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