Uniontown man managed McDonald’s where first Big Macs sold
Nicholas J. “Nick” Sabatini was working as a crew manager at the McDonald’s restaurant in the Uniontown Shopping Center in 1967 when a new product was introduced — the Big Mac.
Family members also say the Uniontown man, who died Wednesday of a heart attack at age 89, may have influenced store owner Jim Delligatti, who created the legendary sandwich that contains two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame-seed bun.
Nicholas Sabatini Jr. said his siblings remember their father used to make his own two-patty burger with tomato and a dressing created by mixing mayonnaise and tartar sauce at the restaur-ant, catching Delligatti’s eye.
A website for the Big Mac Museum in North Huntingdon, Westmoreland County, said Delligatti first conceptualized the Big Mac and began experimenting with it in 1965. It acknowledges the Uniontown restaurant is where the Big Mac made its debut.
In fact, the sandwich proved so popular that the Big Mac became part of McDonald’s national menu in 1968 and grew to be one of its signature products.
“It was a hit. It was definitely a hit,” said Nicholas Sabatini Jr. “I know everybody talked about the Big Mac. My dad loved it. I remember he used to bring them home to my mother. When he closed the store, he brought my mother a Big Mac home every night so I know my mother loved it, too.”
Remembering those early years, Nicholas Sabatini Jr.. explained he actually started working at McDonald’s as a teenager and, soon after, his father asked his son if the restaurant might have a job for him.
The elder Sabatini was already working full time as a crane operator at Fruehauf Trailer Corp. in Uniontown but took on a second job at McDonald’s in order to earn extra money. It started as part-time work but Nicholas Sabatini was eventually working full time at the restaurant as well.
“He was a hard-working man,” said Nicholas Sabatini Jr. “He continued to work at McDonald’s after he retired from Fruehauf.”
Nicholas Sabatini grew up in Smock, the first of Nazzareno and Maria Sabatini’s children to be born in America. Nicholas Sabatini Jr. said his father’s three older siblings had been born in Italy while his father was born in Lawrenceville, Allegheny County.
Nicholas Sabatini served as an Army medic in the South Pacific during World War II and was twice awarded the Purple Heart and several Bronze Battle Stars. He later became a member of American Legion Post 51, Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 47, both in Uniontown, and George C. Marshall AMVETS Post 103 in Hopwood.
After the war, Nicholas Sabatini tried working in the coal mines with his father but soon left to work at a steel mill for U.S. Steel for 18 years. After the mill shut down, Nicholas Sabatini worked in construction for a couple of years before joining Fruehauf.
He retired from Fruehauf when he was 65 but continued working at McDonald’s into his 70s, receiving a gold ring from McDonald’s when he finally retired. But that didn’t mean Nicholas Sabatini stopped working. He took a job at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 47 in Uniontown until it closed and then at a couple of bingo halls.
“I asked him ‘Dad, why do you keep working when you don’t need to?”’ Nicholas Sabatini Jr. said. “He told me, ‘Nick, You need a reason to get up in the morning.”’
But Nicholas Sabatini also enjoyed being with his family, playing bingo, baseball and was a member of St. Therese Roman Catholic Church.
Yet, Nicholas Sabatini Jr. said his father enjoyed his years working for McDonald’s and a drive by the restaurant would often prompt stories.
“My dad loved McDonald’s. He was always talking about McDonald’s,” said Nicholas Sabatini Jr. “I think it was one of the best things that happened in his life. He loved interacting with the crew and the customers. My dad was a very quiet man but he really loved people, loved being around people. In a room of 10 people, he was like a fly on the wall. He didn’t say much but everybody liked him. He was not judgmental. There were no airs about him. He was just part of the group.”