ED Publications is saddened to hear of the loss of veteran club owner Nick Saponara, who died on Saturday, December 7th, at the age of 80. Saponara was the long-time owner of the Club Risque gentlemen’s club’s three locations in Pennsylvania (in Philadelphia and Bristol, PA). Saponara was also a fixture at the Annual Gentlemen’s Club EXPO for the past 27 years, and his clubs were frequently nominated for ED’s Awards in the East Region.
“Nick was a fixture at the Annual Gentlemen’s Club EXPO and I always looked forward to seeing him, with his big smile and his outstretched hand for a firm shake,” says ED’s Publisher, Don Waitt. “It was like seeing your grandfather at a stripper convention, but you just knew that behind that gray thinning hair was a very cool guy who had seen it all and done it all. He was old school. It’s guys like him who built this industry that we have today.”
Interestingly, Saponara was also very successful in an arena completely outside of gentlemen’s clubs. He was a member of the Harness Racing Communicators Hall of Fame, and a past president of the U.S. Harness Writers Association, an organization that he belonged to for almost 60 years. Saponara was a sportswriter as well, spending over 25 years with the Philadelphia Bulletin, which was previously the major evening newspaper of the Greater Philadelphia metro area. In addition, Saponara also owned thoroughbred horses and was a member of the Pennsylvania Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association board of directors. In September of 2019, Parx thoroughbred track honored Saponara with inclusion into its Hall of Fame.
A viewing for Nick Saponara will take place this Wednesday, December 11, at St. Ephrem Church, 5340 Hulmeville Road, Bensalem PA, from 9:30 to 11:15 a.m. A funeral mass will follow at 11:30 a.m. Burial will take place at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, 3301 W. Cheltenham Ave., Cheltenham PA.
