In June, Jolly Jack, the 10-foot pirate statue that has stood outside San Antonio’s original Sea Island Shrimp House location since 1965, was removed for the first time. Restoration to the 1,000-pound concrete statue was intended to last eight weeks – but it seems to have taken longer than anticipated. As we ring in a new year, the statue has yet to be returned to its decades-long post at the restaurant’s helm. So, what’s going on, and when will he return?

When the Rector Drive eatery opened behind North Star Mall in 1965, Jolly Jack was the statue to see (as the mall wouldn’t get its famous boots until 1980). And although the statue had periodic “mani-pedis” and had been sanded and painted, it was never fully restored until this year.

That’s why in late June, ahead of the restaurant’s 60th birthday, Jolly Jack was removed from the site for restoration and repairs, including concrete and fiberglass reinforcements and adding fins back to the fish the statue holds. He also originally had a pipe and a gold earring, which Sea Island Shrimp House CEO Barclay Anthony previously said could make a comeback. The repairs are being made by local business Christopher Stuart Cast Stone.

“They’re taking some very good care of him,” Sea Island marketing director Meghan Vincent previously told MySA. “I mean, he really stood the test of time, unbelievably, after 60 years of standing on those big Fred Flintstone feet. But yeah, so they’re taking their time with him, and it is a delicate process.”

According to Vincent, “Jack has been a little more challenging than we had anticipated, but things are moving along, and we hope to have an update very soon after the new year.” All in all, fans of the statue can look forward to his return sometime in early 2026, Vincent told MySA.

How Sea Island’s Jolly Jack mascot became a San Antonio icon

Jolly Jack was sculpted by local artist Antonio Medina, and Anthony previously told MySA the statue (and the restaurant’s original Spanish galleon theme) was the idea of his father Dan Anthony’s business partner, Henry Reed.

“He came up with the design of Sea Island, the motif, per se,” Anthony said. “He made up a story of Isla del Mar, which, you know, island of the ocean … Jolly Jack was the happy pirate that was behind all of this, that was sailing around finding Isla del Mar where the treasure was, you know, in a storied island.”

While Medina sculpted Jolly Jack, the origins of the design were unknown. When the statue’s removal was announced, Anthony got a call from local Western artist Donald Yena – “He said, ‘I’m 92 years old, and I’m the one that designed Jolly Jack. I’m the one that came up with him, the original drawing.'” Anthony said he figures Reed hired Yena to make the design – but the coincidence doesn’t stop there. Growing up, Anthony and his brother each had a 6-by-10 painting in their rooms, bought by their mother, Chrissy, of a rodeo clown in a barrel being charged by a bull.

“Every night we’d go to bed staring at those, and those were painted by Don Yena, so we knew him since we were babies. We knew his work.”

Suffice to say, Jolly Jack is a big part of the restaurant’s identity.

“We have generations taking pictures with Jolly Jack,” Anthony said. “So literally, our mascot means a bunch to me.”

Find it:322 W. Rector Drive, San Antonio, TX 78216

This article originally published at Repairs to 60-year-old San Antonio eatery’s mascot taking longer than expected.