Les Brainard, 81; Restauranteur, Sports Fan And Horse Breeder

When Les Brainard invited teams of high-school basketball players into his New Grove Restaurant for a dinner on the house, he was combining two of the loves of his life: business and sports.

He was nearly fanatic about sports, especially basketball, and devoted most of his time outside work to attending games - sometimes several in one weekend. He supported college teams throughout the area and bred thoroughbred horses to race at Longacres.

Brainard, who drew a following of sports fans and newspaper people to the Grove for more than 20 years, died Saturday after suffering a cracked pelvis and other injuries in a fall three weeks ago. He was 81.

Born and raised in Bozeman, Mont., he came to Seattle during the Depression and started his restaurant career earning $5 a week washing dishes at a small restaurant at Second Avenue and Seneca Street. By 1937, he had bought the place and named it Les Brainard's Restaurant.

``It wasn't too much of a place at the time. He built it up,'' said Vince Kleffner, who worked there for Brainard and later became maitre d' and manager at the Grove.

Sally Ryan, one of Brainard's two daughters, said her father was always goal-oriented. He graduated as his high school's valedictorian at age 15 and wanted to become a physician. But his family, with 11 children, could not pay for medical school, so he studied business at Montana State College.

Brainard bought the Grove in 1956 and sold Les Brainard's shortly after. As proof of Brainard's love for athletics, the Grove's walls held pictures of him with sports celebrities, including Jack Dempsey and Wilt Chamberlain.

He sold the Grove in 1977 and ran the Sherwood Inn in Tacoma until last year.

``He had quite a following,'' Kleffner said. ``People really liked him - especially people in the sports field. They would come down there just because he was there.''

Brainard gained nearly as much attention breeding and racing horses as he did running restaurants.

His Moonlately, which won seven stakes at Longacres in the early 1980s, is 32nd on Washington's list of all-time money winners with earnings of $228,150. His Super Seven won the 1988 Renton Handicap, and Super Sis took the Prima Donna and Rhododendron Handicaps last year.

Earlier this month, the national Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association named Brainard Washington's Outstanding Owner-Breeder for 1990. He was to be honored along with winners from across the nation at a dinner in Kentucky next month.

Through the end of Brainard's life, he continued his love for sports. An avid golfer, he was past president of the Rainier Golf and Country Club. He also belonged to the UW Tyee Club and supported teams at the UW, Seattle University, Seattle Pacific University and Pacific Lutheran University.

He attended sporting events of his grandchildren's as he had his own daughters', and named one of his horses, Flanker 19, after his grandson Mark Pattison, who wore No. 19 as a wide receiver for the UW's 1985 Orange Bowl football team.

The fall that sent Brainard to the hospital took place at Exhibition Park in Canada, where he had gone to see his horses race.

Brainard is survived by his daughters, Ryan and Pam Pattison, both of Seattle; three brothers, Harry, Walter and Bill, all of Montana; sisters Bess Reinhardt, Hazel Favero and Doris Sandquist of Montana and Eldean Rempel of Seattle; four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Services will be held at 11 a.m. tomorrow at Laurelhurst Presbyterian Church. Contributions may be made to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.