I know why I still have a John Wayne. Every once in a while when traveling, I encounter a can without a pop top. My trusty tool is right there. It's like an AMEX card, never leave home without it.

I believe the original use for the church key was to puncture holes in cans before pull tabs were invented. The cap removal tool was added later.

Bottles with caps were around long before beer and soda were sold in cans. The original bottler opener actually looked sort of like a big key. Much later on canned beer became available which is when the pointy end was added to the church key. It was many years later that pop tops came along.
Gracie, you should know alot about this stuff!

They used to give them away with a 6 pack.

One on my key ring and one tied to the beer fridge door in the garage. There used to be a big chrome one on the front and back of every car!