‘Hey, Bartender!’ Eagles Fans Wild About Jason Kelce at Charity Party
SEA ISLE CITY, N.J. – There has never been, in my long run of covering Philadelphia sports, a more popular athlete to play in the city than Jason Kelce, and he plays the mostly anonymous position of center.
It’s not just popularity, but, in the words of Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni, there is a connection. This one is a connection between the veteran center and a notoriously tough and knowledgeable fan base, willing to boo to light a fire but would rather cheer for something good that happens on a field.
If you were in this sleepy little shore town in southern New Jersey on Wednesday, you would agree - fans like the Philadelphia 76ers’ Joel Embiid, they like the Philadelphia Phillies’ Bryce Harper, but they love Kelce.
They turned out by the thousands for Kelce’s third annual celebrity bartending fundraiser, many of them wearing something with “Eagles” etched on it, many of them in a Kelce shirt or jersey. There were events all day long designed for the center to interact with fans.
By noon, there was already a line that stretched for blocks waiting to get into the Ocean Drive bar and Donnelly’s Pour House, where the main event - the bartending - wasn't scheduled to begin until 4 p.m.
They were oblivious to the lure of the beach along the Atlantic Ocean only one block away, and the urge to enjoy a day of uninterrupted sunshine following a week or more of on-and-off-again rainstorms.
“I really do think that most athletes want to give back, especially in Philadelphia,” said Kelce who will enter his 13th season as the team’s starting center with a consecutive-starts streak of 139 games.
“I think you’re such a part of the community and you’re such a part of everybody’s lives, and what’s on the forefront of the city that you can’t help but be put in a position where you can actively help. …I’ve amassed a long enough career, and everything has gone in a way that I can do stuff like this.”
Proceeds from the event go to the Eagles Autism Foundation and Kelce’s Team 62, which is his Eagles Autism Challenge fundraising team.
In its first year, the event had only been put together less than a week before it happened, yet still raised $100,000, of which Kelce and his wife Kylie matched the $50,000 that had been raised from the event.
In its second year, the event raised $150,000, and this year's event should top that two-year total.
This year $380,000 was raised, and the final number was still being worked on.
Joining Kelce at his celebrity event were teammates Brandon Graham, Fletcher Cox, Jake Elliott, and Dallas Goedert joined him. So did former Eagles standout pass rushers Trent Cole and Connor Barwin.
“I’ve met a lot of people on the (autism) spectrum, and a lot of people through the different challenges and the events that we’ve done for the past three years,” said Kelce. “You see first-hand the effect it's had, you see first-hand from the amount of money that’s been raised and given to research, and raising awareness, and providing support to families."
LONG DAY Kelce’s alarm clock went off at 4:30 a.m. He and his brother, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis, taped an episode of their popular podcast, “New Heights.” They made hoagies - it was National Hoagie Day - and then delivered them to Sea Isle lifeguards.
Fans ate up all of the early-morning festivities. In the early afternoon, there was an inaugural “Beer Bowl” fan competition that had Kelce chugging beers with fans, and that almost turned into a disaster when Kelce nearly got sick.
“It was close,” he said prior to the bartending event began. “It was right here (points to the top of his chest). There was a pocket sitting right there. I held it down, luckily, because that would’ve disqualified me."
The bartending portion of the day was the main event, with him and his teammates and former teammates in attendance working behind both the inside and outside bars. Fans stood four and five deep waiting to be served by the Eagles.
During the introduction of Kelce and the other players, several thousand fans crowded the entrance. They chanted his name and there were constant choruses of the team's fight song that always ends with E-A-G-L-E-S.
Kelce entered carrying a tray of Jell-O shots and then slathered them with a spray of whipped cream. It was pandemonium, though Kelce said he was able to pace himself well enough to survive the day.
“I would say beer drinking is a lot mental,” he said, laughing. “Like, if you really want to be good at beer drinking, pretty much anybody can be good at beer drinking. You just gotta put the time in and have the right drive to be good at it. Luckily, I was able to do that, and football, really well.”
ONE OF THEM NOW Kelce discovered this little town on the Jersey Shore early in his pro football career.
He was brought here by his trainer in February of 2012 for the annual Polar Bear Plunge. It was the second year after he had been drafted by Philly in the sixth round out of Cincinnati.
“He said we should go down there and do some rehab,” said the center. “Go in the ocean, ice water, it’ll be good for your knee. We do that for like 45 seconds and we go straight to the OD (Ocean Drive).
"There was just, right away, I was taken aback by the excitement, the level of community that was around just for something like that (the plunge). I’ve come back, pretty much every summer."
Kelce eventually bought a home in Sea Isle, and spends most of his offseason there, seeing fans wherever he goes.
“Sea Isle, and really all the shore (towns), everybody is looking to have fun and get away from everything in Philadelphia a little bit," he said, "and hang out with each other and have a good time."
Ed Kracz covers the Philadelphia Eagles for SI's EaglesToday.
Please follow him and our Eagles coverage on Twitter at @kracze.
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