OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — Mary Vera never knows who will walk through the doors of Joe’s Kansas City Bar-B-Que’s flagship location in a Kansas City, Kansas gas station.
“New Zealand, Africa, South Africa, Mexico,” she listed some of the countries from where customers have visited.
This past Saturday, one day before the Kansas City Chiefs played the Buffalo Bills at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, Vera met Jason Kelce. He plays center for the Philadelphia Eagles and is brother to the Chiefs' Travis Kelce.
“He was awesome, just friendly, being himself,” Vera recalled during an exclusive interview with KSHB 41 News.
She made sure Kelce and his friends got the “Joe’s Experience,” a kind of VIP treatment where they ate a sample of meats and got to tour the smokers in the back of the restaurant, which produce the ribs, brisket and other mouth-watering food.
“Anybody who walks back in the back is very happy, is impressed, I’ll put it like that,” Vera said.
In 2019, Vera met Travis Kelce inside the restaurant.
Saturday, she told Jason she saw the men’s mother on KSHB 41 News after she flew from Jason’s playoff game in Tampa to Travis’ in Kansas City on the same day earlier in the month. Vera said she wants to meet their mother, Donna, next.
“What an awesome mother, awesome. She’s behind her boys,” said Vera, who is a great-grandmother herself.
Needless to say, there is a table reserved for all the Kelces this weekend as the Chiefs prepare to host the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC Championship Game Sunday.
