A knee injury helped Jason Kelce fall in love with Sea Isle and raise more than $100K for the Eagles Autism Foundation

The line stretched Wednesday afternoon down Landis Avenue as it seemed like everyone in Sea Isle City was waiting to enter the Ocean Drive. For Jason Kelce, that sight — hordes of people waiting to see him tend bar at his fundraiser for the Eagles Autism Foundation — would have felt like a dream a decade ago when he first stumbled into the Shore bar.

Kelce played just two games in 2012 before a knee injury cost him the remainder of his second NFL season. He joined the Eagles a year earlier as a sixth-round pick who walked on in college as a linebacker, moved to the offensive line, earned his scholarship, and worked himself into an NFL lottery ticket. But knee surgery after 18 NFL games made what is now a Hall of Fame-caliber career seem far from certain.

And then he came to Sea Isle. Five months after surgery, Kelce’s trainer suggested that it would be good for his knee if he took part in the Polar Bear Plunge. The Atlantic Ocean in February 2013 would feel like ice water, he told Kelce. So Kelce ran into the frigid water, warmed up at the Ocean Drive, fell in love with Sea Isle, returned to the field that September, and blossomed into an all-time Eagle.

He returned to Sea Isle every summer, walked into Lincoln Financial Field last season wearing a green Ocean Drive shirt, and bought a house on the island last year. The town Kelce came to a decade ago on a whim is now his summer home. And everyone flocked to see him Wednesday.

“I think the Sea Isle community is very much into any excuse to party and have fun,” Kelce said. “It’s a good situation. You don’t have to talk me into a good time.”

» READ MORE: Jason Kelce tends bar with Eagles teammates, dominates a beer chugging contest, and more highlights from his annual autism fundraiser

The kelly green Ocean Drive shirt that Kelce wore last season — and nearly everywhere else across Philly for the last decade — is not for sale. The shirts are reserved for staff members, so the only way to get one is to work at the O.D., know someone who works there and take theirs, or persuade an employee to give you one.

“That staff shirt is a hot commodity and wanted by many,” said Mike Ferry, who manages the O.D. “They’re hard to come by, but it did find its way into his hands after one of our staff members finally gave into persuasion.

“If we’re going to give it to somebody else, we have to know that they would be a strong fit and a match to fit in with us working at the Ocean Drive. Looking at his work ethic over the years on the football field, he would certainly be that type of person.”

Ferry has never been to Cleveland Heights, Ohio, but he imagines that Kelce’s hometown is not much different from where he grew up in Delaware County or the Northeast Philadelphia neighborhoods that some of his employees come from. Ferry has known Kelce since that Polar Bear Plunge — which also raised money for autism research — when Kelce was just an injured Eagles offensive lineman.

He has since made five All-Pro teams, played in two Super Bowls, and dressed as a mummer. Kelce’s celebrity has exploded since his first visit to the O.D., yet Ferry said nothing else has changed. Kelce was raised outside Cleveland, but in Sea Isle, he could be “Jason From Media” or “My buddy from Morrell Park.” He walks his daughters on the promenade, sits on the beach, plays pickleball, eats at Fish Alley, and hangs at the O.D.

» READ MORE: The Jason Kelce brand has limitless opportunities post-Eagles, but it makes retirement ‘very daunting’

“He has not changed one bit,” Ferry said. “What you see today is the same person who I remember seeing walk through that door all those years ago. I remember the conversations and the small talk that he had back then with me and our staff. It’s all the same. He’s genuine. He’s a people person. He happens to be blessed with the talents to be an All-Pro center and future Hall of Famer.”

Wednesday’s event — which was projected to raise more than $100,000 for the Eagles Autism Foundation — started three years ago when a line of fans stopped Kelce for photographs at the arcade on Sea Isle’s promenade.

He took each picture and Ryan Hammond — the executive director of the Eagles Autism Foundation and Kelce’s Sea Isle neighbor — joked that they could have turned that into a fundraiser. Kelce said he would love to do a fundraiser if Hammond could pull it off.

» READ MORE: From pouring beer to throwing blocks, the Eagles’ Jason Kelce is a man of Philly’s people

Hammond called Ferry, who arrived at her house the next morning to plan it. They held a celebrity bartending event less than a week later — just before Kelce’s lease ended as he did not yet have his own Shore house — and raised $100,000.

“You see firsthand the lives that it’s affected and the amount of money given to research and providing support for families,” Kelce said.

The event grew bigger last July and reached new heights on Wednesday with a morning “Beer Bowl” — imagine Wing Bowl meeting the Jersey Shore — before Kelce’s summer home filled the Ocean Drive. There were Eagles fans on JFK Boulevard before 9 a.m. and the sidewalks of Landis Avenue felt like a tailgate. It was a happening.

When the DJ told the bar that Kelce was on his way, everyone aimed their cell phones at the door and positioned themselves to capture their folk hero. And there he was, walking through the crowd with a tray of Jell-O shots. It was 4:18 p.m. — not quite happy hour but close enough — and the place was rocking. A decade ago, Kelce came to Sea Isle with an injured knee and a dream. Now it’s his home.

“He fits right in,” said Sea Isle City Mayor Leonard Desiderio, who probably hopes Kelce doesn’t decide to challenge him after he’s done playing football. “I’ve seen where kids want an autograph or a picture and he’s never one to say ‘Nah, I have to keep going.’ He takes the photos and always has a smile on our face. He does great things for Sea Isle and does things quietly for Sea Isle that a lot of people don’t know that he’s supporting. He gives back to the community and he’s part of the community. When the Eagles were in the Super Bowl last year, the entire community was pulling of course for the Eagles but also for our hometown guy, Jason Kelce.”