PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — This is a story of enthusiasm, love, loss and hope.
It’s the story of a well-known bartender from the shore who people adore because of the joy she brings them.
Kathy Hoover, 64 of Ocean City, works at the Windjammer Café Bar & Grille in Somers Point — a restaurant run by her sister and brother-in-law. A cheerleader by trait, Kathy is a diehard Eagles and Philadelphia sports fan — something instilled in her by her father when growing up in Maple Shade.
Her story is one fitting for Dallas week.
A caring, selfless person, she remembers a time when her loyalty to the Birds had to overtake her kind personality. It was when a Cowboys fan was trying to enter the restaurant.
“I saw he was wearing this big, ugly, blue sweatshirt with the big star on it, so I ran to the front door and locked it,” Kathy said.
But don't be mistaken. That was all in good fun, and the Dallas fan ended up becoming a friend of Kathy’s — one of many friends who frequent the Windjammer because of her.
“The whole bar is just in awe of her,” said Cathy Emma, a longtime friend who remembers Kathy working at Bertucci’s in Marlton. Emma says customers from her Bertucci’s days drive down the shore to be with her at the Windjammer.
Whether it’s helping a customer in need or being charitable in other ways, Emma explained Kathy is someone who will give you the shirt off her back. And she’s also someone who loves to celebrate Philadelphia sports.
“It makes everybody happy,” she said, “and I guess I’m the ringleader.”
Thank goodness for traffic on the Garden State Parkway
Kathy and Keith, her husband of four years, raised kids in the same town decades ago, but it was something that is typically aggravating that brought their paths together for life.
Keith was stuck in a traffic jam on the Garden State Parkway and decided to get off at the Ocean City exit and stop at the Windjammer. He and Kathy started talking, and the rest is history.
How grateful is Keith for that traffic jam?
“You know,” he said, “I will never complain again. Never. Not at a traffic jam, ever. Even if she’s with me — especially if she’s with me.”
Fittingly, the Hoovers had an Eagles-themed wedding the summer of 2019, which made everyone in attendance go crazy. Families combined, Kathy and Keith have six children together and 11 grandchildren.
The Hoover house is a shrine. There is Eagles stuff all over the place, even after many of Kathy and Keith’s prized possessions — Birds included — were wrecked in a fire at a storage facility down the shore a few years ago. They have helmets, jerseys, and a homage to Eagles great Brian Dawkins. There is a Padre Pio statue they bought in Buena, which is decked out in Eagles stuff.
“We just pray to Padre Pio to keep our Eagle players healthy and strong so they can kick the other team's butt,” says Kathy.
The Eagles have brought her family tons of joy while helping them cope with unimaginable tragedy over the past year and a half.
Keeping memories alive through football and Brian Dawkins
In April 2022, Kathy lost one of her sons, 38-year-old Steve King. He was a husband to Jess, a disabled military veteran, and father to four young children: Tristin, Noelle, Xavier, and Brooklyn. Steve died from a heart operation.
“The thing he loved the most is watching football, and his children,” said Kathy. “And he has a really wonderful wife, who now she's really into football.”
King coached his kids and loved the Eagles. Brian Dawkins was his favorite player.
“You're not supposed to outlive your kid,” Keith said. “And for what [Kathy] went through, she's the rock.”
When her grandkids are sad, Kathy tells them to think of happy memories, like watching Eagles games together. Watching the Birds now brings them joy. It brings them together. Dawkins – who has overcome his own adversity in life – brings them peace.
Last season, after saving up what Kathy described as buckets of change, she and her husband checked off a bucket list item — going to Super Bowl LVII. They brought Steve’s ashes with them.
She described it as a bittersweet experience. But, something divine happened while they were at the game in Glendale, Arizona.
“There was a seat next to us that was empty the whole game,” she said.
“There were no empty seats in the stadium. And right next to us, there was an empty seat, and it was Number 20. And we knew where the ashes were going. Right on Number 20 – Brian Dawkins’ number.”
The Hoovers haven’t met Dawkins, but that is another bucket list item. Kathy says it’s her dream. She would love to meet him and have her grandchildren meet their father’s favorite Bird.
“Again, it goes back to her son, Stephen,” an emotional Keith said. “I think she would feel whole to a point where she did it for him.”
Dawkins — one of the ultimate Eagles and a Hall of Famer — helps heal the pain that Kathy feels from losing her son.
And knowing how selfless she is — if she ever had the chance to meet the great Dawkins, there is no doubt one of her first remarks would be one of thankfulness and gratitude.
Just like so many people are thankful for her.