‘What it means to me is everything.’ Why this Philadelphia bar is all about the Chiefs

Paul Staico never had trouble recruiting converts.

His nearly lifelong obsession with the Kansas City Chiefs is contagious.

“I’m a lunatic. I’m pretty loyal,” he said. “I’m 100% with the team, and they feed off that.”

Even in the heart of Philadelphia Eagles territory.

That loyalty is painted all over his Big Charlie’s Saloon, a corner bar in South Philly decked in red and white Chiefs decor. While fans of the Vikings, Cowboys, Eagles, whatever, are all welcome in the neighborhood joint, the room in the back is a different story.

“As far as back here, you’ve got to wear red,” Staico said of the sanctuary dedicated to Kansas City’s team. “That’s kind of an unwritten rule.”

For decades, the faithful have flocked to Charlie’s, one of the unlikeliest corners of Chiefs Kingdom. More than 1,000 miles away from Arrowhead Stadium, the bar sits about two miles from Lincoln Financial Field, home of the Philadelphia Eagles, who will take on the Chiefs in Sunday’s Super Bowl LVII.

Some of the fans at Charlie’s are Kansas City transplants or visitors just popping in for a Sunday game. But most are neighborhood regulars who were baptized by Staico himself. Even some die-hard Eagles fans will swap out their green gear for red to cheer on their second-favorite team at Charlie’s.

In 2020, right before the pandemic hit, the bar served as home base for a raucous block party for Super Bowl LIV, when the Chiefs beat the San Francisco 49ers. Staico had planned a similar celebration for this weekend once the Chiefs clinched the AFC title with a victory over the Cincinnati Bengals.

But he was overwhelmed by fans who wanted to come into his corner bar for the big game. And worried about how all those Chiefs fans would fare amid the Eagles’ rabid fan base.

“It just couldn’t be pulled off,” he said.

The story of how Charlie’s became synonymous with the Chiefs is legend by now. It’s been recounted in The New York Times, documentaries and scores of television news stories.

In 1970, Staico’s father, Big Charlie, made a substantial bet that the Chiefs would win that year’s Super Bowl IV over the Vikings. They did, and the next day Charlie bought his son a brand new bicycle with part of the winnings.

“That was it for me,” Staico said.

Beginning in the early ’80s, he led a Philly contingent on an annual pilgrimage to Arrowhead, where any fence sitters were quickly converted to Chiefs Kingdom.

“Once people go to Kansas City, they come back different,” he said.

Over the years, as their Arrowhead connections grew, they met players like Rich Gannon and Joe Valerio. In Kansas City, they watched games from the sidelines and partied with players after dark. In Philadelphia, players with local roots flocked to the bar. Their parents did, too.

“Joe Valerio’s parents walked into this bar and never left,” he said of the former Chiefs offensive lineman from the Philadelphia area.

The quirky story eventually drew the attention of Joe Saunders, an NFL Films employee whose father, Al Saunders, was the Chiefs’ offensive coordinator in the early 2000s.

“Big Charlie’s,” the ensuing 2003 documentary, won an Emmy Award and further fueled the small but rowdy group of Chiefs fans in South Philly.

“It started with a couple guys. It just grew over the years and now I’m the owner of the bar,” Staico said in the documentary. “What this means to us, what it means to me is everything.”

Dick Vermeil, Kansas City’s head coach at the time, made the trek to Charlie’s, where he had a cold one and promised the crowd that his team would give them plenty to yell about.

“You guys got to get Andy Reid down here to show him this place,” Vermeil said of the longtime Eagles coach who would later take Kansas City’s team to three Super Bowls.

A man identified as Snow in the film recounts how former Chiefs cornerback Kevin Ross brought him to Charlie’s.

“I’ll tell you what,” says Snow, a Kansas City native, “there ain’t no bar in Kansas City like this one.”

Charlie’s has remained a constant in a quickly changing neighborhood.

Maureen Del Corio-Fratantoni, who lives down the block, has watched home prices and rents skyrocket over the last 20 years. Locals struggle to stay put, while wealthy buyers from bigger cities like New York gobble up real estate.

But none of that has changed Charlie’s.

“It’s just one of those old-fashioned corner bars,” she said.

The bar isn’t much bigger than a house.

The bestsellers? Miller Light and Coors Light.

“You might get a bloody mary on a good day if the bartender feels like making it for you,” Staico said with a laugh.

Neighbors like Del Corio-Fratantoni were disappointed by the abrupt cancellation of this year’s Super Bowl party. But they understand.

“I think he has respect for the neighbors and Eagles fans,” she said. “Seeing the matchup is sort of a conflict of interest for the neighborhood.”

A lifelong Eagles fan, she’s been waiting for a Chiefs-Eagles Super Bowl for years. With Charlie’s closed, she plans to have a get-together at her place. She, like Staico, knows that things can quickly get out of hand in South Philly when professional sports are involved.

“Oh my goodness, it’s going to be wild,” she said.”There’s no doubt about it.”

While Big Charlie’s won’t be open on Sunday night, Staico can think of no place else to watch a Chiefs game. “I wouldn’t even know how to watch a game at my house,” he said.

There’s no question which team he is rooting for. In fact, he might even slip down to a nearby casino and put some money on Kansas City. He’s betting the Chiefs will take the Lombardi Trophy with a 30-27 victory.

“We really need to win for this corner. It will be a big deal for us,” he said. “But If they’re not good enough and they beat us, I’ll tip my cap.”

While Chiefs fans in Kansas City will pour into bars all over town, Staico will lock the door of his pub. Inside, he — along with a very select few — will gather in the back like always.

They’ll drink.

They’ll yell.

And they’ll cheer on their Chiefs.