At a crowded Eagles bar 3,000 miles away, Grant Calcaterra’s brother reacts to his first NFL touchdown
Older brother Nick was watching from Portland at the bar owned by a Glenside native where Philadelphia transplants gather every Sunday.
Grant Calcaterra wasn’t sure what the reaction would be back in Portland, Ore., if he made a mistake on the field while his brother was watching at a crowded bar 3,000 miles away surrounded by rabid Eagles fans.
“Maybe they’d hold their tongues,” the Eagles tight end said earlier this season.
That reaction will have to wait as there was no misstep on Sunday by Calcaterra and the scene at the Lombard House was perfect.
» READ MORE: There’s a Philly bar in Portland where Eagles fans gather to watch the game and feel like they’re back home
Calcaterra, in his third year with the Birds, caught his first career NFL touchdown early in the fourth quarter of the 22-16 win over Carolina. His older brother, Nick, was watching from Portland, at the bar owned by a Glenside native where Philadelphia transplants gather every Sunday.
Nick Calcaterra reacted like every proud brother, leaping from his chair and screaming. His brother nearly quit football in college to become a firefighter after a series of concussions. His journey to that touchdown was long and you could see it on his older brother’s face. He ripped his hat off and held his head in disbelief. It was beautiful. He wasn’t at Lincoln Financial Field, but he was still surrounded by Eagles fans.
“It’s awesome,” Grant Calcaterra said of Lombard House. “Brian [Koch], the owner, is a great dude. He’s taken care of my brother since he’s lived there. They’ve really taken him in.”
Koch, an Abington High grad, moved to Portland in 2006 and struggled to find a place to watch the Birds. He opened his own bar in 2016 and it quickly became a “Philly bar” in Portland’s St. Johns neighborhood. The North Portland Bird Watchers Society gathers there for every game and the seats inside are saved for the regulars. The bar has become so popular among Philly ex-pats that there’s overflow seating in the backyard.
Nick Calcaterra had recently moved to Portland when he discovered the bar in 2022, just after the Eagles drafted his brother in the sixth round. He stopped in for a preseason game and has been a regular ever since.
“Just to have everyone behind me every week rooting for the same stuff and cheering the same successes,” Nick Calcaterra said. “Even if it’s just a nice block, the whole bar is like, ‘Oh, man. That block was so crucial.’ These days in the NFL aren’t going to last forever, so you just try to soak it up as much as you can while it does last because it’s so fun and so exciting. This place enhances the experience and the fun all the more.”
Grant Calcaterra has visited Lombard House in each of the last two offseasons for a fundraiser for the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation. He auctions off his game-worn cleats and items signed by players, raising more than $10,000. It’s an Eagles bar and a Grant Calcaterra bar, and their guy scored on Sunday.
“Nick is in there one day and he’s wearing a Calcaterra jersey,” said Paul Deitz, a regular who grew up in Bristol. “I’m like, ‘No way. No one has a Calcaterra jersey.’ This is lit. I go up to him and say, ‘Nice jersey, bud.’ He said, ‘Thanks, man.’ Then someone is like, ‘You know that’s his brother, right?’”