KANSAS CITY, Mo. – It’s 2 p.m. on Wednesday, so Pat Kelly has time to talk. Later on might be a different story. Or maybe come back next year; he may have more time then.

There are only 10 people in his bar, Kelly’s, right now, some drinking, some eating, some playing video poker – oblivious to everything else in the bar. Since it’s the week of the Big 12 Conference Tournament, that number could be 100 times larger when ISU fans begin to invade. And they will all be doing the same thing — watching their beloved Cyclones.

Pat and his brother Kyle have been in the family business for more than 30 years. Their father, Randal, opened Kelly’s 55 years earlier. For the last 17 years one week out of the year has stood out above all the others.

“It’s our best week, by far,” Pat says.

What about weekends?

“A lot of times we’re pretty full by 11 or 12 on Friday or Saturday,” Pat says. “This is probably two or three times as good as any other week.”

And it’s mainly due to ISU fans. More appropriately, it’s due to ISU alumnus Jon Fleming.

Fleming is an intestinal doctor at the McFarland Clinic in Ames. He graduated from Iowa State in 1975 and the University of Iowa in 1979, “but I don’t usually discuss that,” he says. He also went to Kansas and spent three years at the Mayo Clinic.

It was the time he spent in Kansas City that made him fall in love with Kelly’s.

“Regardless of your background, everyone was welcome here,” says 49-year-old Fleming.

The atmosphere at the bar, as Fleming puts it, fits the professional and the blue-collar workers.

The building is the oldest in Kansas City; built in 1837, it once served as a grocery store owned by Albert Boone, a relative of Daniel Boone. The outside is red brick with green trim; a small white sign broadcasts that you are at Kelly’s. It is on the corner of Pennsylvania and Westport Road in the historic Westport District of Kansas City.

Inside the walls are covered with miscellaneous paintings and photos. Beer memorabilia – a staple in bars – runs onto the ceiling. In the back, behind the bar, hangs an ISU women’s basketball championship banner.

The wooden floors are covered in a century’s worth of dust and dirt, but it adds to the appeal. It’s hard to keep things clean this week anyway. It is the perfect place.

So in 1986, Fleming and three of his friends came to Kelly’s before the Iowa State-Colorado men’s game.

“We left after an hour. There was no one else in here, I mean it was stone dead,” Fleming says. “The next year we said, `That was OK, that was kind of fun to do that, just sit around and talk about the games.’ So we invited some more people. This whole thing exponentially just exploded.

After about five or six years, everybody that came to the tournament – everybody – came to Kelly’s.”

Dave “Red” Cross, an employee at Kelly’s for 20 years, recalls that first Cyclone party.

“When Wally and his buddies came down for the very first one, I think there was four of them,” he says. “The next year they told four more people to come down. It just kept snowballing to now where if you’re coming down from Iowa, your goal is meet at Kelly’s.”

Now Kelly’s is exploding at the seams with Cyclone fans. Hovering above the door is sign with large red letters reading “OCCUPANCY 700.” Cross says they push that this week.

“On a Friday or Saturday night during the tournament, there could be a couple thousand people trying to get in,” he says.

That can lead to rather long waits, but many resilient Cyclone fans keep trying.

“This is my third time here, and this is the first time I’ve gotten into Kelly’s,” says Mark Schlarmann, a Cyclone fan from Ames.

He and his friend Jay Rosburg are just two of the many cardinal and gold clad fans who will be filling the bar to watch the Cyclones on one of the nine televisions scattered throughout the establishment.

Rosburg says he has been coming to Kansas City since the inauguration of the Big 12 Conference. Every year they also try to go to Kelly’s; they got the idea by word of mouth.

“We had friends of ours who’d say if you’re coming to Kansas City, that’s where all the Iowa Staters are,” says Rosburg, also from Ames.

Even Louis Patti, a driver/salesman for Budweiser, gets a gleam in his eye when the Big 12 tournament draws near.

“This is the biggest time of the year,” Patti says. “It’s bigger than Christmas, bigger than New Year’s – even St. Patrick’s Day – because this is more than a one-day event.”

“The Mayor of Westport” as Patti is sometimes called, delivers to all of the bars in the Westport area, but notices a big increase in deliveries to Kelly’s.

He says he delivers “easily” 50 percent more alcohol to Kelly’s during the week of the Big 12 tournament.

“Let’s put it this way – on a normal week, they’d get one delivery. On the week of the Big 12 they get three deliveries, and it’s unusual for a wholesaler to deliver on a Saturday, believe that,” says Patti, who has been with Budweiser for 18 years.

But as a Missouri fan, Patti is torn. Instead, he’ll let dollar bills do the cheering.

“If Iowa State wins, it’s better for revenue,” he says. “If Missouri wins, you really don’t see as much revenue.”

All the revenue is in jeopardy though, as the Big 12 tournament is moving to Dallas, Texas, next year and won’t be back in Kansas City until 2005, news that Pat wasn’t thrilled to hear.

“I’ve got six kids and I thought `They aren’t going to school,’ ” says Pat in a half-joking, half-serious tone. “It’s going to take a big chunk out of us.”

Other sports will help Kelly’s business, Pat says.

For example, when Iowa State plays Florida State in the Eddie Robinson Classic on Aug. 24 in Arrowhead Stadium, the home of the Kansas City Chiefs, Pat will welcome Cyclone fans back.

“We want to set something up with the hotels,” Pat says. “We’re trying to work deals with the hotels to offer a discount for Iowa State people who want to come down for the Big 12.”

Or maybe he could just open a bar in Ames.

“[The thought] has crossed my mind,” Pat says. “[But] it’s a lot of work to get something like that going.”

While opening a bar in Ames would be a way to connect with the people that have been so good to them, the Kellys have found other ways to give back.

Five years ago, Pat and Kyle called Fleming and started giving a “very generous” donation to the university. Fleming directed the funds and decided it should go to scholarships for the basketball teams.

“I have a deep respect for the Iowa State basketball players and their commitment to academics and the university,” Fleming says.

That gift has kept coming each year.

Still Fleming says he nearly gets a tear in his eye when talk turns to Dallas. But he will be going. After all, he hasn’t missed a tournament game since 1980. He has missed only one men’s home game in 17 years, last season when he was home on the couch recovering from surgery.

“I watched it. It was against Morningside and I almost had a stroke,” says Fleming of the Cyclones 102-97 overtime win.

So he certainly won’t be missing any games in Dallas. Other fans have a different story.

“I’ve talked about it with my wife,” Rosburg says. “We’ll consider going to Dallas. But we’ll also consider coming back down here.”

“It depends on coach Eustachy and the team,” Schlarmann chimes in.

“Don’t forget Fennelly,” adds Rosburg.

They just want a place where they can hang out among friends and fans. And when a Kansas fan walks in they want them to be outnumbered, but Rosburg says it usually doesn’t get ugly.

“Most of the time when fans from other teams come in here, they’re usually pretty quiet just because there is so many Iowa Staters in here,” Rosburg says. “It’s no big deal. Most people like to give each other crap about sports.”

A trip down memory lane ensues as Rosburg recalls an argument with Missouri fans that covered such subjects as Missouri head coach Quinn Snyder’s hair and ISU head coach Larry Eustachy’s mock turtleneck.

It’s not likely you’re going to win an argument about Missouri in Missouri, but if there’s a place you can, it’s Kelly’s.

That is something that Fleming will always take pride in.

“The enthusiasm for this event, this weekend, is probably unparalleled,” he says. And in part, he has himself to thank.

But there won’t be a Kelly’s in Dallas.

“We’ll find one; we’ll start another one,” he says.