The staff at Palmer’s Café on Greenwood Avenue in Bend have become well aware when 8 a.m. Tuesday morning rolls around, they better have a table big enough to seat at least eight people.

Each Tuesday morning this year, Rod Foster and John Paul Monroe — best friends, avid Bend Elks fans and bocce ball partners in the Special Olympics — along with their family and friends meet for the most important meal of the day.

“It is like clockwork,” said Foster, enjoying a cheese omelet Tuesday while sitting next to Monroe digging into a stack of pancakes.

On Tuesday, the day after Monroe’s 42nd birthday, the conversation at the table revolved around planning errands to the grocery store and bank that needed to be done before the evening’s Elks’ baseball game.

The friends and family also discussed what to do for Monroe’s next birthday (a trip to Disneyland).

But it was sports that dominated the conversation. Not a surprise to those who know Foster and Monroe.

Foster talked about how he became a New York Yankees fan after the team signed Madras High School grad and former Elk Jacoby Ellsbury in December 2013.

Foster then shared plans for a trip to Seattle with Monroe to watch a Mariners game before the season ends, and whether or not the Elks still had a shot to make the playoffs in the closing weeks of the West Coast League season.

When spring turns to summer, both men return to the 57-year-old ballpark off Wilson Avenue in Bend, as has been the routine dating back several decades.

Foster, 56, has been a mainstay at the ballfield in the summer for nearly half a century.

At 7 years old, Foster began selling programs for the American Legion ballclub the Mid-Oregon Motormen, which played its game at Bend Municipal Park, before it became Vince Genna Stadium. He did the same for the Timber Hawks and the Bend Phillies (short-season Class A affiliates of Major League Baseball’ Oakland A’s and Philadelphia Phillies, respectively), before performing just about every job for the Elks, from washing uniforms, to passing out programs, cleaning up the stadium, and just about any job asked to do — a responsibility he still holds today.

“They keep bringing me back,” said Foster, who is the oldest worker for the Elks. “They want me and the fans want me back. And I keep coming back because of the fans.”

Monroe has been coming to Elks games since he was an infant. But it was when he was 8 years old that he first met Foster and their friendship began to blossom.

“He really looked up to Rod,” said Monroe’s mother, Vickie Monroe.

Perhaps spending time at the ballpark while still in diapers was a glimpse into how Monroe would spend seemingly all of his time.

Like Foster, absences from Elks’ games are rare for Monroe. If he cannot make it to the ballpark, he live streams the games from his home in Powell Butte. If the Elks are not playing, Monroe is turning on a Seattle Mariners game, or just about any other sport that is on.

“He was only 5 years old, living in Hermiston, and we had cable TV,” said Vickie Monroe. “He was just a little boy and he would just sit and watch baseball. Then when we moved back we had to get a big satellite dish so he could watch his baseball teams.”

It was through the Special Olympics where the pair’s friendship really began to take off. The y competed in just about every sport, including track and field, golf, bowling, basketball and snowshoeing.

Foster estimates that he has won nearly 500 medals between local, state and national competitions through his athletic career. He has traveled as far as Canada and Iowa to compete.

Five years ago, they finally teamed up and became bocce ball partners. It was a natural pairing and they quickly became a formidable team, winning a silver medal at the 2019 state games.

“I love sports, especially when I have a partner like this,” said Foster wrapping his arm around Monroe’s shoulder. “He just makes me laugh.”

Now the duo is looking forward to making another run at a gold medal as soon as bocce ball and the Special Olympics return due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They are both eager to return to playing their now favorite sport.

“We just like to focus on our game,” Foster said. “It is a team effort when we play bocce ball.”

And it does not appear the friendship is ending any time soon.

Foster jokes that one day he might “get fired” as Monroe’s bocce ball partner. Monroe is quick to make sure to put an end to that rumor.

“You are hired,” Monroe immediately responded.

Baseball, bocce ball and breakfast have been simple yet effective ingredients to a lifelong friendship.

“That is what it is all about,” Foster said. “Us being together and having fun. He makes me want to keep coming back, I don’t want to leave him ever.”