Rita Adair remembers being at a bar in Madison about a year ago, when she asked the people working there if they could turn one of the seven TVs to women’s sports that she wanted to watch. Just one TV.
The people working there told her, “No, we can’t do that.”
That response bothered Adair so much that she decided to check out some other local bars and establishments that showed sports.
”I went to 15 bars, mostly on the east side [of Madison] and in McFarland and Sun Prairie,” Adair tells Madison365. “I went all over the place, I even went to one downtown, and only one place said, ‘Yes, we will do it’. And that’s when I said, ‘Wow, this isn’t okay. It’s just not okay.'”
Right then, Adair knew she needed to figure out how to start her own sports bar — which would soon be called Bernell’s — that would become the first women-centered sports bar in Madison. With a ton of hard work and some community generosity, that dream is less than a month away from fruition with a grand opening scheduled for Nov. 8.
The name ‘Bernell’s’ comes from Adair’s late wife, Bernell Hooker, who sadly passed away from ovarian cancer in August 2024. Adair and Hooker long shared a dream of opening a sports bar that features women’s sports.
Hooker was a long-time advocate for girls’ and women’s sports and a champion for athletes across the state. She started the Milwaukee Aces professional women’s basketball team in 2014, coached in college for 25 years, and ran multiple basketball camps for girls.
“My wife was a basketball coach in Milwaukee for over 20 years, and she also owned two businesses that teach the business of sports,” Adair says. “She believed that you don’t have to be in the game to be involved in sports. So she taught a lot of things about how to own a team, how to become a coach, how to run a scoreboard … whatever it is you need to know for women’s sports.”
Adair says that Hooker dreamed of the two of them owning a bar together – a place where women could come together and enjoy sports and food and camaraderie on big TV screens like men often do. The two found their way to Las Vegas after the Milwaukee Aces were forced to shut down when the COVID pandemic started.
“That’s when she found out she had cancer,” Adair remembers. “She got sicker and sicker and ended up dying of ovarian cancer soon after,” Adair remembers. “When I found out she had cancer and it was terminal — she was fourth stage when she found out — and they told her, ‘You know, you might have three years or so if you’re lucky with the right treatments and stuff.’ So she said, ‘I want to be near the Las Vegas Aces. I love the Aces, and I think I would like to die in the sun.’ So we went to Vegas.”
Hooker had become a loyal fan of the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces (no relation to the Milwaukee Aces) and saw them win two consecutive WNBA titles in 2022 and 2023. She would get to know several of the players.
@lvaces Surprising a very special Aces fan ❤️🖤 Bernell Hooker is a long-time advocate for girls and women’s sports — including 25 years as a college coach and founding the Milwaukee Aces professional women’s basketball team. To celebrate and thank her for being a change-maker in women’s sports, Alysha, Kate, Sydney, Kiah, and Natalie surprised Bernell with her own Aces jersey and team-signed ball.
“She really got to know a lot of the [Las Vegas] Aces, and they actually came to our house, especially at the end. About 10 days before she died, the Aces all came in and presented her with her own Aces jersey,” Adair adds. (This emotional moment is captured in the video above.) “They did a big video and they put it on their page, and everything was really special for her. When she died, and I came back home, I started thinking about her legacy and what I could do. All she talked about was wanting this sports bar.”
After a search, Adair found the building for her new establishment in what was previously an establishment called Red Rooster, located at 2513 Seiferth Road, just off Stoughton Road on Madison’s East Side.
Finding a place to have a bar is a pretty cut-throat business in Madison, she says. “I wanted to be on the near east side of Madison really badly, but I just couldn’t make it happen over there,” Adair recalls. “And then I read about this place [Red Rooster] and I immediately ran over here and talked to the owner [Dan Resnick], and he liked me right away. He said ‘yes’ that day. He didn’t think about it that much … he just said he knew I was the right person. He’s been wonderful in helping me get this all together.”
Adair plans on continuing to feature the blues music that Red Rooster was famous for. “Thursday night, we will have blues, for sure. I’ll probably end up doing two nights. The demand seems to be very big for it,” she says.
And what about the giant red rooster that is painted on the side of the establishment? Will he be gone come opening night of Bernell’s?
“I’m leaving the rooster. I love the rooster. I want him to stay,” Adair says. “The artist said it’s okay if I put a jersey or an athletic logo on the back of the rooster and where his hand stretches out, I’m going to put a basketball or a soccer ball or something sports-related. I’m making the rooster a part of the team. I love the rooster.”
In the meantime, making all the fixes and repairs inside and outside of the building and jumping through all the hoops for inspections has been quite the ordeal for Adair as she gets ready to open. She recently had to go in front of the Alcohol License Review Committee (ALRC), and she says it went well, and she also hosted a community meeting.
“It looks messy back here right now, but it was way messier,” Adair laughs, looking over her large backyard area. “I had to pay a landscaper over $500 just to tear down bushes and make things look better. We’ve done a lot of outside work here.
“We actually have an entertainment license, so I can do outdoor concerts and stuff when the weather is warm. I want community artists to come out and perform, too,” she adds.
Bernell’s will feature soul food, southern-style food and creative drinks. “We are going to do brunches and Friday night fish fries,” Adair says.
Most importantly, as the first women-centered sports bar in Madison, it will be the place to come for women’s sports. Obviously for basketball and the WNBA, but much more.
“Yes, definitely basketball, but also women’s hockey and volleyball. I have been just amazed at the University of Wisconsin’s hockey and volleyball teams [both recent national champions],” Adair says. “I’m really encouraged by the campus and the UW system and how much they support women’s sports.”
Adair says she would love to find a way to get those many college students out to Bernell’s.
“I’ve seen those trolley buses going around campus, and maybe we can get one and divert it to come out here once a week to bring students here,” Adair says. “I have a lot of young people who have contacted me and the overall sentiment is, ‘We can’t wait. We need something like this. We should have had something like this a long time ago.’”
As a lifelong Green Bay Packer fan, Adair wants everybody to know that she will indeed have Packer games on, as well as other sports featuring men.
“Believe me, every Packer game will be on at my bar. And I plan on doing special things during the NFL season, the playoffs, and the Super Bowl,” she says. “So, yeah, it’s not just a women’s bar, but it definitely is a bar that intentionally will be showing women’s sports.”
Bernell’s currently has a GoFundMe campaign to help cover the costs that have been accumulating to get the doors open. The official grand opening will take place Saturday, Nov. 8, noon-7 p.m. The official ribbon cutting will take place at 2 p.m. and there will be a champagne toast at 4 p.m. There will be live music from 3-5 p.m. and menu samples from 1-7 p.m.
“This really isn’t just about a bar; this is about a movement of making sports more visible for women,” Adair says. “I got an e-mail recently and found out there actually is a group, and they’re all owners of women’s sports bars around the country, and they invited me into their group and it’s just been amazing to have that support and that information from them and to be able to share ideas and stuff.
“So I’m not just opening up a business; I feel like I’m part of a movement now … and that makes it so appealing to me,” she adds.
