Drexel Hill resident and chef Kevin “Steek” Cooper had all kinds of personal tragedy going on when he competed last year on the Food Network’s Guy’s Chance of a Lifetime, writes Michael Klein for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

But viewers never saw it when those episodes aired over the last six weeks and Cooper’s self-control won him his own Chicken Guy franchise in the Philadelphia area.

Cooper learned before going to Orlando for the taping that his wife, Latoya, had to start treatment for cancer. Once in Orlando, he learned his sister Kedisha had died.

But Cooper, 37, a North Philadelphia Army veteran, was calm throughout, proving he could operate a Guy Fieri-branded fast food restaurant.

He’s a former Food Network winner, on a 2017 episode of Cooks vs. Cons. He’s competed on Food Network Canada’s Fire Masters and on Guy’s Grocery Games.

His focus, confidence and discipline come from the Army. It’s what he needed “to be great and successful in this industry,” he said.

Cooper says one of his goals “is to show people that it doesn’t matter where you come from, it’s about where you’re going.”

Cooper’s wife, by the way, recently had her last chemo treatment.

Read more at The Philadelphia Inquirer about Chef Kevin Cooper.