Little Arlene in Sports Illustrated

A 1973 article in Sports Illustrated about Pete Maravich mentions a halftime eating exhibition by Little Arlene:

Over the last five years the Hawks’ owners have tried five different general managers in the hope of getting reluctant Georgians, who stay home in the hope that Tuesday night football might miraculously appear on the tube, out to watch basketball. The latest candidate is 33-year-old Pat Williams, a promotional wizard fresh from crowd-building stints in Philadelphia and Chicago where he staged such halftime acts as Victor the Wrestling Bear and Little Arlene.

Williams, a mild-mannered, bespectacled, churchgoing sort, remembers Arlene with particular fondness because she was recommended to him in Philly by a player he had farmed out to Scranton of the Eastern League. Arlene, who weighed just 105 pounds, challenged five grown men to an eating contest and won by gobbling 77 hot dogs, 21 medium pizzas and 19 Cokes during a 76ers’ game. She then told the public-address announcer to inform the audience that she would take on any five fans in a postgame oyster-eating bash at Bookbinders restaurant. Hoping to come up with another red-hot attraction, Williams called a meeting of the Hawks and asked for their ideas. The only one he received came from Maravich, who allowed as how he thought a lot of folks would show up if Williams screened Deep Throat every halftime.

The exhibition also appears in a recent book about Maravich.

Pat Williams did an interview last month where he mentioned Little Arlene, but does not offer any additional details about her.

Comments (1)

1 Comment »

  1. Anonymous said

    April 6, 2008 @ 7:58 am

    I read about this on eatfeats around last summer.

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