A brief history of the pre-1991 Nathan’s record
According to the official history, the Nathan’s record before Frank Dellarossa ate 21 HDB in 1991 was 18.5 HDB by one armed carnival worker Peter Washburn in 1959. This mark is not mentioned in any article in the Google News archive about a pre-1991 contest.
- 1986 Record holder is listed as Walter Paul, who ate 17 in 1978. Walter Paul is the reported winner of a 1967 contest.
- 1986 title match – Record is mentioned as 13.5, set several years before
- 1982 – record is mentioned as 14 by Jim Mattner, who served as contest judge. (No article about a contest won by Mattner is present in the news archive)
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Poor records inc said
July 2, 2008 @ 7:38 am
Nathans did a very poor job of listing the winners of contests from 1916 through the early 80’s Its just a big crossword puzzle trying to put the pieces together . When George Shea gets on the mic and declares that the contest has been held on July 4th since 1916 at the same location with the exception of 1941 and 71 or something like that, it is totally incorrect. As you can see sometimes the contest was held twice a year or on memorial day and labor day. One year they ate corn instead of beef. You have no idea what went on the 50’s 60s 70’s . We had to wait until 2008 to get the record straight ? It’s still not straight until a database of actual winners and totals is established from 1916- present .