The following chronology attempts to trace the development of the origin story for Nathan’s Famous hot dog eating contest using public news archives.

• 1938 Fortune Magazine
  A long article about Coney Island has a section about how Nathan’s five cent hot dogs undercut the sausages offered by Charles Feltman which cost twice as much. There is no mention of a hot dog eating contest
• 1958 Sports Illustrated
  A column about hot dogs’ connection with the Fourth of July has a mentions Nathan’s with no reference to a hot dog contest
• 1967 UPI Article
  The first Coney Island hot dog eating contest appearing in the news archives was held in conjunction with the 100 year anniversary of the hot dog and took place on June 30 and not July 4. Walter Paul is reported as the victor who ate 127 hot dogs in an hour. I have not been able to find any additional coverage of this competition. Sports Illustrated had a long article from August 1967 about the decline of Coney Island which mentions that centennial, but has no mention of Walter Paul’s feat. This is the only picture of the ceremony I could find.
• 1972 AP Article
  After 1972, Coney Island hot dog eating contests became a yearly occurrence. In the 1970s contests were held at various times throughout the summer, a report on the 1972 Labor Day contest claims it was the 23rd annual hot dog eating contest.
• 1978 UPI Article
  A report on the 1978 Memorial Day weekend contest claims that the contest began in 1917 and that Eddie Cantor competed in the inaugural contest. 1942 and 1944 are given as years the contest was cancelled.
• 1988 AP article
  A report on the contest claims the record was 17.5 hot dogs and set in 1979
• 1989 UPI article
  A report Jay Green’s repeat victory claims the record holder was Walter Paul (reportedly the winner of the 1967 contest) whose mark of 17 hot dogs was set in 1968.
• 1991 AP Article
  A contest report about Frank Dellarosa breaking the record claims the previous best of 17.5 hot dogs was set by Peter Washburn in 1959
• 1996 CNN.com article
  A CNN article about the Nathan’s finals cites 1939, 1940 and 1941 as years the contest was cancelled due to war in Europe. (On July 4, 1939 World War II had yet to begin in Europe, which would start two months later with the German invasion of Poland.)
• 1999 AP article
  A preview of the 1999 finals appears to be the first mention in the news archive of Jim Mullen (sometimes Mullin) as the inaugural winner. In the article, George Shea also cites a female German winner from the 1950s.
• 2006 Eat This Book
  An official history of Nathan’s hot dog contest citing several additional winners from 1917-1970 can be found in a chapter of Eat This Book, a book by IFOCE employee Ryan Nerz. The German female champion mentioned by George Shea in 1999 is given the name Gerta Hasselhoff.
• 2010 NY Times interview
  Former Nathan’s Famous promoter Mortimer Matz, who started the annual contests in 1972 with Max Rosey, admits he made up the 1916 origin story. (Despite his fabrication, he claims “Morty Matz always tells the truth”)
• 2013 Twitter
  George Shea continues to promulgate the 1916 origin after his predecessor admitted it was bogus.
• 2014 NY Daily News
  Mortimer Matz is reportedly subpoenaed for receiving $1.1 million from the civil asset forfeiture fund from 2003-2013 from former Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes.

PermalinkComments (1)