A listing of people who ate 10 hot dogs or more in a Nathan’s hot dog contest in 2013 and omitted from the recent MLE top 50 follows. Among ranked people who competed in a Nathan’s contest in 2013, Mary Bowers had the lowest total (10.5). Brian Seiken and Andrew Kogutkiewicz tied for the second lowest (11).

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Yesterday’s MLE trivia contest on twitter incorrectly claimed that the easternmost Nathan’s qualifier took place in Beijing, China (longitude 116° East). Rhonda Evans received no response to her mention of the qualfiers held in Tokyo (long. 139° E) won by Nobuyki “The Giant” Shirota in 2004 and Kenji Oguni in 2005 & 06.

The Japanese contests may not actually be the easternmost Nathan’s qualifiers. A 2009 hot dog eating contest held in Fiji (long. 178° E) claimed the winner would receive a trip to New York City to compete in the finals if s/he ate more than 50 hot dogs.

Jim Mullen, supposedly the first winner of the Nathan’s contest in 1916, was the answer to one of the questions which contradicts Mortimer Matz, Nathan’s promoter before the Sheas, claim to have fabricated the Nathan’s contest origin story in a 2010 New York Times interview.

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Footlong is a documentary (full movie) about “the social impact of the hot dog on American Culture” that opens with coverage of the 1998 Nathan’s finals (Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3) including interviews with George Shea, Gersh Kuntzman, Ed Krachie, Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa and defending champion Hirofumi Nakajima along with brief snippets of the 1998 Nathan’s qualifier held in Windows on the World on top of the World Trade Center.

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A graph in last year’s broadcast of the Nathan’s finals listed Llamas as the top Nathan’s performer in the 1980’s with a total near 20 hot dogs. This is based on a Wikipedia fabrication claiming that Luis Llamas from Mexico won the 1983 contest with a total of 19.5 hot dogs.

According to an Associated Press article, the winner in 1983 was Emil Gomez with a total of 10.5 hot dogs.

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In a seven-part article for the Dallas Observer, Patrick Michels uses Nathan Biller’s career as a starting point to explore the history of the IFOCE/MLE and competitive eating in general. While quite thorough, the article does not mention the cancellation of the Krystal Square Off or the admission by Mortimer Matz, Nathan’s promoter in the 1970’s, that the 1916 “origin story” of the Coney Island contest was a fabrication.

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The New York Times has an interview with Mortimer Matz, who was Max Rosey’s partner in promoting the Nathan’s Famous hot dog eating contest in the 1970’s. Matz says that there is no basis for the claimed origin of the contest during World War I:

We said this was an annual tradition since 1916. In Coney Island pitchman style, we made it up.

After being contacted by the New York Times, a Nathan’s spokesman said the company had no evidence of pre-1970s competitions. (A Nathan’s contest held in 1967 in honor of the 100 year anniversary of the creation of the hot dog was reported by the UPI. Walter Paul reportedly won the contest by eating 127 hot dogs in an hour).

Matz also says that Nathan’s turned down the opportunity to be the sponsor for the New York City Marathon in 1976.

update Aug 20 Gothamist has a blog entry about Matz’ admission. Matz is featured in a 1979 New York Magazine article about press agents. The article does not bring up Matz’ work for Nathan’s, but the restaurant is mentioned in Godfather author Mario Puzo’s cover story about Coney Island.

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Gersh Kuntzman has a column about the updating of the “Wall of Fame” at the Coney Island Nathan’s. A summary of the changes:

• In: Joey Chestnut, Pat Bertoletti, Tim Janus, Juliet Lee, Tim Brown, Crazy Legs Conti
• Out: Eric “Badlands” Booker, Cookie Jarvis, Don Lerman, Charles Hardy, Kevin Lipsitz, Ed Krachie, “Kid” Cary DeGrosa, songwriter Amos Wengler.
• Staying: Takeru Kobayashi, Sonya Thomas
• Neither in nor out: “Notorious” Bob Shoudt (current #2 IFOCE ranking)

George Shea is quoted:

“The question is this: Do you listen to Lady Gaga or The Who?” Shea asked. “The bottom line is that it’s a ‘Wall of Fame.’ None of the people you mentioned, plus Don ‘Moses’ Lerman, ‘Krazy’ Kevin Lipsitz or Ed ‘Cookie’ Jarvis, have fame anymore. The guys on that wall now have eclipsed all of them.”

Badlands Booker ate 38.5 hot dogs in a Nathan’s qualifier last month. Three of the new entrants (Juliet Lee, Tim Brown, Crazy Legs Conti) have never eaten that much.

A picture of the old Wall of Fame

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The Google News Archive has an article from 1969 about hot dog consumption during the first meeting between the Jets and Colts in Super Bowl III containing Nathan’s president Murray Handwerker’s response to Ralph Nader’s allegations of poor meat quality in hot dogs:

Nader has done some great things for safety in automobiles. I believe he said he would give up driving in cars. I get the impression he now intends to give up eating in New York.

The next thing you know he will no longer wear clothes because of defective labeling, and that could result in his total exposure.

The article also mentions Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Cook Book.

Trivia Time The Jets’ linebacker coach in Super Bowl III was Buddy Ryan, father of current head coach Rex Ryan, a possible entrant in the 2010 Nathan’s finals.

The Colts’ head coach in Super Bowl III was Don Shula, who would later lead the Miami Dolphins to an undefeated season and found a chain of steak houses offering a 48 ounce steak challenge which has been completed almost 35,000 times.

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(Via Liz K) The Riverfront Times has a blog entry about making a recipe from the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Cookbook from 1968:

Hot Dog Salad Dressing. For six servings, grind eight hot dogs with one-half teaspoon dry mustard, two tablespoons milk, one tablespoon pickle relish and one-third cup of mayo. Think about that for a second. That’s 1.3 hot dogs per salad serving. This is nothing more than a ploy to sell hot dogs.

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The segment from Holiday Foods about the Fourth of July hot dog eating contest held at Nathan’s Famous in Coney Island can be viewed on the History Channel’s website. The clip contains a short contest between Eric “Badlands” Booker and Famous Fat Dave which Ryan Nerz provides commentary for.

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(From NoLandGrab) A competitive eating hall of fame is one of three suggestions offered by the Atlantic Yards Report to the Imagine Coney initiative. The hall of fame would include a restaurant that would offer an eating challenge.

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