First interstate competitive eater?

Don “Moses” Lerman makes the following claims in his blog:

As I reflect upon my eating carear as I said on the about Don Lerman page on my site, I invented the water technique , the first eater to use their own nick name in a contest, before that either the promoter the press or the sponser gave an eater a nickname , I change that forever!
The first eater to go out of state for a contest,the first champion to crossover to another food category, the first non Philly resident to compete in the Wing Bowl( achieving 3rd &2ndplace).

This page about Oakland, California resident Eddie “Bozo” Miller says he ate 63 apple pies at the 1961 Montana State Fair and 30 pounds of meat loaf at an undated contest in Idaho. There are probably earlier instances of eaters traveling out of state, but I have not been able to locate them.

The writer for the trivia column on creators.com was contacted by the daughter of Bozo Miller in June, who reported he was still alive despite an age of almost 100.

Comments (30)

30 Comments »

  1. Iphone | Apple | Mac Blog » First interstate competitive eater? said

    November 14, 2007 @ 1:11 am

    […] EatFeats (competitive eating news and database) placed an observative post today on First interstate competitive eater?Here’s a quick excerpt […]

  2. donmoseslerman said

    November 14, 2007 @ 2:31 am

    first of alll I don’t beleive the eddie bozo miller story sounds like a history revisionist ala the baron of ariizona if you ever saw that movie, ok i’ll go as far as saying the first in the ifoce to go out of state for a contest so there will be mo one disputingit

  3. Greg Carrieri said

    November 14, 2007 @ 2:53 am

    I used to go watch the contests from Nathan’s & the Ben’s Deli in 1999 to present. Moses Lerman & Krazy Lipshitz were the first to do both, with Lerman winning the Maztoh Ball. 2000 was really the birth of competitive eating, before that it was really just the Nathan’s contest & smaller local events. The Wingbowl became huge & I believe Lerman, Lipshitz, & Coon Dog were the first eaters to cross over to there. The WIP site used to show the stunts they had to do, I think Lipshitz ate a big sandwhich, lerman with either burgers or Dog Food, & Coon dog ate Corn I think. After that, other eaters starting going to other contests like the Matzoh Ball-Wing Bowl, & CE was a real sport

  4. donmoseslerman said

    November 14, 2007 @ 5:25 am

    this is don lerman again .I had a custumer at my stotre that I called ”the pie man” he was nearly 1000lbs as heavy as walter hudson ( for thoses long islanders that remenber him)He would buy 100 large Table Talk Pies 50 on monday and 50 on thurs , what your trying to sell to us that a bozo miller ate more , i believe it never happened.ead my first post ..don lerman

  5. Philly Guy said

    November 14, 2007 @ 8:42 am

    Residents of New Jersey have been doing Wing Bowl, before that. Actually, Wingador is from New Jersey and placed first 5 times. I also believe he created the Wingador name.

  6. ? said

    November 14, 2007 @ 9:09 am

    Umm…. D.Lerman… giving yourself a nickname is Double R Retarded.

    A nickname is to be bestowed upon you…. you don’t get to make it up yourself. It’s sort of an initiation from members to non-members.
    It can come from other areas and cross-over…. my name was bestowed upon me at work and then crossed over into CE.

  7. donmoseslerman said

    November 14, 2007 @ 10:18 am

    ? SAID . true giving yourself a nickname is out of the ordinary but not as a in a case of a contestant nickname giving it to yourself or thinking up what name you want to be called , as far as the ifoce visa vie the nathans and the bens I wasfirst followed by cookie jarvis if wingador thought up his own name then i stand coreected but on another subjsect jersey residents were considered the in the same vain as philly residents

  8. anonymous said

    November 14, 2007 @ 11:01 am

    Don that pie customer of yours must have stunk from his ass when he got up from the seat of his car

  9. Mega Munch said

    November 14, 2007 @ 12:39 pm

    I think it’s hard to make that claim that anyone was “the first eater to go out of state.” I’m sure someone in the 1930s drove across the border for a pie eating contest at some point.

    As for giving yourself your own nickname, I’d be willing to bet that MOST eater nicknames were the result of their own choosing. After all, when you sign in for an IFOCE contest, the form specifically asks for a nickname (doesn’t it?). I don’t know if anyone ever wrote “Go ahead and make one up for me.”

  10. donmoseslerman said

    November 14, 2007 @ 1:34 pm

    anonymous1101 the pie man was alwys in a pickuptrucks drivers seat and the body odor was emense as you approached the truck, how he got in and out of the truck will remanin a mystery to me he had to be between 700-1000lbs.

  11. donmoseslerman said

    November 14, 2007 @ 3:37 pm

    Mega Munch , thats not so in 2001 at the taping of a promo for the bens matzah ballcontest I was then known as ”the donald ” I asked bob david a vp at bens if I can use my own nick name “Moses” which was given to me by my Aunt Rhoda back in 1981 , he sais go ahead that night I wore a shirt with my painting of me as Moses t o the qualifer , Ed Jarvis followed with his nick name ”cookie” rather then have give him one.them At this time there was no IFOCE yet

  12. Anonymous said

    November 14, 2007 @ 4:25 pm

    oh Don, get real already, who freaking cares about these ridiculous claims you make! You were “the first” for everything in competitive eating, you did it all and now you are amazing. Let’s now have a Don moses lerman Day or a holiday in your name. he is the ancestor of competitive eating dating back to Moses time in the wildnerness and ate manna and competed against Egyptians and took part in the parting of the Red Sea, to top it off he is now the 1st most self centered eater in the world, lets eat on that!! and that’s for the record Don!! my gosh.

  13. A. Nonymous said

    November 14, 2007 @ 6:14 pm

    yawn.

  14. anonomous said

    November 14, 2007 @ 7:05 pm

    There aren’t anymore colorful characters in ce anymore. they are all young skinny guys.

  15. donmoseslerman said

    November 14, 2007 @ 7:38 pm

    to anonymous 4;25 thats what I mean , my accomplishments are being unermined , and belittled lets put this to avote on eat feats … what eater has made the most contributions to the sport since its inception.a. don lerman ,b. ed jarvis c .kevin lipistz d. charles hardy e. ed krachie d eric booker f . other

  16. Carey said

    November 14, 2007 @ 7:47 pm

    Don, I will agree that those Jersey cities are nicknamed East Philly, but didn’t Kevin lipsitz also compete at the Wingbowl in question?

  17. USMALE said (Registered September 4, 2007)

    November 14, 2007 @ 10:15 pm

    There are 2 or 3 counties in South Jersey (east Philly) that are allowed to participate in Wing Bowl; to represent Philly.

  18. donmoseslerman said

    November 15, 2007 @ 12:26 am

    when I say that i was the first o travel out of state for a contest other than the wingbowl I went to deluth minn. in2001 to the Cloud Burger contest fron N. Y. ( IFOCE ) and in all fair ness I believe that the bermanater , berman his first name exapes me for the moment was at the 2000 bens matzah ball contest .

  19. beautifulbrian said

    November 15, 2007 @ 1:54 am

    Don i notice how you deliberatly leave out my name in regard to accomplishments due to the fact that you are mad at me. If that isnt the most childish shit i have ever seen. What is this contributions to the sport ? You make it seem like Gen Patton and his medals of honor. Any day now i expect you to put on your marine uniform and start saluting to the tune of “anchors away” .

  20. donmoseslerman said

    November 15, 2007 @ 9:54 am

    Brian anhorrs way is the navy song not marine corps, if I left you out it was an oversight thats all it was . dont get all riled up , I’m not angry with you and hold no grudges , you were there when the sport was started you desrve THE same respect and acolades to …Don Lerman

  21. anonymous said

    November 15, 2007 @ 10:06 am

    Dude u won one contest in your life by a pube ur not in moses league. you cant hold his tablets

  22. donmoseslerman said

    November 15, 2007 @ 10:40 am

    go to my site and see what one more than 1 contest..don lerman

  23. anonymous said

    November 15, 2007 @ 11:48 am

    don Lerman you are wrong you are wroing wrong wrong .anchors away is an army song . I was a WW2 vet . So there !

  24. Link Rockhead said

    November 15, 2007 @ 12:07 pm

    Me travel two states on wooly elephant to get to dino meat contest, beat friend Ogg by 22 pounds, breaking Alley Opp’s record….that first cross state eat trip ever. Me had nickname, too, me make up…..”Missing” Link, ha, ha get it?? Me missing from home, and me first name Link….I have fastest club in competitive eating…..one thing me and Moses have in common, though…..both suck at typing…ha, ha…shout out to my bud Fred Flintstone, you rock!!

  25. Fred Flintstone said

    November 15, 2007 @ 12:13 pm

    right back at you, Link. YABADABADOO…..you ready for Saturday’s Raptor Rib eating Contest?? I hear Joey Rocknuts, Crazy Rocks , Bonebiter Rocklow, RockBurger Simpson, and Sonya The Black Rock Thomas may be there.

  26. Link Rockhead said

    November 15, 2007 @ 12:18 pm

    Hey, what happen me comment?…it gone, I no curse, or even yell

  27. donmoseslerman said

    November 15, 2007 @ 12:26 pm

    anchors away is the navy theme song the cassons kept roling along, is army the only ww2 vet that you areis a veteran of the world series

  28. Link Rockhead said

    November 15, 2007 @ 12:52 pm

    never mind…me see it now, before bad typed lerman whine…this stupid stream, who care about old song? Me like Rock around the Clock, We will Rock You, or anything by Rolling Stones

  29. Ralph Kramden said

    November 15, 2007 @ 1:11 pm

    All i know is when ed jarvis slammed seiken for mentioning that he wanted to promote aice events to get back at ifoce it was like the honeymooner episode when ralph said “What i say about norton is one thing how i feel about him is another” your a riot alice a regular riot bang zoom!

  30. Rhonda Evans said

    November 15, 2007 @ 3:12 pm

    It’s “Anchors Aweigh” for the Navy, “The Army Goes Rolling Along,” for the Army, and “The Marines’ Hymn.” What does this have to do with the thread topic?

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