Jacksonville Krystal Results
Krystal Square Off Qualifier, Greater Jacksonville Fair, Nov 6 (from IFOCE.com)
1. “Crazy Legs” Conti, 31 burgers
2. Hall Hunt, 30 burgers
3. Brian Miller, 24 burgers
Conti is not the first Bostonian to win a big event in Jacksonville in 2005; the Patriots won the Super Bowl in February.
Not only does Hunt miss the top spot and automatic qualification by just one burger, his total puts his 3 contest average at 26.67, third place in the wild card category, and less than a burger behind Loren Yarbrough’s average of 27.33. The top two wild card qualifiers make the finals and Joey Chestnut has the first wild card slot. No eater can compete in more than three qualifiers.
Jacksonville.com has a profile of Hall Hunt (registration required)
With one qualifier remaining in Knoxville Sunday, the winners of the first round contests are:
| 2005 Sep 5 | 57 | Sonya Thomas | Chattanooga, TN |
| 2005 Sep 11 | 44 | Eric “Badlands” Booker | Nashville, TN |
| 2005 Sep 18 | 39 | Tim “Eater X” Janus | Atlanta, GA |
| 2005 Oct 30 | 36 | Ron Koch | Savannah, GA |
| 2005 Oct 2 | 35 | Rich LeFevre | Dallas, TX |
| 2005 Sep 25 | 33 | Sam “Big Country” Vise | Memphis, TN |
| 2005 Oct 23 | 32 | Chip Simpson | Birmingham, AL |
| 2005 Nov 6 | 31 | “Crazy Legs” Conti | Jacksonville, FL |
| 2005 Oct 9 | 29 | “Humble” Bob Shoudt | Perry, GA |
| 2005 Oct 16 | 27 | “Buffalo” Jim Reeves | Jackson, MS |
Notable eaters who have yet to qualify include Cookie Jarvis and Patrick Bertoletti. Don “Moses” Lerman and Kevin Carr have also announced intentions to compete in Knoxville.
Recorded non-winning finishes of 20 or more burgers are: (list might be incomplete)
| 2005 Sep 5 | 56 | Joey Chestnut | Chattanooga, TN |
| 2005 Nov 6 | 30 | Hall “Pretty Boy” Hunt | Jacksonville, FL |
| 2005 Oct 23 | 30 | Loren “Bubba” Yarbrough | Birmingham, AL |
| 2005 Oct 23 | 28 | Larry “The Legend” McNeil | Birmingham, AL |
| 2005 Sep 11 | 28 | Patrick Bertoletti | Nashville, TN |
| 2005 Sep 18 | 27 | Loren “Bubba” Yarbrough | Atlanta, GA |
| 2005 Oct 16 | 26 | David Ray | Jackson, MS |
| 2005 Oct 30 | 26 | Hall “Pretty Boy” Hunt | Savannah, GA |
| 2005 Sep 18 | 26 | Shaun Kessler | Atlanta, GA |
| 2005 Oct 9 | 25 | Loren “Bubba” Yarbrough | Perry, GA |
| 2005 Sep 11 | 24 | “Donkey Kong” Zakerski | Nashville, TN |
| 2005 Oct 9 | 24 | Hall “Pretty Boy” Hunt | Perry, GA |
| 2005 Sep 25 | 23 | “Super” Dave Connolly | Memphis, TN |
| 2005 Oct 2 | 22 | Kurtis Wright | Dallas, TX |
| 2005 Sep 25 | 22 | Thomas Petrowski | Memphis, TN |
| 2005 Oct 2 | 21 | Levi Oliver | Dallas, TX |
| 2005 Oct 16 | 20 | John Anderson | Jackson, MS |
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Skinnyboy said
November 8, 2005 @ 10:16 am
Here is the article so you do not need to register:
Gator student ready to wolf down 30 burgers
By MARK WOODS, The Times-Union
As Orange Park’s Hall Hunt analyzes what happened last weekend and explains what he hopes to do today at the Greater Jacksonville Agricultural Fair, he sounds a bit like a pro athlete talking about the big game.
He says the pressure is on, and that he has to stay focused, push through some mental barriers and, in 8 minutes, eat at least 30 hamburgers.
“I know I can do that,” he said. “I’ve nearly done it in practice.”
Hunt is a professional eater.
During the week, he’s a 24-year-old graduate student at the University of Florida, studying to be a civil engineer. But on the weekend, he travels around the country, stuffing his face with greasy food, trying to win cash in the dog-eat-hot-dog world of competitive eating.
Once a simple staple of fairs, this has become serious business, with big-name sponsors, world rankings, ESPN coverage of the Alka-Seltzer U.S. Open, reports of Japan’s Takeru Kobayashi earning a six-figure salary, and debates in Sports Illustrated about whether eating can be a sport.
“It’s the sport of Everyman,” said Richard Shea, president of the International Federation of Competitive Eating. “If you’ve got Neanderthals in a cave and a rabbit walks in, that’s a competitive eating situation.”
For Hall, it was a matter of walking into a Gainesville restaurant and, on a whim, entering a sushi-eating contest.
“I won easily,” he said. “And it kind of snowballed from there.”
Now he’s 30th in the federation rankings. Two weeks ago, he went to North Carolina and ate 20 grilled cheese sandwiches to win first place and $1,000. The same weekend, in South Carolina, he ate 17 sandwiches, placed second and won another $500.
Before you quit your job and start planning to put food on the table by shoveling food into your mouth, consider that Hall says it’s not that easy.
“Like anything, it takes a lot of practice,” he said.
He has gone as far as having his little brother grab a stopwatch and time his hamburger splits. But for the most part, his practice involves guzzling copious amounts of water, stretching his stomach.
“I haven’t gained a pound since I started doing this,” he said.
At 6-foot and 180 pounds, Hunt is proof that you can’t judge a competitive eater by his belly. Most of the week, he sticks to a strict, healthy diet with lots of chicken and vegetables; tracks calories in a journal; and runs as part of his training for the Disney Marathon.
But as a contest nears, he switches to a different kind of training. He goes to Sam’s Club and buys food. On Friday, he starts by eating a 6-pound can of green beans. He eats until he can’t eat anymore. And then he drinks water.
“All of Saturday and Sunday, I’ll just have little snacks, pretzels and things, just to keep the blood sugar level,” he said.
Usually it pays off. But last week, in Savannah, Ga., he “only” ate 26 hamburgers, finishing second in a regional qualifying event for the Krystal Hamburger Square Off. Only the winner, who ate 36 burgers, advanced to the national final and a shot at $5,000.
“I don’t know what happened,” he said.
So he began preparing for today, 5 p.m. at the fair. A home game. A last shot at a seat at the national table.
He says he’s ready, mentally and physically. He says his biggest hurdle is overcoming a trait that doesn’t exactly make him a natural for this kind of competition.
“I’ve always been an extremely slow eater,” he said.