Melody Andorfer – Nathan’s 1972 Labor Day champion
In the 1970s, Nathan’s held hot dog contests at times other than the fourth of July. The winner of the 1972 Labor Day weekend contest was Melody Andorfer, who ate 12 hot dogs & buns in 5 minutes. The AP did an article on her victory which was printed by several newspapers in the Google News archive:
Nathan’s 23rd annual hot dog eating contest separated the women from the boys at Coney Island Saturday. The woman went to the top. “I can’t believe I ate that all” said the winner, a 105-pound brunette, after she finished 12 seven-inch hot dogs in five minutes, rolls and all. Eighteen-year-old Melody Andorfer, of Astoria, Queens, who belongs to the National Organization for Women and several other liberation groups, drank three large colas with her male runner-up after she beat seven other women and eight men in the contest. Then she had a sandwich for lunch. The runner-up, 260-pound Gary Silverman, 19, Brooklyn, asked the winner for a date after he managed to devour 10 hot dogs during the event. Miss Andorfer, who said she did not feel queasy after the contest, asserted she had ham and eggs, coffee, and orange juice for breakfast. Asked why she entered The contest, Miss Andorfer said, “I’m determined not to let those male chauvinist pigs dominate us any longer.”
No other reports of Ms. Andorfer defending her title or entering another contest can be found online. (A 1973 Coney Island Labor Day weekend hot dog contest was converted to a corn contest due to lack of beef):
Throngs of people flocked to Coney Island on Saturday and some of them found they beat the heat only to encounter another problem: the beef shortage. Because of the lack of beef, a hot dog eating contest was turned into a corn-on-the-cob eating contest. The winner downed four ears of corn in less than three minutes.
After her victory, Melody Andofer does appear on the front pages of two newspaper modeling swimwear at Coney Island:
Charleston Daily Mail Thursday, July 05, 1973
PATRIOTIC DISPLAY- Melodie Andorfer displays a stars and stripes bikini Wednesday at New York’s Coney Island. She was one of thousands who migrated to the beaches on the Independence Day holiday.
The Chronicle Telegram June 1, 1974, Elyria, Ohio
Displaying the Colors One of Melody Andorfer’s lesser known attributes is her ability as a seamstress. Here she models a swim suit she put together for the opening of Coney Island, New York’s summer playground.
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anonymous said
September 3, 2007 @ 3:00 pm
Wow! OJ that is one incredible story. I remember her when i was a young teen. They made such a big deal about her eating the 12 hot dogs almost like she was a national hero. She was also very attractive . The pic of me in the bathing suit during the theme song of BB corner shows is similar to how i looked back then. I was there when they immortalized her on stage in 1973 . They would run the hot dog contests whenever they felt like it . Rosey and some other guy were running the shows back in those days. They were more like a vaudeville act but still q
beautifulbrian said
September 3, 2007 @ 3:01 pm
That anonymous comment was me . Forgot to leave my real name
beautifulbrian said
September 3, 2007 @ 3:52 pm
There was also a beef boycott back in 72 or 73 because the farmers felt they were getting ripped off. I remember it was very hard to find ground beef in the butcher or supermarket . I managed to come up with this catchy slogan when i attended a Ny Met Chicago Cub game in “73 parading around the stadium with this banner that read “dont boycott beef eat cub meat”
Badlands Booker said
September 4, 2007 @ 6:35 am
Awesome article!
JAY RILEY said
January 20, 2008 @ 12:42 pm
THE BOYCOTT OF BEEF IN 1973, INSPIRED SOME OF US IN AMARILLO TEXAS TO THROW A BIG BAR-B-Q, SO WE GATHERED UP OVER TWENTY THOUSAND POUNDS OF CHOICE BEEF, HIRED THE TRI-STATE FAIRGROUNDS IN AMARILLO, TX, TOM FOLMAR, JAY RILEY, BEN JOHNSON [THE ACTOR] ALONG WITH ANDY DEVINE, PAUL HARVEY[HE COVERED IT FOR HIS SHOW…WE HAD 28,000 IN ATTENDANCE, GOT THE DALHART TEXAS COWBOY COOKERS TO TEND THE MEAT, BREAD, BEANS, “A GASTRONOMINAL AMOUNT”, WE HAD A DAY CALLED “MEAT APPRECIATION DAY” IT STARTED OUT AS bEEF APPRECIATION DAY, BUT COUNTRY SINGER JIMMY DEAN WAS ALREADY IN THE SAUSAGE BUSINESS, HE CALLED AND OFFERED SUPPORT IF WE CALLED IT “MEAT APPRECIATION DAY”…YOU CAN’T SAY NO TO “BIG BAD JOHN”……I LATER WROTE AND RECORDED A SONG ABOUT THE EVENT CALLED, “the big bar bar-b-que” which spawned a career in country music for myself, thought you might like this…..
j hennessey place said
July 27, 2008 @ 1:04 pm
Wow, she was my first girlfriend, around 1968. I remember the news. She was very cool.