Steve Keiner

Steven (Steve) Keiner of Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey was the 1999 winner of the annual Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest in Coney Island, downing 20¼ hot dogs in 12 minutes. [Mcfadden, Robert D. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9806E7DD113DF936A35754C0A96F958260 "Holiday Parades March By, But the Heat Is Just Settling In"] , "The New York Times", July 5, 1999. Accessed December 20, 2007. "As a crowd wavering between nausea and fascination watched for 12 minutes, Steve Keiner, 50, of Egg Harbor Township, N.J., downed 20 and one-quarter hot dogs to defeat the reigning Hirofumi Nakajima, a 134-pound former noodle-eating champ from Japan, who managed only 19 franks."]

Keiner's victory was somewhat of an upset, as he had never participated in competitive eating before the qualifiers. Steve is one of only two non-Japanese victors of the contest since 1997.

Keiner was unable to defend his title the following year, and lost to the Japanese competitive eater Kazutoyo Arai.

References

External links

* [http://www.nyc.gov/html/om/html/2000b/pr256-00.html A city press release on Steve Keiner]