Near Winner Just Couldn’t Ketchup

Dave Stempink bellied up to the table in the Cal State Fullerton amphitheater Tuesday, looking like the odds-on favorite to win the third annual Homecoming Week’s French Fry Eating Contest.

Packing 210 pounds on his six-foot frame, the 20-year-old psychology major told anyone within earshot: “I won back in ’85. These newcomers aren’t in shape . . . there’s too much grease for them to handle.”

Stempink also appeared to have the edge with the crowd because his fraternity brothers standing at the amphitheater edge whistled, yelled and clapped lustily whenever Stempink clasped his hands above his head in a mock victory salute.

But unfortunately for Stempink, the French fry eating contest did not start on schedule when the campus chimes struck noon.

As the wait dragged on to 12:15 p.m., the number of contestants had grown to 13, and the quality of the field showed measurable improvement.

Since there were only enough fries for 15 contestants, Lisa Foley, the Cal State senior who organized the event as part of the weeklong pre-Homecoming festivities, decided to get the show under way before any more hungry students on their way to lunch were diverted to a free meal.

“There will be one person behind--if you need help with a fry stuck in your throat, or whatever,” Foley assured the participants.

At 12:18 p.m. Foley shouted: “Start!” The contestants, 11 men and two women, hunched over their two pounds of cold, greasy fries purchased from a nearby fast-food spot.

Contest co-organizer Todd Hanson, watching from the sidelines, explained: “I picked (the 30 pounds of fries) up at 11 a.m. They already were sitting out in a box. But it’s good that they’re not hot. It gives them less of a taste, so that you can get them in your mouth and just shove ‘em down.”

Those who devoured their fries the fastest used both hands as shovels to stuff them into their mouths, give them a fast chew and wash them down with two cups of water.

One minute and 12 seconds after the first fry was dispatched, a winner was declared. Actually, there was a moment of confusion.

Ken Stewart, who stood at only 5 foot 7 and weighed just 145 pounds, at first appeared to have captured the championship trophy. He leaped from his chair as he scraped the last of his fries from the napkin-plastered table.

But seconds later, a chorus of “Pallow! Pallow!” erupted from the large contingent of Sigma fraternity brothers. Tom Pallow, a 22-year-old Sigma from Tustin, slowly lifted his 6-foot-1, 230-pound frame from his chair, gulped down the last of his fries with gusto and grinned from ear to ear.

After quickly huddling with two other judges, Foley declared Pallow the winner. “Ken was the first to stand up, but he still had food in his mouth,” Foley pronounced. “Tom swallowed all his fries first.”

Cradling his gold-plated-pig trophy, Pallow, a sociology major, said: “I wanted to win this for Sigma. . . . I’m going to put it in the case with our other (fraternity) trophies.”

He added: “That’s where I put my trophy for winning the pie-eating contest.”