It was the greatest upset in northeast Ohio history.
Not The Drive, The Fumble or The Shot. Not Dennis Kucinich becoming the city’s youngest mayor.
Almost fifty years ago, 16-year-old Dave “King Coondog” O’Karma took down one of the area’s most beloved champions, “Mushmouth” Mariano Pacetti, in Hoolihan and Big Chuck’s Pizza Fight of the Century.
It was his first taste of fame, but it wouldn’t be the last.
On June 24, O’Karma’s hometown of Cuyahoga Falls honored their local hero by naming a street for him and re-staging the pizza-eating contest that brought him notoriety and launched his world-wide career.
“It’s like Forrest Gump,” O’Karma, now 66, said of all the travels and adventures that followed his reign as the pizza-eating champ, as well as the support of his hometown. “Who gets to do all that with a nothing talent?”
Pickle-eating champion Arnie "Chowhound" Chapman looks on as his friend Dave "King Coondog" O'Karma shows that he has devoured an entire pizza during a contest June 24 in downtown Cuyahoga Falls. O'Karma defeated nine challengers, including Cuyahoga Falls Mayor Don Walters. John Matuszak, special to cleveland.com.
Coondog coronation ball
It all started, as many adventures and misadventures do, with a bunch of bored teenage boys sitting around with nothing to do.
They heard of a pie-eating contest at Church’s Chicken, being hosted by radio station WCUE. His friends already knew of Dave’s astronomical gastronomical prowess as they watched him scarf down hot dogs in the school cafeteria, and they egged him into signing up.
He won by devouring 13 sweet potato pies, and he earned something that would stay with him his entire life.
One spectator yelled out “That kid eats faster than my old coondog!”
When the DJ asked O’Karma his name, he immediately adopted this moniker, with a friend adding “King” to his new identity.
His appetite for greatness was not satisfied. Next would come the Pizza Fight of the Century, a popular segment on the late-night show that featured horror movies and comedy skits.
Oddly enough, Coondog had never seen the Pizza Fight on TV before he enlisted in November 1972.
Contestants had to be the first to stuff an entire pizza into their mouths.
Mushmouth had defeated all comers, including Chris, the Fairview Fireball, a German shepherd that was disqualified for not being a person.
But he met his match in Coondog, who softened his pizza with water and followed the mantra “bite, squish and swallow.”
“I thought I’d choke to death,” Coondog told a local reporter who also snapped a photo of the new champ.
The newspaper article that celebrated 16-year-old Dave "King Coondog" O'Karma's pizza-eating victory over "Mushmouth" Mariano Pacetti in November 1972. He defended his title four times. Courtesy of Dave O'Karma.
It was the era of three network channels, and many of his classmates and teachers had seen O’Karma’s remarkable feat. He returned to school a hero, wearing his championship belt.
“It launched an awkward teen into a different world,” O’Karma said.
He defended his crown for four episodes. Pacetti competed for a few more years, and became a music educator in Atlanta. He passed away last year.
O’Karma had had a bite of the apple, but it wouldn’t be his last.
Hunger for glory
In 1974 he set a world record by eating 48 hard-boiled eggs in eight minutes, 10 seconds.
He would go on to set records eating everything from donuts to corn on the cob.
The champ does have a dark secret.
“I’m the pickiest eater in the world,” he confessed.
He pushed himself away from the table for some 27 years, working as a painting contractor.
A midlife crisis brought him back to the ring, where he qualified in 2001 for the Fourth of July Nathan’s Hot Dog-Eating Contest at Coney Island.
He didn’t win but he was witness to a remarkable feat, as Takeru Kobayashi of Japan inhaled 50 weiners, doubling the world record.
At the time O’Karma called it “Coney Harbor.”
O’Karma and Kobayashi became friends after Coondog traveled all the way to Japan to learn the master’s secret of Oguii.
He returned to Big Chuck’s Pizza Fight with Mushmouth as referee, and on another episode brought Kobayashi with him.
He calls competitive eating “a sport and a mental illness,” heavy on the mental illness, “a carnival sport, a freak show.”
But in his writings he insists that it is a legitimate sport “that has measurable abilities in speed, capacity, endurance and technique…the really good competitive eaters are athletes.”
Coondog went on to be featured on every major television network and in many national publications. He traveled to Europe and Japan to compete. He even became a question in Trivial Pursuit.
He also found his muse as a writer, earning six Ohio Excellence in Journalism awards.
The last supper
Coondog announced his retirement in 2011, but the feast wasn’t over.
Cuyahoga Falls Mayor Don Walters found the article celebrating O’Karma’s first pizza-eating championship in his father’s basement and decided it was a good time to honor the man who had done so much for the community.
Dave O'Karma holds aloft the Cuyahoga Falls street sign honoring him for his career as a competitive eater and for his loyalty and service to his hometown. John Matuszak, special to cleveland.com.
The latest contest was staged at the Falls Downtown Fridays event. Challengers paid $30 to take on Coondog, with proceeds donated to Good Neighbors, a local charity that assists families in need.
O’Karma’s good friend, pickle-eating champion Arnie “Chowhound” Chapman, emceed with the combined fervor of a Pentecostal preacher and a pro wrestling announcer.
The champ started slow, but the dreams of the challengers to dethrone him turned out to be pie in the sky as he found his groove.
“I couldn’t get a rhythm,” Coondog said after the contest. “I started eating from the middle to the edge and saved the crust for last.”
In the end, there was more for Dave “King Coondog” O’Karma to digest than a lot of pizza.
Is there another champion eater in the family? Dave O'Karma's granddaughter, Parkie, shoves a cookie into her mouth before the start of the pizza-eating contest. John Matuszak, special to cleveland.com.
“It’s a good neighbor town. I was raised here, and I raised my kids here....My friends are happy for me, and I’m happy for me,” he said. “I gave a smile to my hometown and they’re still smiling.”
Eating champion’s life has been a moveable feast - cleveland.com
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