Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, January 10, 1992 TAG: 9201100069
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Ed Shamy
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
CHALLENGER NOT BITING OFF TOO MUCH
Robert Hager is in tip-top condition. I know. I'm his trainer.Our challenge now is to properly pace Robert Hager. Physically, he's there. He's unquestionable. He's primo.
Emotionally, we've got to keep Robert on the cutting competitive edge for six weeks.
We've got to get Robert Hager primed to stun the pretenders that Saturday night in Laredo, Texas, down on the shores of the Rio Grande.
They'll be eating jalapeno peppers packed in brine.
Hager, Roanoke's own Robert Hager, will be the top-ranked contender in the World Jalapeno Eating Championship.
Johnny Espinoza is the champ.
Hager is the Virginia hot-pepper-eating champ, seven years running.
Espinoza materializes each year from the Texas buttes, up San Antonio way, shows up in Laredo, eats more peppers than anyone else, and drifts back to the canyons and the mesquite with his prize money (about $500).
Espinoza and Hager have never met, head to head.
That will end on Feb. 22.
Robert Hager is going to Laredo. He'll come home with the title. Bet on it.
Hager, a gardener for the city of Roanoke, will sacrifice his tongue so that Roanoke will be on the tip of the world's.
How, you ask, can you hop on this bandwagon? How can you become a small but significant member of Hager's entourage?
The Robert Hager Fund is still open for business and it needs you, to defray some of the costs associated with Hager's shot at the crown. Donors have contributed $192.60 to date. Dominion Bank has paid $5.25 in interest on the account. RSV Productions, a Tampa, Fla., novelty manufacturer, has pledged $250. The Marcus Hunter Travel Agency of Sunnyvale, Calif., is paying Hager's air fare.
The promoters of the title bout are paying the lodging.
All contributors receive a handsome certificate, suitable for framing. To help Hager bring the jalapeno crown back to Roanoke, its rightful home, you may contribute to: Robert Hager Fund, P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke 24010.
I'm the lead accountant for Robert Hager Inc. Ltd. The account will be scrutinized by an independent bean-counter before a single penny is withdrawn.
I'm also the lead attorney for Robert Hager Enterprises, and in that role I am negotiating over the conditions of the pepper contest.
In May, Hager won his third Virginia title by eating 18.5 eggplant-sized fresh jalapenos in five minutes.
The Laredo contest is 15 minutes long, and the peppers are pickled.
"I feel sorry for anybody who eats more than two of them," says Jodi Powell, executive director of the Washington Birthday Celebration, of which the title bout is a part. "When you open a can of those, stand back. Some of the people opening them last year were overcome by the fumes."
Robert Hager doesn't care. Fresh. Raw. Boiled, pickled or parched. Bring 'em on.
"I'm in good shape. I've been eating some, and trying to lose some weight, too."
By next week, Powell promises, we'll have received a can of sample peppers in the mail.
For sparring.