by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB
Roanoke Times Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc. DATE: SUNDAY, February 23, 1992 TAG: 9202230228 SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO SOURCE: DATELINE: LAREDO, TEXAS LENGTH: Medium
CHAMP CAN'T STOMACH COMPETITION
Robert Hager came here, hard by the shore of the Rio Grande, to get Johnny Espinoza.He got him. On this hot Saturday night, before 5,000 hostile, beer-drinking, frenzied spectators, Hager ate more jalapeno peppers than the best pepper-eater in Laredo.
But what Hager, the finest pepper-eater in all of Virginia, didn't count on - what no scouting report could have told him about - was Braulio Ramirez.
Ramirez, 28, is a construction worker. He stands about 6 feet 7 inches tall.
He sports a spider-web tattoo that covers the back of his ham-sized hand. He moved to Laredo three weeks ago from Florida.
He ate 141 pickled peppers in 15 minutes and won $1,000 and a trophy that rose to his lofty waist.
Ramirez instantly became a local hero. He was swarmed with well-wishers, mobbed by reporters and hugged by Miss Jalapeno Festival - a questionable maneuver performed on a man who has just eaten that many pickled peppers.
Guy Seiferd of Gettysburg, Pa., who happened to be in town and happened to join the field, snared second place by eating 78 peppers. Hager would have taken third, with 76 peppers, save for his throwing up with just 45 seconds to go.
He was disqualified.
Johnny Espinoza, the four-time champ of the event that Hager considered the man to beat, ate just 62 and quit the instant Hager erupted.
The men sat side by side.
To say that Hager lost, though, would be unfair. He has been, seven years running, the Virginia state champ. A gardener for the city of Roanoke, he holds every hot-pepper-eating championship title in Virginia.
He traveled here, about 160 miles south of San Antonio and just a few thousand feet from Mexico, and he took on the best that Texas and Mexico could produce.
Hager was interviewed by every newspaper, every television and radio station in the Republic of Texas. He became, in just 24 hours in Laredo, a celebrity. When he was introduced, he was heartily booed by the thousands of people crammed onto the airport parking lot to watch the annual jalapeno festival.
"It didn't affect me," said Hager.
Modesty has become the champ's creed. As the sun set in an orange blaze over the Tex-Mex border, silhouetting tall palm trees, Hager had to put up with Espinoza's pre-match psychological warfare.
"I grew up on this stuff," said Espinoza, who lives in San Antonio. "A few weeks ago, somebody called me at midnight and told me a gringo was coming to kick my a--. I had to come." He spent Friday night drinking vodka. He spent Saturday golfing, drinking beer. Other than that, he does not train.
It showed.
Espinoza was outclassed from the opening gun, not only by champ Ramirez, but by Hager, perhaps the most methodical pepper-eater yet to grace this planet.
Hager spent his day cruising the mean streets of Nuevo Laredo, the city on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande. He belted down eight ounces or so of Pepto Bismol on the ride to the showdown. He courteously dealt with every fan, every reporter.
And then he threw up. Not many people get the chance to throw up in front of thousands.
"I'm disappointed," said Hager. "I thought I could do better."
But competitors, spectators and organizers shared a different view: Any gringo that could come this far and eat that many peppers was a man they respected.
Robert Hager, pepper-slinger, did Roanoke proud on Saturday night in Texas.
Hager is due back in Roanoke on a 10:50 p.m. flight today. He'll carry no trophy. But he'll have with him, today and forever, the respect of every Texan. And that's saying something.