Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 25, 1992 TAG: 9202250080
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LAREDO, TEXAS LENGTH: Medium
BLOW-BY-BLOW JOURNEY OF ROBERT HAGER AND 76 JALAPENOS
At 8:19 and 45 seconds on Saturday night, Robert Hager was hurling jalapenos all over a tabletop here in South Texas. He came by his nausea honestly. He'd eaten 76 pickled peppers. Your average mortal anatomy gets the heaves after about three of the Mexican delicacies.Not much happened to Hager after that. He retired meekly to his hotel room and was not seen or heard from again for 14 hours. By Sunday, Hager went vertical again, but briefly. He fell asleep on the back seat of a rental car and missed the scenery - 160 uninterrupted miles of mesquite, sagebrush, cactus and oil wells.
But a lot happened to Robert Hager before he was overcome by the vinegary little buggers:
He leaves Roanoke on a USAir flight Friday morning - and USAir officially wishes him good luck over the terminal public address system and then upgrades his ticket from coach to first class.
At A.H. Burritos restaurant in San Antonio, a rip in the men's room wallpaper over the mirror is the exact shape of a jalapeno. Even waiter Jose Hernandez says it is a good omen.
The morning of the pepper eat-off, Hager attends a three-hour parade in downtown Laredo and upstages a few other invited guests - Texas Gov. Ann Richards, U.S. Commerce Secretary Robert Mosbacher and Miss Texas, Katie Young.
Radio stations interview Hager. TV stations put him in the glare of their lights. Newspapers from Laredo, from San Antonio, from Houston, from all over Texas clamor for a moment with the Roanoke Kid.
Hager finally comes face to face with Johnny Espinoza, the defending champion, his nemesis. Espinoza, for all the hype, turns out to be an arrogant little man fully equipped with two bodyguards. "It's not the heat that gets you," intimates Espinoza. "It's the vinegar. I'm going to wipe his [Hager's] a--."
Espinoza is seated to Hager's left. On Hager's right is Terry Soesbe, an affable man from San Antonio who admits he's a bit out of place next to the hotshots: "I'm just in this thing for the free T-shirt."
The crowd, 5,000 Texo-Mexo Americans, breaks into a pro-Espinoza: "Joh-NEE, Joh-NEE!" They shimmy halfway up palm trees to get a better view. The bleachers are packed. TV lights are glaring. The pitch is feverish, and fumes from the piles of pickled peppers are tearing a broad opening in the ozone layer.
Meanwhile, insiders begin talking about the man wearing the hair net, the mysterious contestant #11. He's called "Bigfoot."
The contest begins. Espinoza's eyes roll back in his head, vinegar rolls down his chin. He seems to go into a semi-trance. Hager stares at nothing, at everything. In one minute, Bigfoot has eaten 25 peppers. Hager has eight.
Hager breaks all his strategy by popping the Lone Star beer in front of him just six minutes into the contest. His trainer knows then and there that the world title will not be Hager's tonight.
Some kid from Arlington, Texas, heaves his 150 peppers all over the table, himself and everything else within four feet. He has been drinking milk with his pickled peppers. The crowd roars.
Hager heaves his 76. Johnny instantly leaves the scene with 62 peppers in his gut.
Bigfoot, a.k.a. Braulio Ramirez, takes it all, with 141 peppers. The old record was 79, by Espinoza.
Hager hits the showers. And the rest of the bathroom.
Note: Photos in black and white in 3 star.