Chee LeeAs a sportswriter for Student Life, I’ve had the opportunity to speak to and interview (in 20 Questions) some of the best athletes the University has to offer. I know that you must be thinking, “Work for nominal pay and get the chance to interview Wash U athletes? Where do I sign up?” but wait, it gets even better.
In today’s sports world, with pampered athletes making millions of dollars, it is easy to forget the magic of sport and competition-of an individual or team just trying to be the best they can be. But then you find athletes-real athletes-like senior Chee Lee and freshman Chris Kuppler, they help you to remember what sports is really about.
Lee and Kuppler are both members of the varsity tennis team, but their tennis skills are not what have vaulted them to the top of the pantheon of Bears athletes. Rather, the duo recently made its mark by successfully completing the Pointersaurus Challenge. In the process, they become only the ninth pair to successfully complete the Challenge out of 500 attempts. The Pointersaurus Challenge is a contest held by Pointers Pizza restaurant where a team of two faces this proposition: eat a 28-inch diameter, 10-pound, 2-meat topping pizza in one hour. Win the contest and earn a cash prize of $500 and the adoration of millions (or at least the Wash U community); lose and go home without the $45 cost of the pizza.
For Lee, this was his second attempt at the Pointersaurus. He tried previously last year with another member of the tennis team, sophomore Tim Fisher. Unfortunately for Lee, he committed the cardinal sin of the Pointersaurus Challenge: he ordered bacon as one of his toppings.
“Bacon is so stupid. It was so greasy,” Lee said. “The grease is what stops you in your tracks. They started to look like scabs to me after a while. So I think I was doomed from the start last time.”
After losing the Challenge, Lee was unsure of whether he would ever be able to complete it. It was only Kuppler’s arrival that convinced Lee otherwise.
“But then Chris came along, my savior,” Lee said. “And I knew I had to give it another shot.”
Inspired by stories and tall tales of Kuppler’s Center Court exploits (Kuppler is know to have eaten nine plates of food at Center Court), Lee knew he had to try again. Lee was able to persuade Kuppler to try the contest after some convincing. Kuppler says it was his Lee’s prior experience that “gave Chee the confidence needed to convince me to try it with him.”
With newfound sense of purpose and armed with the knowledge of bacon’s destructive power, the duo began their training. Training was intense-full of long, hard days and even longer buffet lines. Still, no short-term training can prepare someone for the Pointersaurus. Both Lee and Kuppler credit a lifetime of preparation leading in to the event.
“I’ve been in training my whole life,” Kuppler said. “I’ve always had a really big appetite and have been able to put down a ton of food.”
On the day of the Challenge, the pair readied themselves by eating a small meal of complex carbohydrates early in the day and then starving themselves the rest of the day. Kuppler learned the technique from research online about the dietary habits of professional eaters. During the day, Lee ate only a small cereal before lifting for one and a half hours and running ten miles.
Arriving at Pointers, the pair looked forward to their first bite of the pizza. And while Pointers had gotten the best of Lee last time and had humbled countless others before him, this time Lee would have the last laugh. Ordering a pizza with turkey and chicken and cheered on by a gallery of onlookers, Lee and Kuppler made it through the ordeal without incident and were awarded the prize of $500. The aftereffects of the pizza were not as kind to the duo, however, as the two had little time to savor the sweet taste of victory before they began to vomit heavily.
Lighter in stomach if not in wallet, the teammates have different plans for their winnings. Lee plans on using the money to buy plenty of laxatives before spending the remainder on a trip to Europe. Kuppler, a bodybuilder, will use the money to buy supplements.
Both Lee and Kuppler have some advice for would-be Pointersaurus contestants.
“It’s harder then it looks,” Lee said. “Choose lean meats.”
“To those who think they can do it: you better find a really really good partner, who can go through a lot of pain,” Kuppler said. “If you don’t respect that pizza, it will kill you.”
In the wake of their achievement, neither said they would attempt another pizza eating contest ever again- or for Lee, at least until school gets out. Lee has no plans to attempt the Talayna’s Restaurant challenge of eating a 30-inch, 20 pound pizza. Lee belies it to be an impossible feat. Despite his apprehensions about future pizza challenges, Lee has no such concerns when it comes to ice cream. He may try to eat the Rama-Lama-Ding-Dong, a 10 scoop ice cream dish with all the toppings offered in Ames, Iowa. The Rama-Lama-Ding-Dong offers no cash prize, just a plaque.
But for Lee and Kuppler, it was never about the money anyway. And despite his achievement, Kuppler is still haunted by the memories of that fateful day. Just recently, Kuppler had the opportunity to enjoy free pizza, but unable to get the “smell out of his head” could not bring himself to eat even a single bite. Lee and Kuppler knew the perils they would face eating the Pointersaurus, the potential phantom pizza pains they would experience even years later, the long restless nights of wondering if they would ever be able to eat pizza again… and yet they persevered.
Truly, these are courageous athletes.