SC hot dog eating champ vies for 6th straight title in Rock Hill

A shadow fell across Ebenezer Grill's giant weenie sign. But this was no cloud - clouds do not take up an entire doorway.

Or eat 16 hot dogs in 10 minutes.

No, the sunblock with the incessant smile that arrived at the home of the giant weenie sign for a warm-up of a cheeseburger and fries has one thing on his mind - victory.

"As long as there is a hot dog eating contest at the Ebenezer Grill for charity, as long as there is a July the 4th, is as long as I will be here," said Dale Corzine, the five-time reigning champion of that contest.

Corzine spoke with a flourish of drama learned from the owner of the Ebenezer Grill. Loyd Ardrey, a character of titanic proportions even when he is not giving away buckets of money to charities, often speaks in soliloquies that would make Shakespeare look like an illiterate goat-herder.

"In America, July 4th is a holiday held in the highest esteem, when we pay tribute to the greatness of our people and our nation," Ardrey said. "This hot dog eating contest - a contest of will and strength and courage using the most American of all foods, the mighty hot dog, to raise money for charity - well it is as American as flying the flag."

Or tipping well, Ardrey might have added.

Ardrey so much loves charity and the value of money that when a girl came into his restaurant with her mother, and it was her 6th birthday, Loyd Ardrey took an entire shiny copper penny off the money till and gave it to the girl.

It is Ardrey who came up with the contest in 2006 as a way to raise money, first for a cancer charity, and now for a men's homeless shelter.

And for each of those years, Corzine has run roughshod over the competition like a mother-in-law stomping through sale racks for a leopard-print purse.

That first year, Corzine didn't even expect to eat. He just read about the contest in The Herald and showed up to watch.

But because he was so big and blocked out the sun that day, too - this is a man who has cultivated his body over 38 years - he was prodded to enter by the throng of spectators.

There has been no looking back ever since.

In 2006, Corzine downed 12 hot dogs, then 13 fell in 2007, and 14 were chomped in 2008. A full 15 were devoured in 2009, and 16 dogs died last year.

"I fully expect to beat last year's record," said Corzine before taking a bite of an Ebenezer Grill cheeseburger, all the way, that soon was half of a cheeseburger and less.

Corzine's training regimen is super strict. Live and smile, work and play. As far as sit-ups are concerned, he once read an article about them.

He works hard as a wireless communication installer, sometimes inside a bucket truck high off the ground. Corzine's weight is such that 300 pounds is a rumor.

Bucket trucks do not line up to be the one Dale Corzine works in that day.

Aside from work, and taking care of his wonderful wife, Melissa, and 9-year-old son, Hunter, Corzine trains for the contest by stretching to pick up the mail, walking from his truck to his house, and firing up his backyard grill.

"I don't train by eating," is what Corzine says. "I train by living."

All the proceeds from the contest go to charity. Each of the past five years, Corzine took the $50 he won and gave it right back to charity.

This year, Ardrey has upped the ante to try to pull in somebody who might challenge the great Dale Corzine.

"Two hundred bucks, winner-take-all," said Ardrey. "Cash on the barrelhead."

Melissa Corzine said her husband is ready to defend his title at 1 p.m. today.

"He eats enough hot dogs to win, that's for sure," she said.

Hunter Corzine, 5 feet tall and built like his father, meaning like a tractor, said his daddy is ready to retain his crown.

"My dad is the champion of hot dogs," Hunter said, "and that's good because I don't like hot dogs."

Ardrey gasped, shocked that anyone would not like hot dogs - or be willing to pay money for hot dogs.

And Dale Corzine, champion hot dog eater for charity, had this to say to all who plan to challenge him in today's contest.

"Come hungry."

This story was originally published July 4, 2011 at 12:00 AM with the headline "SC hot dog eating champ vies for 6th straight title in Rock Hill."