Steve Keiner

Steven "Steve" Keiner is an American competitive eater. He was the 1999 winner of the annual Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest in Coney Island, downing 20¼ hot dogs in 12 minutes.^[1] Keiner is from Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey^[2] and like many competitive eaters has used nicknames during contests; one of his nicknames, "Ralph," was given to him by newspaper reporter Gersh Kuntzman, because Kuntzman "gave the eaters nicknames that linked them to sporting heroes past".^[3] Keiner is also sometimes known on the competitive eating circuit as "The Terminator."^[4]^[5]

[1]
Mcfadden, Robert D. "Holiday Parades March By, But the Heat Is Just Settling In", The New York Times, July 5, 1999. Accessed December 20, 2007. "As a crowd wavering between nausea and fascination watched for 12 minutes, Steve Keiner, 50, of Egg Harbor Township, N.J., downed 20 and one-quarter hot dogs to defeat the reigning Hirofumi Nakajima, a 134-pound former noodle-eating champ from Japan, who managed only 19 franks."
[2]
Beth J. Harpaz (July 5, 1999). "Champ of frank-eating contest: The hot dog was one with me". Moscow (Idaho)-Pullman (Wash.) Daily News (sec. A, p. 5).
[3]
Jason Fagone (2006). Horsemen of the Esophagus: Competitive Eating and the Big Fat American Dream. Crown. ISBN 9780307347152. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
[4]
"Japanese Challenger Has a New World Record to Relish". Los Angeles Times. July 5, 2000.
[5]
Frank Dougherty (July 7, 1999). "A Beef Mars Terminator's Dog-eating Triumph". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Archived from the original on September 14, 2015.