Man Dies In Hot Dog Eating Contest After Trying To Shove Hot Dogs Down His Throat Too Fast

(Source) What should have been a fun way to kick off the Fourth of July weekend quickly turned tragic for a Custer man who choked to death while trying to speedily eat hot dogs during a competitive eating contest. The crowd at Way Park in Custer, just across from the county courthouse, was stunned Thursday afternoon when one of six contestants — Walter Eagle Tail, 47 — began to choke while trying to win the contest. Paramedics who swiftly were called to his side tried in vain to save him. Eagle Tail was transported by ambulance to Custer Regional Hospital, where he died, authorities said.

“There was someone doing CPR when we arrived,” Custer County Sheriff Rick Wheeler said on Monday. “Basically, he probably just suffocated. It got lodged in his throat and they couldn’t get it out.” “It all happened within minutes,” he added. “I think everybody was pretty well shocked about it.” Eagle Tail’s untimely death put a damper on the festivities sponsored by the Custer Chamber of Commerce. Organizers cancelled a planned pie eating contest for the next day. Wheeler said he was not sure if the death will prompt organizers to make changes to the contest next year. On Monday, a friend fondly remembered Eagle Tail as a fun-loving, kind and caring man. “Walter was just being Walter, having fun when he entered this contest,” said Ardis McRae. “He was just having a good time.” McRae, who works for the Native Sun News weekly paper and occasionally sold jewelry with Eagle Tail at the Crazy Horse Memorial for three years, said Eagle Tail was a man who loved a good joke and helping friends in need.

Fuck. Absolutely brutal. I don’t know why this hit me hard but it did. Exactly like his friend said, it was just Walter Eagle Tail being Walter Eagle Tail, having fun, eating hot dogs, getting some laughs. Sounds exactly like any of us. One second you’re in an eating contest crushing some dogs loving life and the next you’re dead. Brutal. RIP Walter Eagle Tail. Also I like that picture of him fishing, so serene and peaceful. Walter Eagle Tail loved to fish, I can tell.

PS

I looked up Barstool’s Hot Dog Eating Contest from last year in memory of Walter and I have to say this might have been the worst video we ever did. Just 4 minutes of us standing around a table bitching at each other.

Also sucks knowing that skinny me was just a regular fat guy.