![]() |
Walker with the "Riley Burger," which he inhaled in four minutes flat |
Photograph by Jim Harrison |
Walker prepared for game day by drinking a gallon of water the night before to expand his stomach capacity. Harvard assistant director of athletics John Veneziano originally recruited 300-pound senior tackles Jamil Soriano and Jack Fadule to gobble for Harvard, but Fadule suggested his roommate, Walker, instead. (Last summer, Walker had outclassed him in a pizza-eating contest, getting outside of two entire pizzas in 19 minutes, the first one falling in four.) "I'm much more of a speed guy than a quantity guy," says Walker, who has astonished onlookers in the Adams House dining hall by scarfing down six saltines in 40 seconds (without water), or polishing off two slices of white bread in one minute "that's tougher," he says. Having dieted for two months before the contest, Walker was "loath to do it," but afterwards, waiting for the trolley, admitted that he had room for a couple more burgers. The Crimson entered the eat-off as underdogs, but "It's all about strategy anyway," Walker says. "So Harvard had the edge."
~Craig Lambert