Martin Russo Is Chicken Wing Champ

The South Whitehall resident will compete in Philadelphia’s infamous Wing Bowl next year.
By Ann Wlazelek



Winning his first-ever wing-eating contest at age 50, Martin “Rooster Hogburn” Russo proved he has true grit.

The South Whitehall Township man took his nickname from the crusty, never-give-up U.S. marshal Jeff Bridges plays in the movie (True Grit), to beat 29 challengers at a regional competition outside the Buckeye Tavern in Macungie last month, a contest that puts him in the running for Philadelphia’s infamous Wing Bowl next year.

Russo, now 51, ate 170 wings to take his namesake prize: The Rooster Trophy.

“I didn’t go in with the thought of winning,“ he said of his strategy. “I wanted to make the second round.“

By the second round, he was in third place, having eaten 108 wings. The next closest had consumed less than 90. That‘s when Russo realized he had a chance.

Russo didn‘t train for the event but said he watched a video of some of the world‘s greatest eating contest winners. He also was the only contestant to stand while eating, and said he believes that headphones and yoga helped him concentrate on the task.

“Once the bell rang, I didn’t remember most of what happened,” he said, not even the taste of the high-calorie appetizers.

Afterward, Russo said he didn’t get sick. He also didn’t eat for a day and a half.

“I was full that long,” he said.

One of eight kids, Russo admits to a competitive nature, especially at the dinner table.

However, he said entering a food-eating contest was on his “life list” of goals he thought he could accomplish. Others he’s completed include a polar bear swim and visiting the Mount St. Helens volcano in Washington.

Russo’s family and co-workers from the Bethlehem accounting firm Morey, Nee, Buck & Oswald cheered him on at the June 12 wing-eating fete by chanting “Go Rooster!”

“My son thinks it’s the best thing in the world,” he said. “My daughter thinks it’s funny. And my wife was grossed out.”

Russo will urge his wife Mary and daughter to stay home during the raucous Wing Bowl, which on the Friday before the Super Bowl draws 20,000 spectators to the Wells Fargo Center, tailgaters who start drinking at 2 a.m. and a prize last year of $20,000 and a new truck.

Yet winning the first wing-eating contest he ever entered has not made Russo cocky.

To beat the 25 or so contestants in Philadelphia, he said, he’ll probably have to eat more than 250 wings in the same time frame, a half hour broken into two 14-minute rounds and one two-minute finale.

“I don’t have the eating power of a professional,” he said.

Still, Russo is excited about the prospect of being interviewed in January on radio station WIP and riding on a float with other contestants before the contest. He’ll wing it, hoping not to embarrass himself.

In addition to the steps he took to win locally, Russo plans to prepare for Philly by chewing a lot of gum. Thirty minutes of non-stop wing chewing, he said, can be painful.

Russo also wants to help a local charity -- yet to be revealed -- obtain donations based on the number of wings he eats. “That way if I lose, someone else will win.”