East Valley man relishes hot dog contest

It might not be a coincidence that Todd Yeates has the word “eat” in his last name.

The Mesa 34-year-old considers himself a “major league eater,” or for the uninitiated, one of those guys in the competitive eating contests.

His first foray into the competitive eating world was last October when he tried his hand, er ... mouth, at a fry bread eating contest at the Arizona State Fair. He ate three of the plate-size doughy creations in eight minutes. The fry bread eating winner gobbled down nine.

“It’s about having fun,” said Yeates, (pronounced yates) a member of the International Federation of Competitive Eaters. “It’s not too serious. It’s a fun atmosphere, and it’s fun to participate or watch. You have to have a sense of humor.”

Next, Yeates entered the world posole eating championships in November at Sky City Casino in New Mexico. Posole is a traditional Mexican soup made from hominy, with pork (or other meat), chile and other seasonings and garnish.

He slopped down three pounds of the soup in 12 minutes. The posole eating winner ate close to 10 pounds.

“It hasn’t been about capacity. It’s about chewing,” said Yeates, who has a 5-year-old son, Jack. “The posole was hard to eat because of the big chunks of meat. You also had to eat it with a spoon, and couldn’t bring the bowl to your mouth.”

The posole contest is where Yeates was given his nickname by the emcee: Todd the Butler, after the poet William Butler Yeats.

In February, Yeates entered a chili cheese fries eating contest aboard the Queen Mary in Long Beach, Calif.

He ate two pounds of the gooey shoestring mess in 12 minutes. The chili cheese fries eating winner ate more than five pounds.

“It was kind of hard to eat. You had to eat it with a fork,” said Yeates, an enrollment counselor at a local university.

Yeates is entering one of the most famous competitive eating contests Saturday by gorging on one of his favorites: Nathan’s hot dogs.

The competition at Arizona Mills is one of 13 qualifying competitions around the country leading up to the creme de la creme: Nathan’s Famous 4th of July Hot Dog Eating Contest on Coney Island.

Yeates will compete alongside America’s No. 1 ranked eater, Joey Chestnut, who narrowly lost to Nathan’s six-time winner, Takeru Kobayashi, at last year’s contest. Chestnut ate 52 hot dogs and buns, while Kobayashi ate 53ľ in 12 minutes. Chestnut has plans to beat Kobayashi this year and set a new world record.

Yeates already has his strategy planned out. He’ll eat the hot dog by itself and then dunk the bun in water. He’s hoping he can down at least 10 hot dogs.

Eventually he wants to make it to the big Nathan’s competition.

“Hopefully I’ll get better and make one of the qualifiers,” said Yeates, who also likes sports and collecting “Star Wars,” “Star Trek” and sports figures.

Yeates’ wife of eight years, Stacey Turner, plans to cheer on her husband Saturday.

“I think it’s neat,” said Turner, who works in sales and catering. “It’s fun to see such a huge coming together around food, and it’s fun to see everyone and their characters.”

Yeates started a blog to post pictures from his contests since many of the eating contests are not televised. Visit his blog at toddthebutleryeates.blogspot.com.

If you go

What: Nathan’s Famous 4th of July Hot Dog Eating Contest Qualifier

When: 1 p.m. Saturday

Where: Arizona Mills mall, 5000 Arizona Mills Circle, Tempe

Info: www.majorleagueeating.com