Wing Dynasty: How an early-morning chicken-eating contest came to be the ultimate Philly event

It's been a long road from the inaugural Wing Bowl, on Jan. 29, 1993, that featured Carmen "The Beast of the East" Cordero against Kevin "Heavy Kevy" O'Donnell and was held in the lobby of the Wyndham Franklin Plaza Hotel, now the Sheraton City Center.

In the 20 years since, the event of Sports Radio WIP has grown into something none of its founders ever imagined: an iconic part of the Philly sports calendar. Indeed, the eating competition is now only a part of the spectacle. On the occasion of the 20th Wing Bowl, then, it seemed like the appropriate time to consider just how Wing Bowl got started  . . . and how it came to be the event it is today.

AL MORGANTI, 610-WIP morning-show co-host - and Wing Bowl founder:

It was like the dead time in the Philly [Sports] calendar. The Eagles weren't in the running really. I used to go to Buffalo a lot to cover hockey games. I love Buffalo wings. I thought we could have our own little party. Two guys called in. I think one challenged the other guy. We had a contest and were shocked that many people showed up. It was like, "Oh, my God there's a lot of people here!" It was the winner, Carmen, who said, "Oh, we'll do it again next year."

ANGELO CATALDI, WIP morning-show host:

It didn't connect with us that this might be something that would be a big deal. The first year, I think the winner won a Hibachi that we had to dust off from the back of our prize closet. At the time, I don't even think we considered that we would do a second one. It wasn't right away that we said this will be an annual event. If I had to, I would guess we got deep into the next [football] season - with no team in the Super Bowl and left out of the party again - that we decided to have another one.

MORGANTI

Every year was like, "Oh, we'll add this, see if this works." The venues got a little bigger and bigger. You think we can fill a bar? Can we fill Club Egypt? Then, oh, my God, we can do the Electric Factory!

CATALDI

We had a pretty good turnout for the first one, so we put it in a different venue at 8th and Market. I can remember very vividly what happened because there was a massive ice storm. We had to call it off and hold it the following Friday, after the Super Bowl. And there was another ice storm. The roads were treacherous, but we got 750, 800 people, and Carmen came back to defend his title. It went to OT, and "Heavy Kevy" came back to win. The day of the second one we realized there was no turning back now. At that point, we hadn't incorporated the girls. We had no idea why so many people were coming out. The third or fourth year, at Club Egypt, we had 1,000 people waiting outside in the snow. That was the year the wings weren't cooked properly. A few contestants started throwing the half-eaten wings at us. We were literally announcing the end of the event ducking under our table because we didn't want to get pelted with chicken wings.

A major turning point for the Wing Bowl came in 1998, when two important things happened: The event moved to the Spectrum, a venue that could hold five times as many people as the previous year's site, the Electric Factory. And scantily clad women, called Wingettes, became a more integral part of the show.

MORGANTI

It was Ed Rendell who said, "What about the Spectrum?"

CATALDI

Mayor Rendell said: "I have some available dates to use for the Spectrum for whatever I can. I want to bring this to the Spectrum." We all said, "No, you're crazy. We can't fill the Spectrum at 6 in the morning for people eating chicken wings."

ED RENDELL, Mayor of Philadelphia 1991-1999:

I went to Wing Bowl at the Electric Factory and it was overflowed; there were people waiting outside. I said to Angelo and Al, "We should take this down to the Spectrum." The deal the city signed was that the Spectrum had to give free rent three days a year for community groups. Free, but you had to pay for set-up, which was thousands of dollars, so no community groups could ever afford it. I said if the station pays for set-up, we'll get it free, a city-sanctioned event.

CATALDI

We were so sure nobody would come that we cordoned off half the arena. We went there and we looked around and said, "Wow!" We got 8-or-9,000 people to fill this thing. The next year we didn't cordon things off.

RENDELL

I went to the first one at the Spectrum. It was the year they decided to go to Wingettes. When I got there, I presented an engraved Liberty Bell to Angelo and Al onstage. I realized I was onstage with about 20 girls who had nothing on. Even for me that was a little much.

RHEA HUGHES, WIP morning- show producer and co-host:

I stopped being surprised when we moved into the Spectrum. That was when I realized it had taken on a whole new thing  . . . My parents went for a long time. They always found it a riot. I see more women there, more young women, but they know it's a huge party. It is a guy day. There are tons of after-parties and we have to visit a bunch of them. We were at Club Risque and this guy grabbed me and said they needed to hear about the Wing Bowl, who ate what, because he told his wife he was at Wing Bowl but really he was at Risque. I was giving the guy a cheat sheet.