People scarfed, gorged and stuffed their way through slice after slice of Bacci’s pizza this weekend to benefit Alzheimer’s research.

The Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity, as part of its philanthropy activities, organized its first pizza-eating contest Saturday afternoon. The proceeds went to an Alzheimer’s charity.

John Ashwin, senior history major and vice president and philanthropy chair of NIU Sigma Alpha Mu, said eating pizza was an appealing idea.

“We were trying to look for something to do and the easiest thing was: Everyone likes to eat and everyone likes to eat pizza.”

The idea to hold an eating contest was thought up by Ashwin and recruitment chair Mark Orozco, junior human resources major. Orozco said watching famous professional eater Takeru Kobayashi in a hot-dog eating contest on TV inspired him.

The contest was at Bacci Pizza Express, 1023 Hillcrest Drive. The pizzeria is a new addition to DeKalb as of January.

“I think we’re all getting something out of this,” said Bacci’s manager Steve Henderson. “We’re getting some publicity and people don’t really know that our restaurant’s here yet, and also the Alzheimer’s cause benefits from this and that’s the main thing.”

Bacci’s provided the pizzas and the grand prize of $100 to the fraternity’s cause.

Competition admission was $15; the event consisted of three rounds that lasted for 20 minutes each. The person who ate the most slices of cheese pizza (pieces measured about 12 inches in length and 1 1/2 pounds each) was declared the winner.

The winner was Matt Liewald, junior history major, who consumed nearly four slices.

Despite being planned for months, turnout for the event was relatively low because of the weather.

“I thought this was an awesome competition, but I think that it could’ve gotten more people to do the second and third rounds,” said Megan Wright, junior elementary education major and the sole female entry in the competition.

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