Wing-eating champ sentenced for N.J. drug charge
In this 2005 file photograph, contestant Bill "El Wingador" Simmons, with a mouthful of wings, looks up at the clock during the last moments of Philadelphia's annual Wing Bowl. The five-time Philadelphia wing-eating champion was arrested in New Jersey on a charge of cocaine distribution. State police say they recovered about $8,000 worth of cocaine and $4,000 cash when they stopped Simmons in southern New Jersey. He was driving a Kia Soul decorated with the name El Wingador. (Bradley C. Bower/AP Photo, file)
A New Jersey judge has sentenced a five-time Buffalo wing-eating champ known as El Wingador to seven years in prison on a cocaine distribution charge.
William Simmons of Woodbury Heights was arrested in June 2012 after a traffic stop. Police found 4.5 ounces of cocaine in his car.
He had agreed to a seven-year term when he pleaded guilty in July to drug dealing, though his attorney tried Friday to have the sentence reduced.
El Wingador last won Philadelphia’s Wing Bowl in 2005, when he gnawed through 162 chicken wings. The Wing Bowl was started as a way for Philadelphia sports fans to blow off steam before the Super Bowl.
Simmons, who is 51, will be able to apply for a drug intervention program that could shorten his prison time.
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