View source for Daily Cardinal pizza contests

From 1971 to at least 1975 the University of Wisconsin student newspaper, ''The Daily Cardinal'', held an annual contest in its newsroom: staff ordered pizzas delivered from every place that would bring one to campus, timed the deliveries and rated the pies. The results, written up with mock solemnity under pseudonyms such as "Whispering Jack Anchovy" and "Haystacks Calhoun", are a snapshot of who delivered pizza near campus in the 1970s.

==Results==
{| class="wikitable"
! Year !! Winner !! Others, in order
|-
| 1971 (Nov. 3) || [[Gargano’s Pizzeria|Gargano's]] (6.55 of 10) || [[Pizza Pit]], Eveready, [[Gino’s|Gino's]], [[The Pizza Oven|Pizza Oven]], KC's<ref name="dc-1971-11-05-p9">Anchovy, W. J. (1971, November 5). [https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/A42WIS6HQWPSI48D/pages/ALQCYDOMULMDO78Q "Promises, promises: First annual pizza contest."] ''The Daily Cardinal''. p. 9.</ref>
|-
| 1972 (Nov. 15) || Gargano's (3.2 of 4) || Gino's, Pizza Pit, West Side Pizza, KC's, Pizza Oven<ref name="dc-1972-11-17-p15">McCue, M. (1972, November 17). [https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/AB4O7PJUOZ22W28Q/pages/A5ITJXL5DAAWFI83 Second Annual Cardinal Pizza Delivery Competition.] ''The Daily Cardinal''. p. 15.</ref>
|-
| 1973 (Dec.) || Gino's (3.3 of 5) || [[Luigi’s Pizza & Subs|Luigi's]], Pizza Pit, Gargano's, KC's, West Side Pizza<ref name="dc-1973-12-07-p21">Staff, A. S. M. o. t. C. (1973, December 7). [https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/AYT6JBSLU7SDSN8J/pages/A7BIB6V4NSEQ529E "As the pizza turns..."] ''The Daily Cardinal''. p. 21.</ref>
|-
| 1974 (Oct.) || [[Rocky Rococo]] (4.6 of 7) || Gargano's Pizza in the Pan, Luigi's, Gino's, Pizza Pit, KC's, Gargano's<ref name="dc-1974-10-14-p11">Calhoun, H. (1974, October 14). [https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/AUAUB2N7IUYMQS9C/pages/AZFRDN3FZSSQKA8O "Pizza hits the Rocky."] ''The Daily Cardinal''. p. 11.</ref>
|-
| 1975 (Nov.) || Rocky Rococo (pan) and Pizza Pit (thin crust) || pan: Gargano's; thin: Gargano's and Gino's (tied), Luigi's<ref name="dc-1975-11-04-p1">(1975, November 4). [https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/AFKR5452RGMKXO8M/pages/A6N32XJ63HHHL38M "Searching for the pie in the sky."] ''The Daily Cardinal''. p. 1.</ref>
|}

==The contests==
===1971===
The first contest grew out of the Cardinal's restaurant column, the "State Street Gourmet". In October 1971 the Gourmet had tried two pizzas baked in the backs of trucks and one from Gino's, and complained that Pizza Pit would not deliver to Eagle Heights<ref name="dc-1971-10-28-p4">Gourmet, S. S. (1971, October 28). [https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/AZDG5OTEDZORWN8R/pages/A22KWYDBZHPROL87 State Street Gourmet column on delivered pizza: Eveready Roll'n Pizza, KC Roll'n Pizza Man, Gino's.] ''The Daily Cardinal''. p. 4.</ref>. Pizza Pit's manager answered that it did, and challenged the Gourmet to compare every pizza that could be delivered to campus<ref name="dc-1971-11-05-p6">(1971, November 5). [https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/A42WIS6HQWPSI48D/pages/A2MRDTLVZPQRA48Y Letter from the manager of Pizza Pit answering the State Street Gourmet.] ''The Daily Cardinal''. p. 6.</ref>. On the night of November 3, fifteen judges ordered a medium sausage-and-mushroom pizza from eight places; six agreed to deliver to the Cardinal's office on Henry Mall. Eveready's arrived first, in 14 minutes, but Gargano's, an hour after it was ordered, was the best — "but it was the best of a poor lot"<ref name="dc-1971-11-05-p9" />.

===1972===
In 1972 about forty staff members, formed into "affinity squads", judged two cheese-and-sausage pizzas from each of six parlors. "AND, FOR THE SECOND straight year, Gargano's walked away with it", and its manager sent over twenty more pizzas<ref name="dc-1972-11-17-p15" />. Afterward the Capital Times "screamed payola", the Gourmet wrote, because Biagio Gargano had thrown a party for the Cardinal staff; the reporter printed a correction<ref name="dc-1973-02-16-p8">Gourmet, S. S. (1973, February 16). [https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/AUCMPCFY3K3ZT68V/pages/APIULUFOVKN53W8P State Street Gourmet on Gargano's.] ''The Daily Cardinal''. p. 8.</ref>.

===1973===
The 1973 pizzas were judged blind — guards kept the wrappers out of sight — on crust, sausage and cheese. Gino's won, Luigi's was a close second, and "last year's winner, Gargano's" came fourth<ref name="dc-1973-12-07-p21" />.

===1974===
"It has been a year of upsets", and the newest was "the brash victory of newcomer Rocky Rococo", a pan-style pizza with a "moist-deep crust and good spicing" that also arrived fastest, in 33 minutes. Luigi's took the flat-crust crown, "but it is evident that pan-style pizza is the real thing". Two-time winner Gargano's finished last: "It looks like a rebuilding year for Gargano's"<ref name="dc-1974-10-14-p11" />.

===1975===
In 1975 the contest had two categories. Rocky's "squeaked through" in pan pizza, 55.6 percent to Gargano's 44.4, and Pizza Pit won thin crust with half the votes: "Pizza Pit has an authentic urban flair the others lack". The Cardinal spent $73 on pizza<ref name="dc-1975-11-04-p1" />.

==Trivia==
* KC's, "the perpetual doormat of pizza contests", baked its pizzas in its delivery trucks; see [[Pizza trucks]]<ref name="dc-1974-10-14-p11" />.

==See also==
* [[1970s (decade)]]
* [[Pizza trucks]]

==Notes==
<references />

[[Category:1970s]]