Annual Be the Match pie eating contest raises funds for Bone Marrow Drive

Be the Match Each year, the Law School holds a pie-eating contest, with all raised funds going to Be the Match, which runs the National Bone Marrow Program. The competition is fierce and the enjoyment of the crowd likewise. Photo by David F. Morrill

Be the Match Michaela Lieberman '18 served as the emcee for the event. Photo by David F. Morrill

Be the Match Caleb Stone arrives, confident that he will take the prize. Photo by David F. Morrill

Be the Match The audience can get a closeup view of the competition via TV projection on the classroom's large screens. Photo by David F. Morrill

Be the Match And the faculty winner is Caleb Stone '15 (center) of the Puller Veterans Benefits Clinic! Photo by David F. Morrill

Be the Match Daniel Shin '19 won the student competition for the second year in a row. Photo by David F. Morrill

Be the Match As is customary, the faculty winner gets to plant cream pies in the faces of the student participants. Photo by David F. Morrill

Pie Eating Contest As is customary, the faculty winner gets to plant cream pies in the faces of the student participants. Photo by David F. Morrill

by David F. Morrill | February 27, 2018

Messy things, pie-eating contests. But when it’s for as good a cause as a Bone Marrow Drive, you bring everything from plastic trash bags to paper towels to empty stomachs.

And generous spirits.

This year’s pie-eating contest was held on Tuesday, February 27. Faculty and student contestants strode into the Spong Classroom like gladiators to the cheers of students, faculty and staff in the crowd.

As she did in 2017, Michaela Lieberman ’18 emceed the event and made sure the bidding on contestants was fierce. Bidders can help (or hinder) each competitor by adding or subtracting time (15 seconds for $2 or 60 seconds for $6). All funds raised go to Be the Match, which runs the National Bone Marrow Program.

This year’s faculty winner was Prof. Caleb Stone ’15, Equal Justice Works AmeriCorps Legal Fellow at William & Mary’s Lewis B. Puller, Jr. Veterans Benefits Clinic. Stone showed up wearing a pro-wrestling belt and combining the outrageous (sleeveless) shirt of Hulk Hogan with the war cry of Ric Flair.

For the second straight year, the student winner was Daniel Shin ’19.

The Law School’s Bone Marrow Drive Committee, working with the College's Alan Bukzin Memorial Bone Marrow Drive, raises money to cover the cost of tissue typing for new donors that enter the National Bone Marrow Donor Registry (for more information go to www.bethematch.org).

Other fundraisers include the Ali’s Run 5K, March Madness Free Throw Competition and the Annual Texas Hold ’Em Poker Tournament. The campus-wide drive is responsible for registering nearly 10,000 of the four million potential donors in the national registry.

About William & Mary Law School

Thomas Jefferson founded William & Mary Law School in 1779 to train leaders for the new nation. Now in its third century, America's oldest law school continues its historic mission of educating citizen lawyers who are prepared both to lead and to serve.