Senior wins Big Ten Cup Stacking Challenge

E.J. Chung was in a fist-pumping moment of ecstasy.

The senior had just won four IU basketball tickets and was entered into a drawing for a pass to the Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis after winning the Solo Cup Stacking Challenge on Thursday night at Kilroy’s Sports Bar.

In his time of 11.78 seconds, Chung celebrated – beer in hand – as he defeated his friend by roughly seven seconds.

Chung never even knew the contest was happening until the night of.

“I just walked in and saw the solo cups,” Chung said. “I wasn’t going to go until my buddies wanted to go. I just wanted to beat him. It was fun – a great experience.”

The tournament, sponsored by The Big Ten Network’s show “Friday Night Tailgate” and the Solo Cup Company, lasted for about a half an hour on Thursday night while only a few competitors actually took part in the event.

Throughout the college football season, the Big Ten Network will do the cup-stacking tournament with Solo at each school.

“We wanted to reach out to a younger audience and do it in a way that allows consumers to engage with our products,” said Ali Goldner, an account executive at Solo.

The main competition was between Chung and his friend Donald Griffen, an IU alumnus.

Griffen went first and struggled. He blamed his performance on his lack of experience, though he was hoping to pull off an upset of substantial proportions.

“It’s disappointing, frustrating to lose to a friend,” Griffen said. “It was such a hotly-contested match. He’s been stacking cups since the third grade. In third grade, I was playing football.”

“I was trying to conjure up some Patriots-Giants magic. But it wasn’t happening today. He just made the cups, if you will.”

The bar was mostly empty as the contest took place from 9 to 9:30 p.m.

Jeff Katz, a member of the Big Ten Network’s advertising sales department, has visited several of the cup-stacking tournaments at schools such as Illinois and Purdue. He said the turnout at those schools was much greater, but it was still fun nonetheless. Chung will represent IU in the drawing for tickets to the Big Ten Tournament in March.
As Chung walked off the stage in victory, Katz commented on Chung as a “natural talent” of cup-stacking.

“I think he’s got good intensity,” Katz said. “He’s like the Ray Lewis of cup-stacking.”
The Big Ten Network will air its show live on Friday night from the corner of Kirkwood Avenue and Indiana Avenue. The show begins at 8:30 p.m. and runs 90 minutes long.