News

Pizza dough duel ends in Big Apple brouhaha

The flour flies when a five-time world champion freestyle dough tosser is upset by an upstart skin slinger at the New York Pizza Show.

November 21, 2004

"Hermosillo defeats Gemignani!"

A veritable "Japs Bomb Pearl Harbor" headline to those in the know about those who throw dough.

'Twas a shocker to see: The sure-fired shoe-in five-time world champion freestyle dough tosser Tony Gemignani fell to an all-but-unknown Juan Hermosillo during qualifications for the U.S. Pizza Team on Nov. 3. The win guaranteed Hermosillo, a Mexican immigrant, both a spot on the team and an expenses-paid trip to Italy to compete in the world championships next spring.

Not only were the event's organizers and contest judges surprised by the results, Gemignani was so disappointed in the outcome that he refused to accept his runner-up plaque.

"This is supposed to be a positive, fun event that adds to the camaraderie of the industry," said Steve Green, publisher of PMQ and founder of the U.S. Pizza Team. "But he melted down and assaulted one of our judges, made a big scene and threw his award back in my face."

The event marked Gemignani's return to competition after a three-year layoff spent coaching other dough tossers on the U.S. Pizza Team. As a freestyle tosser, Gemignani has done it all: whipped every competitor the world 'round, spun the skins on the national TV shows and built a floury fiefdom on flashy tricks that seemingly no one could top.

Or so everyone thought.

As soon as the results were announced, an outraged Gemignani accused Green of fixing the contest in retaliation for Gemignani's leadership in forming the new World Pizza Champions team. The group, which unveiled itself to the crowd at the New York Pizza Show (which is run by PMQ) is made up of former U.S. Pizza Team members. It will compete against the USPT at the world championships.

Gemignani also accused PMQ editor-in-chief Tom Boyles, one of five contest judges, of conspiring with other judges to score him unfairly. Heated words were exchanged and Gemignani

You be the Judge! Cat Price Productions, which was at the New York Pizza Show filming a documentary titled, "Pizza! The Movie," has placed its footage of the U.S. Pizza Team qualifications on itsWeb site. Cat Price encourages visitors to watch Gemignani's and Hermosillo's performances and call it as they see it.

and one of his supporters shoved Boyles. Security was called in and Gemignani was escorted from the Javits Center.

"It gets under my skin to have an accusation (against me) that is simply not true," said Boyles. "To have someone who was a friend, both personally and professionally, come out against me because he suffered his first loss ... that bothers me."

The loss especially bothers Gemignani, who claims Hermosillo put on a good performance, but not good enough to win. It appears many agree with him. Since the contest ended, Gemignani fans old and new have burned up phone lines and e-mail servers across the country saying the champ was either robbed outright or Hermosillo was favored unfairly.

According to multiple sources — including footage of both men's performances filmed by Cat Price Productions and placed on its Web site — Hermosillo dropped his dough nearly a dozen times during his 4-minute routine. Gemignani dropped his just three times and delivered what he called "a much cleaner routine."

"I think Juan's good, but his whole routine, from beginning to end, has to be a lot cleaner," said Gemignani, co-owner of Pyzano's, a pizzeria in Castro Valley, Calif. "I don't care if the guy lights himself on fire, his whole routine needs to be good, not just parts of it."

Drops don't matter, however, according to Green, who insisted points are awarded only for a routine's plusses.

"If you go to the Olympics and skate around in a circle for three minutes, that's not worth anything," said Green, via phone from PMQ's offices in Oxford, Miss. "But if you attempt six triple axels and make three of them, you've got to balance that out."

Gemignani's routine was too cautious, Green said, and judges told him that hurt Gemignani's score.

"Tony went out and did the safest routine I've ever seen him do," Green said. "He didn't do his double pizzas over the shoulders (trick), which I've seen him do elsewhere."

Boyles agreed.

"Tony's always been a great competitor. ... I just think he was being a little too conservative and the guy behind him said, 'I'm going for it.' That probably cost him," Boyles said.

Latest trick

Gemignani believes he was deliberately put at a disadvantage by a late change in the judging criteria. When he learned the phrase, "new tricks" was handwritten on the tops of judges' scoring sheets as a cue to reward innovative moves, he was incensed. Not only had he never seen that emphasis in other competitions, "new tricks" aren't emphasized in the rules, he said.

Additionally, as a well-known performer, Gemignani said his tricks are not only familiar to many, they're duplicated by nearly every other dough tosser.

"I've taught most of the guys who do this, or they've used my (instructional) video," he said. "So how can any of these guys really be doing new tricks? ... The point is they didn't let us know that was what they were looking for. They should have told us that, but they didn't. If I'd have known, I'd have added new stuff to my routine."

On the U.S. Pizza Team Web site, the rules state that creativity, synchronization, variety, dexterity and difficulty of routine are the only considerations, but Green said those are umbrella terms that imply "new tricks." When asked why the term was specifically written out on the judges' sheets at the New York show, he said, "We wanted the judges to focus on what would win in Italy (at the world championships). But

Limbo for Hermosillo? Though Juan Hermosillo lives and works in Garden Grove, Calif., he does not have a green card. Without it, he could not travel to Salsamaggiore, Italy, to compete in the World Championships. He does, however, have a scheduled appearance before a judge with the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service on Nov. 23, a date at which Hermosillo's lawyer believes he will be granted a green card. If he doesn't receive it, his lawyer claims a special permit can be obtained that would allow him to travel to Italy.

that doesn't mean anything else was given unequal weight. ... Just saying it was doesn't follow this conspiracy thread people are creating."

Green pointed to the extremely tight scoring between Hermosillo and Gemignani as proof judges couldn't have played favorites. When scores were tallied in New York, Hermosillo won by a point: 139 to 138. Following the post-event controversy, Boyles and Green tallied the scores at their offices and found one judge had made an addition error to Gemignani's favor. "The actual score, therefore, is Juan's 139 to Tony's 137," Boyles said.

Gemignani questioned why five judges were used for this contest instead of three — as stated in the rules — a remark Boyles called irrelevant. With three judges or five judges, the outcome remained unchanged.

"Just like an Olympic competition ... so you can't score your country high and another country low, we went back and kicked out the high score and the low score for each one and still got the exact same result," Boyles said. "There was no way this was or could have been a fixed game."

Boyles called doubts about the scoring "insulting to the judges" of the event, who he said have multiple years of experience scrutinizing national and international competitions. What judges are looking for and what the crowd wants to see aren't always the same, he said. "Some of the people in the crowd may not have been pleased, but this wasn't a popularity contest."

Bottom line, Gemignani said, is the rules need to be clearer. "We need to know all the rules; we have to have it in black and white. If they're saying 'new tricks' falls under those rules, then I'm saying the rules are too vague."

Fallout

Both Gemignani and Green contend their respective organizations will suffer because of the contest's results and the imbroglio afterwards.

Gemignani said the loss nixed a scheduled appearance on "Live with Regis and Kelly" a day after the contest, and that his business won't enjoy the usual 10 percent post-publicity boost that follows in the wake of a victory.

"This is a business for me, it's not just fun," Gemignani said. "I've worked hard to build this into something bigger than just a hobby. It's part of me, and I earn a portion of my living doing it. To lose a contest unfairly hurts my reputation and it could cost me money."

If the contest isn't fixed, Gemignani said, much of the suspicion about the results centers on the way it was run.

"It was sloppy in some areas, and the rules are part of that," he said. "Some of the dough we used was so dried out we couldn't even use it. So I shared my dough with my competitors, dough I paid 150 bucks to ship to New York! There wouldn't have been enough dough for everyone if I hadn't done that."

Green said Gemignani's outburst and claims that the contest was fixed have sullied its previously good reputation.

"Tony benefited from this contest in the past, as did a lot of these people who are accusing us now of fixing it," Green said. "Why, all of a sudden, is everything wrong with it when things seemed fine in the past? Is it all wrong now just because he lost?"

When asked whether Gemignani was right in saying the contest has some rough edges that need improving, Green agreed that it's not perfect.

"We're learning as we go, this is an evolving thing. So, sure, we know we could get better," he said. "We're definitely going to have more detailed rules out ahead of time, and we know from this that we'd better watch out for people second guessing us. We'd never thought about that before this.

"But the appearance that something was done that's not fair drives me crazy. We run an honest contest, and we've made every effort to be above board. We have nothing to hide."