Hall of Fame college football announcer Joe Starkey called “The Play” at the infamous 1982 Big Game between Cal-Berkeley and Stanford.
Also on his broadcast resume is Team USA hockey’s historic upset of the Soviet Union’s “Big Red Machine” at the memorable 1980 Lake Placid Olympics.
Starkey’s distinct, baritone voice has graced the airwaves for Golden Bears football games for more than three decades, as well as three Super Bowls and countless college bowl games.
But Tuesday in Morgan Hill, Starkey – hosting the Gilroy Garlic Festival Association’s press conference to introduce the inaugural college-themed Garlic Bowl kick-off cooking competition – jokingly questioned: “What can possibly top this event at the Gilroy Garlic Festival?”
The first-time event, which pits executive chefs representing San Jose State, Fresno State and Cal-Berkeley in a one-hour, two-dish cook-off, is a bold attempt by the Gilroy Garlic Festival Association to attract college students and alumni to help boost opening day attendance numbers at the three-day, 35th annual garlicky extravaganza.
“It gives a little sizzle to the event,” said Starkey, who has also done commercials and radio spots for the Garlic Festival since 2001.
That’s not all that was unveiled Tuesday, as the Garlic Festival will have a new dish – garlic deep fried calamari (which guests were treated to after the press conference) – as well as a new Herbie the bobblehead, the first after a five-year hiatus and the eighth since the festival began producing Herbie dolls in 2002. The newest model sports a raspberry-colored Hawaiian shirt with small white garlic cloves on it, khaki shorts and blue sandals.
“We’re changing it up,” said 2013 Gilroy Garlic Festival Association President Dennis Harrigan, who gave all the credit to the recipe committee for coming up with the new college cook-off. “We’re hoping this is going to be a huge draw. It’s going to be great.”
The college cook-off will be held the first day of the festival, Friday, July 26 on the festival’s main stage, otherwise known as the Cook-Off Theater. Each team will have one hour to prepare, plate and serve two dishes — each recipe incorporating six cloves of fresh garlic — to a panel of five judges. There will be a staggered start, beginning at 2 p.m., for the three two-person teams.
“Garlic is a key ingredient in cooking and I use it a lot,” said Fresno State’s executive chef Erik Debaude, who will go up against executive chefs Michele Rogers of San Jose State and Mary Ferrer of Cal Berkeley for a $5,000 cash scholarship prize.
The top team will also bring a perpetual trophy back to their institution to keep until next year’s showdown, where new college teams will compete for a chance to take it home. The second and third place finishers will earn $1,000 consolation prizes that will go to their college’s general scholarship fund.
“We are delighted to create such a formidable matchup in the first year of what we anticipate will become a summer tradition,” Harrigan said. “We are taking intercollegiate competition to the next level.”
Regarded as the “Rose Bowl of food festivals,” the Garlic Festival is expected to entertain 100,000 visitors at Christmas Hill Park July 26-28 in Gilroy.
