News
Embracing history: Man sets hugs record in Vegas
Posted: Feb 14, 2010 7:57 AM by Associated Press
He was clocked at 208 per hour on his way to becoming the world champion -- of hugs. A 51-year-old Ohio man with the Valentine's Day spirit and a cause logged 7,777 hugs in 24 hours.
Jeff Ondash, who hugs under the costumed alter ego Teddy McHuggin, broke the record last night outside the Paris Las Vegas hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip. Ondash says he wanted to raise money for the American Heart Association because his brother and father died relatively young due to heart problems.
As McHuggin, Ondash sports a red NASCAR-style driver's suit with hugging logos and a wrestling-style championship belt.
A Guinness spokesman says the previous record was 5,000 hugs in one day. Ondash also holds the record for most hugs in one hour with 1,205.
Ondash says McHuggin is now eyeing both the world's longest single hug - currently 24 hours and 1 second - and breaking his current two records.
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