lit a candle 5h agoThis one hit different for some reason. My grandpa passed a few months back and reading about a guy who turned something as simple as a brat eating contest into 70 years of his life just got me good. Hope his family's doing okay.
Their story
Dennis "Tiger" Leffin was Sheboygan, Wisconsin's longtime Brat Eating King, a classroom teacher, newspaper retiree, and community fixture whose bratwurst title stretched from boyhood contests into old age. Born on 6 May 1944 to Harold and Clara Damrow Leffin, he grew up in Sheboygan, attended Farnsworth and Central schools, and…
Dennis "Tiger" Leffin was Sheboygan, Wisconsin's longtime Brat Eating King, a classroom teacher, newspaper retiree, and community fixture whose bratwurst title stretched from boyhood contests into old age. Born on 6 May 1944 to Harold and Clara Damrow Leffin, he grew up in Sheboygan, attended Farnsworth and Central schools, and graduated from Sheboygan South High School in 1962. He studied at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh and UW Sheboygan, earned state certification for grades K through 9 at Sheboygan County Teachers College, and taught for three years at St. Peter Claver before other work eventually led him to a thirteen year stretch at the Sheboygan Press, from which he retired in 2001.
Local fame began early and never really left. At 13 he won Sheboygan's brat eating contest, becoming the city's Brat Eating King and tying his nickname to Brat Days for roughly seventy years. After a long absence he returned for Brat Days in 2022 at age 78, an appearance the Sheboygan Press treated as a living reunion with the festival's early spirit. Between those festival weekends he filled stages and gyms across town. He sang at nursing homes, weddings, funerals and church services. He acted and appeared with Sheboygan Community Players, Sheboygan Fine Arts and the Sheboygan Theater Company. He played for the Sheboygan Redwings semi-pro team and coached youth and adult basketball and softball sides that won city championships for Toro's and Chissy's. He also served on boards of directors and as a Big Brother, and he remained a People to People member for more than fifty years, including a term as past director.
Family life had two clear chapters. He married Judy Sukowatey in 1972; they share a son, Brian, who later spoke of gratitude for both parents. On 13 May 1989 he met Kathy, described in remembrances as the love of his life. Together they traveled through forty six countries, listing China, Russia, New Zealand, Egypt, Australia, Israel, Germany and Ireland among favorites, while Dennis ultimately visited seventy countries and all fifty U.S. states. Roughly half of each year they spent in Sun City Center, Florida, staying active in community groups there as well as in Sheboygan. Stepdaughter Jenny Minor and Brian's partner Sherry Campbell and her son Jimmy Campbell were among those named in family notices.
Leffin died on 30 October 2026 at age 82. WHBL and the Sheboygan Press carried the news in early November. A memorial service was arranged for 19 November 2026 at Trinity Lutheran Church on Wisconsin Avenue, with Olson Funeral Home and Cremation Service handling arrangements. The family thanked caregivers at Aurora Sheboygan and Aurora St. Luke's Medical Center of Milwaukee. No cause of death was published. What remained clear locally was the affectionate shorthand people used for him: Tiger, the Brat Eating King who never stopped belonging to Sheboygan.
Biography adapted from WHBL (Bill Harpold, 6 November 2026), Sheboygan Press feature and death coverage, Legacy/Olson Funeral Home obituary details.
Photos
1by People Forever
Sorry for your loss. 70 years is wild, that's basically his whole life tied to one festival.