What's the most outrageous thing you would do for $10,000 cash? That's the question posed recently by Chicago radio station WKOX, which attracted responses from more than 6,000 full-tilt crazies.

The eventual winner: Jay Gwaltney of Zionsville, Indiana, who consumed an 11-foot birch sapling'leaves, roots, bark and all. For the event, he donned a tux and dined at a table set elegantly with china, sterling, candles and a rose vase.

Armed with pruning sheers, the Indiana State University sophomore began chomping from the top of the tree and worked his way, branch by branch, to the roots. His only condiment: French dressing for the massive birch-leaf salad.

The culinary feat took 18 hours over a period of three days. When it was all over, Gwaltney complained of an upset stomach. Evidently the bark was worse than his bite.

Campus Life, December 1980, p. 19