Many Ohio State students know The Flying Pizza’s manager, Patt Miller, as “Pizza Patt,” but not everybody knows the meaning of his nickname.
“Only about half the people know why I call myself that,” Miller said.
Not only is “Pizza Patt” Miller skilled at serving delicious pizza to hungry students, he is also the captain of the U.S. Pizza Team, a group of talented pizza makers who perform dough tossing acrobatic tricks. Miller’s experiences with the team have taken him all over the U.S. and the world, as well as making TV appearances on “Rachael Ray,” “Live with Regis and Kelly” and “Good Morning America.”
Miller has been working in the pizza business for about five years and first learned how to toss pizzas from the manager of Dewey’s Pizza, in Cincinnati when he was 16.
“The reason I got into tricks was because I saw him spinning pizza and as it was spinning he was slapping it with his other hand to keep it spinning,” he said.
Despite the simplicity of that first trick, he taught himself how to do tricks by looking at pizza tossing videos online. Now Miller can toss two pizzas at a time, make them go through his legs and around his shoulders.
Miller has been on the national team since 2005. The U.S. Pizza Team is comprised of five members. To earn a one-year spot on the team, one must place in the top three at the National Championships. This competition is open to anyone, but it is hardly for amateurs.
“No one competes unless they think it’s worth their time,” Miller said.
A one-year spot on the team includes two paid trips to the national competition, which are held in New York City, and the World Championship. The team is also hired for performances, such as on the Carnival Cruise Lines and for Bolla Wines, which is the official wine of the U.S. Pizza Team. Miller has been the captain of the team for two years now and was selected as captain for his dedication to the team. He choreographs many of the team’s routines for competitions.
Currently, the U.S. Pizza Team is preparing for the National Championships, which will be held in New York City Sunday. Then the team is off to France to defend its title at the World Championship March 29. The team will compete in categories such as team acrobatics and individual tricks, as well as individual events to see who can toss the fastest pizzas out of five, and who can create the largest stretch. Miller said his favorite event to compete in is the team acrobatics, which consists of four people performing a synchronized pizza tossing routine. Routines are usually performed to fast paced techno music.
“Fast music makes it look like we are tossing the pizzas faster than we really are,” Miller said.
Teams perform in front of a panel of five to 10 judges who evaluate the teams using a point system on different categories such as entertainment, choreography, dexterity and difficulty.
At the international competition, Miller anticipates there will be about 12 to 15 teams. However, some countries, such as Italy, have multiple teams. The U.S. has another pizza team, and there is quite a rivalry between the two.
“We won’t mention their name to give them publicity,” Miller said.
The rivalry goes back far, as the U.S. Pizza Team is currently blacklisted from competing in an upcoming competition hosted by Italy’s team.
“I am pretty sure it’s because they don’t want to lose to us,” he said.
Miller considers the art of pizza tossing not to be a particularly difficult skill.
“To toss, I could teach a person within an hour, but perfecting the art of pizza tossing tricks requires much more time and practice,” Miller said. “Tricks are a whole new level of pizza tossing.”
