Retired banker wins Ernest Hemingway Look-Alike contest in Key West

Sloppy Joe's Bar honors 'Old Man and the Sea' author

KEY WEST, Fla. ā€“ A 68-year-old retired banker from Tennessee isĀ the winner of this year's Ernest Hemingway Look-Alike contest at Sloppy Joe's Bar inĀ Key West.Ā 

Hemingway was a regular at the bar. Tthe contest has been going onĀ there for nearlyĀ three decadesĀ during the Hemingway Days celebration, which this year markedĀ what would have been the novelist's 120th birthday on Sunday.

A judging panel selected Joe MaxeyĀ among a pool of 141 other white-bearded men who said they were familiar with the Nobel Prize winner's literary legacy. The contest began on Thursday and the panel chose the winner on Saturday.Ā 

It was Maxey's eighth attempt to win the contest. HeĀ comes from Cedar Hill, a city of 314 people in Tennesee's Robertson County.

Hemingway was born in IllinoisĀ and died at 61 in Idaho. He lived in Key West -- where he wrote "To Have and Have Not" --Ā between 1931 and 1939. He went on to win theĀ Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1953.

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About the Author:

The Emmy Award-winning journalist joined the Local 10 News team in 2013. She wrote for the Miami Herald for more than 9 years and won a Green Eyeshade Award.