A painful breakup after a four-year relationship could have been a major setback for Jeff Hoffman.
Instead, the way Hoffman dealt with his loss led to his learning new skills and building his self-confidence.
“I’m sure everyone has been in that position where you’ve had someone break up with you and you are left sitting there wondering what you will do with your life,” says Hoffman, 30. “Turns out pizza was it for me.”
With five years of practice and competition under his belt, Hoffman is now one of the top pizza-tossing acrobats in the country. He’ll demonstrate his skills to a national audience Thursday when he and other members of the U.S. Pizza Team march in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
A co-worker who delivered pizzas pulled Hoffman, the general manager at Anthony’s Pizza & Pasta in Golden, out of his funk when he showed him a handful of YouTube videos featuring pizza acrobats from all over the world.
At first Hoffman was stunned. But then the thrill of learning such complex dough-tossing moves as handstands, whips and figure-eights gave him a new sense of direction.
He’s become so good at the craft of dough-tossing that he’s earned a coveted spot on the U.S. Pizza Team.
Hoffman entertains regulars who have watched him develop from an awkward one-trick pony to a talented freestyle pizza- dough-tossing acrobat, swirling the dough in the air, across his shoulders and under his legs with apparent ease. He has been on the Giada De Laurentiis’ “Everyday Italian” show on the Food Network, and has competed in New York, Las Vegas, and Orlando, Fla.
When he was starting out, Hoffman bought a soft plastic Throw Dough and immersed himself in the videos to learn how to perform the complex moves. Back then basics like the toss and the spin resulted in hard, wet slaps of dough to the head.
“There were so many times when I saw him wearing dough on his face,” says his uncle David Bolis, who works at the Golden Diner, across the street from Anthony’s. “We thought it would be a phase like hacky sack, but it wasn’t.”
When he wasn’t practicing during slow days at Anthony’s, Hoffman would drive up to the mountains and get lost for hours tossing his plastic dough and moving his wrists from side to side to stay limber, and stretched until his arms and shoulders burned.
With only two tricks under his belt, Hoffman knew he was going fail when he went to New York for his first U.S. Pizza team trials five years ago. Winning wasn’t the point.
“I just wanted to be there and learn from others,” he said. Hoffman found out about exclusive team practices and showed up to work on techniques, says Steve Lieber, the team’s director of operations. He became quick friends with team members, who continued to encourage him via e-mail.
But when two more annual trials came and went without Hoffman progressing, he found himself steeping in despair, sitting on the side of a street in Las Vegas after a failed competition attempt.
One of his tutors told him that it wasn’t just about getting the movements right. Hoffman had to learn how to excite the crowd, and he needed to be more confident and personable while performing.
“I remember getting so nervous before I would perform that I’d be dripping sweat,” Hoffman says.
He upped his daily practices to about two hours and would perform along Denver’s 16th Street Mall to learn to feel comfortable around crowds. He did demonstrations at the Golden Chamber of Commerce’s First Friday Street Fair. And he hosted private pizza parties, teaching clients how to make dough and try their hand at tossing.
Bill Nixon was one of Hoffman’s first pizza party clients. When Hoffman was hired to perform two years ago at Nixon’s surprise 40th-birthday celebration, Nixon was so fascinated with his skills and personal story that he built Hoffman a website for free to promote his pizza parties.
“I have a heart for people who fully immerse themselves to be good at something, even if it’s as simple as something like pizza dough,” said Nixon. The site, , caught the attention of producers at the Food Network and lead to Hoffman’s appearance on the De Laurentiis show.
Then in September, Hoffman traveled to Orlando to compete in his fourth bid to make the U.S. Pizza Team. He participated in three events, including the fastest pizza maker, freestyle acrobatics and the largest dough stretch. Hoffman finished third in the dough stretch when he threw a 28-inch pizza out of a 16- ounce ball of dough. He is now one of almost 30 U.S. Pizza Team members aged 12 to 60 from various states, Canada, Spain, Italy, China and Australia.
“He told me, ‘Hey, I belong on this team,’ and he eventually earned it through a combination of his intensity and passion,” Leiber says.
Hoffman’s plaque and framed newspaper clippings line a wall inside Anthony’s. Since his win, he’s been contacting the Anthony’s corporate office, friends and relatives to find sponsors to pay for his $1,000 trip to New York.
Between delivering orders to a recent lunch crowd at Anthony’s, Hoffman entertained regulars who laughed when he whirled the Throw Dough over their heads while they stood in lines. A few tried to toss it themselves before throwing it down on the counter in exasperation.
A co-worker howled in amazement when Hoffman completed a new trick — rolling two Throw Doughs over his shoulder at the same time.
“Been working on it!” Hoffman says. “I get it once out of every five times.”
Hoffman tries to explain that the body has natural lines. When he tosses the dough under his leg, the stretchy material instantly aligns with the side of his back and continues rolling up the curve to his shoulder and eventually down his arm to his waiting upturned hand.
“Just think flat thoughts,” whispers Hoffman, who says he now also dreams of owning his own pizzeria.
Sheba R. Wheeler: 303-954-1283 or swheeler@denverpost.com
