Where have you gone, Mickey Mantle?

A lushly nation turns its eyes onto the breakfast of champions;

Last month, James "The Beast" Nielsen honored the 60th anniversary of the first sub-four-minute mile run by shattering another hallowed record long thought unbreakable: the five-minute "beer mile."

Since its origin on college campuses in the late 1980s, the beer mile has grown into an underground phenomenon. Thousands of people, including some professional athletes, have sought to be the fastest in the world at chugging a 12-ounce beer, running one lap, then repeating the uncomfortable, belch-heavy process three more times. Adherents call it the most "glorified" of the "digestive athletics"—a realm that includes competitive eating contests—but it has remained mostly in the shadows.

Mr. Nielsen's record-setting 4:57 run catapulted the obscure sport onto a larger stage with more than one million views of a YouTube video of his feat. The first world championship is now being planned for this year. Mr. Nielsen, a 34-year-old sales executive who ran competitively in college, says he has been approached with endorsement offers from apparel and beer companies.

What about the Beer Drinkers' Hall of Fame?