The first shucking contest at the oyster festival took place in 1969 when it was known as the “Chesapeake Bay Oyster Shucking Championship”.  In those early years, local watermen competed for small prizes and a trophy.  Competitors shucked only 12 oysters, the rules were few, and speed was the only determinant.  The first champion was James “Golden” Thompson with a recorded time of 80 seconds.  In 1972, 28 contestants registered with a $1.00 entry fee, and there were 3 prizes awarded of $100, $45, and $25.

Beginning in 1975, the year after the famous Billy Jean King and Bobby Riggs "battle of the sexes" tennis match, women and men competed in separate contests, and the two winners went head to head for the champion title.  That year, Bernice Newton of St. Mary’s County was the first women’s champion and Cornelius Mackall of Calvert County was the men’s champion and the first designated National Champion.   Soon after, Mackall represented the US in Ireland and won the International Championship!  It was the first time an American placed better than third in the international competition and It would be over 30 years before a competitor from the US won the International Champion title again.  In 1978, Heidi Ho of Florida became the first female National Champion.  2025 will bring the end to this shucking battle of the sexes, and the US National Oyster Shucking Championship will conform to the norms of most contests, including the International Championship, where speed and presentation are important variables, but biology is not.  

Today, nearly 40 shuckers from across the country compete annually for the title of US National Oyster Shucking Champion and the opportunity to represent the US  at the International Championship in Galway, Ireland.