In 1987 the first National Grocers Association (N.G.A.) Best Bagger Contest was held in Dallas, Texas. Our first bagging contest was called the "Texas/Oklahoma Checkout-Shootout". We had two contestants and our Master of Ceremonies was Terry Bradshaw (former NFL Quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers). Since then N.G.A. has been bringing the country’s finest baggers together to determine who is the best of the best. N.G.A.’s Best Bagger Championship was created to promote the grocery industry devotion to exceptional customer service through superior bagging.

In 1983, the American Paper Institute sponsored it's first annual bag-packing contest, with the winner receiving the coveted Charles Stillwell award plus $1,883. The amount is in honor of the year that Charles Stillwell invented the paper-bag machine. With the contest being central to the Grocery Industry, N.G.A. took over as sponsor of the Best Bagger contest in 1986 and have run with the idea ever since. Our 25th year of the Best Bagger Championship will be held in 2011. We look forward to a terrific contest each and every year.

MC Terry Bradshaw interviews, for the television cameras, the winner of N.G.A.'s first bagging contest held in 1987 at the N.G.A. Annual Convention in Dallas, Texas. The runner-up was Jan Thommason from Claremont Discount in Oklahoma (at right), and the winner was Jorge Baca, from Fiesta Mart in Texas.