Tom Van Keuren really likes White Castle sliders.
In fact, the Oro Valley resident's penchant for the mini burgers has landed Van Keuren in the restaurant chain's 2015 Cravers Hall of Fame.
White Castle is a rarity on the West Coast — there are none in Arizona — but that hasn't stopped Keuren from consuming a load of the burgers over the years.
His enthusiasm for those mini burgers is so great that in 1982, after having moved to California from Minnesota, Van Keuren had the burgers shipped to his new home. "Within three years, he had ordered more than 3,000 hamburgers and drove 52 miles round trip to pick up his prized delights from air freight at LAX," a news release about his induction says.
Word of Van Keuren's White Castle craze spread and he eventually had friends, co-workers and neighbors lining up at his front door on shipment days.
Van Keuren has passed on his enthusiasm for sliders to his family. His wife, Janis, and their two sons are also deemed "cravers" and White Castle is a staple in the Van Keuren home.
“Whenever the subject of hamburgers comes up, Tom gets this eager look in his eyes and jumps at the opportunity to describe for his friends the deliciousness of the small, yet mighty White Castle Slider,” Janis Van Keuren, is quoted as saying in the news release about her husband's induction on Tuesday in Columbus, Ohio.
The Class of 2015 included 11 inductees, who toured White Castle headquarters and ate a buffet of restaurant offerings as part of the ceremonies.
Van Keuren now is one of 195 people inducted into the chain's Cravers Hall of Fame since it launched in 2001.
