Friday, Feb. 15, 2002 | 9:28 a.m.
If Darien Marshall had been born on Valentine's Day, when he was due, Dawn Marshall might never have had her moment of glory.
But Darien arrived 16 days early, and Thursday his 33-year-old mother, a cashier for Pathmark supermarkets in Philadelphia, captured the title of her three-year career: National Grocers Association Best Bagger.
More than 300 people at the Paris Las Vegas watched Marshall beat four male competitors, using a soft touch, nimble fingers and fluid motion to place $100 worth of groceries in bags -- paper and plastic, if you please.
"I honestly didn't think I would be able to be here today, but so many people back home were pulling for me I had to try," said the new mother and champion. The baby, her fifth, was her lucky charm, she said.
Marshall won a $2,000 first prize and a large paper-bag-shaped trophy. At her side during the presentation was husband Derrick, whom she married May 19.
Some of Marshall's competitors had a feeling she had the title in the bag shortly after the final event of the weeklong convention ended.
"I couldn't compete with Dawn, she is just too quick," fifth-place finisher Jeff Kessler, a 40-plus-year-old frozen food manager from Iowa, said before the judges' announcement. "I might be getting a little too old for this."
Dan Miller, a Marine reservist from Michigan, placed second and won $1,000. Christopher DeLorimier, of Pasadena, Calif., was third. Josh Hopper of Indiana repeated his fourth place finish from 2001.
Marshall is the third woman in the 17-year history of the contest to win.
She plans to defend her state title in Hershey in May. However, she is barred from future nationals, NGA officials said. A bagger can win only once.
But others can watch and learn.
"My secret to bagging is I simply bag groceries the way I would want my own groceries to be bagged," she said. "I really love bagging."
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