WENATCHEE — No bare chest, no wind-blown hair, no touch-up eyeliner for that brooding look. But Adam Richmond, a food service delivery driver for the Wenatchee School District, nonetheless shares the “sexy” label with Johnny Depp in this week’s People Magazine.

That’s right, girls. The 28-year-old guy who delivers chicken strips and tater tots to every public school kitchen in town is one of the sexiest men in America, according to GMC, the truck company, a limited sponsor of the magazine’s 2009 Sexiest Man Alive issue.

Depp, named SMA for the second time, is on page 78. Richmond, named a Real Sexy Guy, is on page 141. And more than 100 hot celebrity hunks fill the pages in between.

“Sure, it’s kind of flattering,” said a bemused Richmond. “I get my 15 minutes of fame — maybe this (newspaper) article will stretch it to 17 minutes — and then it’ll all fade away. After all, it’s just a car ad.”

Well, not quite. During the month of October, GMC solicited entries in their nationwide Real Sexy Guys Contest to find the six handsomest hunks that had yet to be discovered. Winners would be announced in a two-page spread in the Nov. 30 issue of People, the premier celebrity gossip mag that every week sells millions of copies.

Richmond’s wife, Angela, stumbled upon the contest online (at an actual Web site called stumbleupon.com) and, half-joking, decided to register her husband. “I thought ‘what the heck?’,” said Angela. “It’d be kind of fun, kind of different, and wouldn’t it be wild if he won?”

So she sent in a photo of her husband, a snapshot she took herself, and a 30-word bio that described Richmond as “gorgeous, intelligent and handsome.” In the weeks that followed, both Richmond and his wife pretty much forgot about the whole thing.

Then came the phone call. In early November, a representative from GMC called to say Richmond had won. He had topped all other entries in the Pacific Northwest region, one of six across the country, and had earned the moniker Real Sexy Guy.

“Oh my,” said Angela, good-naturedly feigning a celebrity sigh at dealing with demands of fans and the public. “It’s been a flurry ever since.”

Of course she e-mailed everyone she knew almost immediately. And she put the news on Facebook. And Angela, a music teacher at Mission View Elementary School, told all her students who told their parents who told complete strangers that Richmond had been named a Sexy Guy.

Richmond said a few even asked: “Sexy? Magazine photo? Is he clothed?”

Which brings up the whole subject of announcing the news to the congregation at Valley Community Church in Wenatchee. “We had to emphasize that, yes, he was named a Sexy Guy,” laughed Angela, “but that it wasn’t sleazy or weird. We were just being silly.”

Requests for autographs started the day of the issue’s release, the couple reported. “At 5 a.m., one of the kitchen ladies is there with a copy of the magazine,” said Richmond. “It hadn’t even hit the newsstands yet, so I don’t even know where she got it, but she defintely wanted an autograph.” Since then, he said, he’s probably signed about 10 autographs, mostly for fellow employees in the school district.

So who is this Sexy Guy?

The Richmonds, married for five years, live in Waterville but both work for the Wenatchee School District. He moved to Wenatchee at age 7 and helped his parents, Dan and Kathy, in their Malaga orchard. Early work experience also included a four-year stint at Hart’s British Fish & Chips, summer firefighting work with various outfits and, beginning in 2004, four years as an apprentice funeral director and embalmer for Jones & Jones-Betts Funeral Home in Wenatchee. Now, every school day, Richmond drives a truck to deliver prepared lunch food and the next day’s breakfast to 14 kitchens across the district.

“And he has quite a little following from the kids at school,” said Angela. “They treated him like a celebrity even before this whole People Magazine thing. To them, he’s the Food Guy, the man who brings them lunch. A very popular guy.”

So far, the Richmonds said they don’t see a downside to Adam being named a Real Sexy Guy by GMC. “We didn’t get a truck,” he said, shrugging. “We didn’t get anything but the honor and notoriety.”

Added Angela, with a laugh: “Not even get a free copy of the magazine.”

Richmond looked over at his wife and smiled. “I take all this for what it is,” he said. “A little bit fun, a little bit silly, and really good that my wife thinks I’m sexy.”

Mike Irwin: 665-1179

irwin@wenatcheeworld.com