Jackpot winners are melting pot of America

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By MARGARET REIST / Lincoln Journal Star

They stood on a makeshift stage Wednesday morning staring at  cameras and reporters and more cameras, a melting pot of good fortune, there to claim a prize that made them millionaires overnight. The eight winners of the largest Powerball jackpot in history are a snapshot of American diversity.

Two refugees from Vietnam who have lived in Lincoln for 16 years. A young political refugee whose family fled its civil war-torn home in central Africa in 1999. Five are married and have children. Three are single. Seven are men. One is a woman.

They are second- and third-shift supervisors and maintenance workers at Cook’s food processing plant who each threw $5 into a workplace pool Friday afternoon and on Wednesday morning found themselves in the national spotlight, looking for words to describe the past four days.

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Dung Tran (foreground) and Robert Stewart. (William Lauer)

“We’re still thinking we’re going to wake up from a dream,’’ said Chasity Rutjens, 29, the only woman in the group.

“You always think ‘Geez, it would be nice not to work any more,’ but it’s a lot different when it happens. We’ll see how it turns out.’’

Hordes of local and national reporters have camped out for three days in the Capital City chasing rumors and waiting for the winners to come forward.

On Wednesday, yellow and red balloons, tables of bagels and wall-to-wall cameras welcomed the winners at the Cornhusker Hotel ballroom, where Gov. Dave Heineman introduced them to the world. 

“Ladies and gentlemen, life just got a bit more interesting for eight Nebraskans,’’ he said.

The other winners, who filed onto the stage one by one, are:

Quang Dao, 56; David Gehle, 53; Alain Maboussou, 26; Robert Stewart, 30; Michael Terpstra, 47; Dung Tran, 34; and Eric Zornes, 40.

Their lives changed at 3:09 p.m. Friday, when they spent $40 on eight five-play quick-pick lottery tickets, which they bought from the U-Stop at 110 W. O St.

They agreed on the cash option and will take the money in one lump sum. The cash option is $177.3 million, or $124.1 million after taxes. 

Each winner receives $22.1 million, which will amount to $15.5 million after taxes are withheld.

On Wednesday, some of the winners sported black shades, some carried water bottles onto stage, and some of the millionaires had just finished their latest shift at Cook’s four hours earlier.

Tran bought the winning ticket for his co-workers and kept it with him until he and his co-workers turned it in to lottery officials on Tuesday.

“I held onto ticket,’’ said Tran, who wore a red Huskers stocking cap. “I can’t sleep. I scared.’’

The winners described how they realized they were winners, either seeing the numbers themselves or getting calls from their fellow winners.

On Sunday, they started flipping through a phone book, looking for an attorney. They called Jim Hoppe, who happened to be in his office, and asked him to draw up an agreement for them.

“If you stay in the office after normal hours, strange things can happen,’’ Hoppe said.

The group was fairly quiet about where they’d been the last four days, other than hiding and running from the media.

Zornes hinted, though, that they stayed at the Cornhusker at least part of the time.

“We probably ate breakfast with you a couple of times and you didn’t know that,’’ Zornes said to news media who descended on Lincoln.

The two Vietnamese workers said a few words in their native tongue, at the request of a CNN reporter who said his network was going live and had a translator standing by.

In the audience, employees at the U-Stop lobbed light-hearted comments at the winners, and a Long John Silvers spokesman offered them a chance to be a national spokesperson for lobster bites.

The crowd repeatedly erupted in applause as the winners took turns at the podium, trying to answer the unfathomable: What will they do with all that money?

“It’s a bunch of money,’’ Maboussou said. “I need to sit down with family and friends and figure it all out.’’

Gehle, who has worked at Cook’s for 20 years, said he has kept on working, showing up for his shift on Sunday night.

Why? asked the reporters from California to New York.

“They would have been short of help,’’ he said. “The managers, we think a lot of them. ...We couldn’t just leave them in a bind.’’

It’s hard to believe what’s happened, he said.

“You never dream of something like this happening,’’ he said. “It’s amazing. I never thought we could win a Powerball.’’ 

There are good people who work at Cook’s, he told the crowd at the Cornhusker.

“These people here are a good sample of it.’’

What next?  Well, at 10 p.m., he’s got to be at work.

“So I need to get some sleep.’’

Reach Margaret Reist at 473-7226 or mreist@journalstar.com.