2010 Pool Welcome
2010 Visits
MARCH MADNESS 2010 FINAL UPDATE
“The Shot That Didnʼt Drop”
Butler Falls Short in Finale
Duke Wins 61-59. Gag Me.
In a game that most predicted to be a blow out turned out to be one of, if not, the best national championship game in history. A last attempt by Gordon Hayward from half court, was not meant to be, as Duke held on by the mercy of the basketball gods in a thriller against the Horizon League Champions of Butler University, in front of a capacity crowd of 71,000 people in Indianapolis. Word at the center had it that 60,000 strong turned out to root on the Bulldogs in their bid to upset the apple cart. 10,000 in attendance simply wished Duke would just lose. The remaining 1000 were quite pleased at the end. Maybe the best March Madness to date, but unfortunately, Duke won. Sorry you Blue Devil
supporters, but this pool hails from the Hoosier State, and Butler did us proud. Congratulations to those nine of you previously listed (see Update II letter) who chose Butler to make it to the final four! That includes you Jim Norris!...The Olʼ Buckeye himself. Sorry I sold you short last time! Thatʼs all we have to say as a “Hoosiers” repeat, aka Milan wins Indiana State Championship, wasnʼt meant to be.
Congratulations to Clay Miller, our 2010 Champion. Clay is son of previous and current pool participant Keith Miller, friend of Vince Prop, both from Cincinnati, Ohio. Clay is a senior high school student at Xavier University in Cincinnati. He is a fine, young man, very diverse in his activities, while maintaining a solid grade point average and recently accepted to the Lindner Honors-Plus business program at the University of Cincinnati, where he will be attending next year on scholarship. This is an elite class of only 25 students. Obviously this young man is smart! He beat out all the rest of you top notch prognosticators, as well as the chafe. Clay follows football, college basketball (duh!!!!), and golf. He is also musically inclined, and an avid guitarist. Not sure if he remembers Jimi Hendrix or Slash...probably best if not. He is interested in business (good) and possibly law school to follow his undergraduate work (donʼt do it!). I will share one quote he sent me in a short email about himself...
“I must say that it is truly inspiring to see that such a seemingly small endeavor such as a bracket pool can do so much good in the community. “
Congratulations again to you Clay, and no truer words were ever uttered regarding this endeavor. Perhaps this quote can inspire others to consider continual support of our endowment fund!
Runner up finish was actually a tie this year between Ron Tucker and Derek Wellman. Incredibly, Derek had 3 of the final 4, but was done in by Kansas. Needless to say, none of the nine who picked Butler to make it to the final four had one more game in them. It would have propelled many to victory in this yearʼs pool. But Clay Miller is glad nobody did!
Highest finisher who took Duke to win it all was Ed Lavatori. I donʼt know Ed personally, but I think he was formally in the mob, nicknamed Fast Eddie the Flusher. Not sure what that means? LOL. I guess we shouldnʼt mess too much with him. Perhaps I am confusing him with that scratch player from Hyde Park Country Club in Cincinnati. Anyway, congratulations Eddie, you secured fifth place. Duke blows however. Anybody but Duke. Shame on you.
Last place gift was pocketed by Travis Farhar, taking 4% of the prize pool. The real award this year however goes to Stephanie Dest, the worst bracket of the contenders not trying to lose. Aside from Baylor (Go Bears!), the teams from Texas fared poorly. Unfortunately Travis gets the money, but you will be remembered ignominiously.
Bridesmaid this year (11th place and out of the money) was Austin Bratton. So close kid!
The Official Total paid pool entrees is 420. Your prize winnings will be based on this number. This is a record number of entries, and 80% of the entry fees goes to the prize pool, in the breakdown as listed in the opening letter at the start of the tournament. See the website. We pay out the top ten and last place. 20% of the original fees go to the charities in addition to the benevolent donations of those kind individuals listed above.
I have personally covered the majority of the original entries for the slackers who seemingly donʼt understand how to write a check or find a mailbox. I will protect their dignity and not publicly disgrace them. Still not too late to make up for that and prevent yourself from banishment!
Charity News
I would like to take time to thank the following additional participants for their charitable donations, and for whom without this pool would no longer exist!
Don Apple Mike Arco Bruce Baker Cindy Baird Shauluen Barker
Don Barry Drew Bender Keith Bersch Kim Birkhead Dan Bishop
Billy Blake Mike Blake Brandon Boots Joel Bowers Mike Boyd
Randy Braun Jill Brinkley Dan Brown David Carlson Laureen Cates
Bill Cleary Chris Combs Phil Coudret Mike Davenport Lois Davidson
Maria Del Rio Tim Eisenhut Scott Elliott Steve Elliott Kathy Flynn
Sam Forrest Rick Friedman Chris Gilkey Phil Gilson Jim Godsey
Brian Goffinet Ken Graves Cory Greening David Gwynn Ken Herrenbruck
Monica Herrenbruck Kathy Hambidge Jim Heinrich John Jeffares Rhonda Jenkins
Dan Jones Dorothy Kaiser Rhonda Jenkins Kevin Krohne John Lamb
Todd Lang Mark Logan Dave Machisko Daniel Marco Bev Marshall
Colleen Martin Tim Marx John McCartney Chris McConnell Lana McConnell
Diana McDaniel Judy McDonald Greg Meyer Eric Miller Keith Miller
John Miles Tyler Nichols Brad Niemann Jim Norris Skip Oliver
Bill Oxby Donna Preziotti Michael Pyfferoen Larry Renschler Kathy Rohlfing
Steve Ripperger Tom Rose Andy Saltzman Eric Schronce Brian Schymik
Joe Smith Joe C. Smith Joe S. Smith Nelson Sosh Eric Throop
Ron Tucker Jill Tullar Gary Verble Lee Wagmeister Clint Wagner
Steve Ward Steve Warren Rob Wathen Jason Watkins Tom Weber
Matt Weitz Pat Wempe Rick Wepsic Ross Whitacre John Willis
Jim Wilsbacher Natalie Wright Rick Zeiher
And special thanks goes out to the following individuals...... We appreciate your generosity!
Lance & Stacy Payton Gary Gurtcheff Les Bumm Mike Cleary
Eric & Tamara Wandel Steve Carter Jack Cleary Sam Garau
Mark Lemond Tom Lilly Paul Perry Keith Emge
Jim Sandgren Greg Willming Kevin Pass Travis Farhar
Patty Dewey Keith Bratton Steve Gabel
120 participants contributed extra donations to the charities this year., above their entry request. Anywhere from 5 to 300 dollars additional! If I missed your name, I apologize, and will make it up to you!
...... $1680 was garnished from the entry fees to devote to our charitable endeavors. $6720 goes to the prize pool. Thanks to your outstanding generosity... $5320 has been received in additional donations, ummm, including that from your tournament directors! Thatʼs over three times what we get from the entries. It is appreciated...and important to keep this tradition alive and back again for the coming years.
For March Madness 2010...... Our GRAND TOTAL of CHARITABLE GIVING is:
.................. $7000 to be donated this year. A record! Thank you all for participating.
$5000 will be granted to the March Madness Endowment Fund administered through the Warrick County Community Foundation. $2000 will go to Ride Solution.
We have now completed our fourteenth year of March Madness. We have now collectively raised $49,000 in total giving. Should you so desire sometime this year, drop us a line or perhaps consider our funds for your future gifting. I would like to emphasize the latter. It is important we build our fund, which is permanent. For better, for life! We actually granted out a small amount this year to the Ecumenical Soup Kitchen of St. Clement, our first grant from the endowment!
Special thanks goes to Gary Gurtcheff, our fabulous webmaster
Please keep us advised of any email changes. Email your comments and parting remarks...
JPMORGANMD@MAC.COM or GARYGURTCHEFF@MAC.COM
Winnersʼ checks will be sent out by mail within the next couple of weeks. Charity proceeds will also be
forwarded this month.
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Congratulations to our top ten finishers.
THE FINAL TALLY
2010 Top Ten Winnings
1st place Clay Miller $ 2688 00
(Cincinnati, OH)
2nd place Ron Tucker $ 1008 00
(tie) (Evansville, IN)
Derek Wellman $ 1008 00
(Fortville, IN)
4th place Dorothy Kaiser $ 470 40
(Newburgh, IN)
5th place Ed Lavotori $ 336 00
(Cincinnati, OH)
6th place Ron Eaton $ 268 80
(Newburgh, IN)
7th place Tyler Huelson $ 201 60
(Terre Haute, IN)
8th place John Miles $ 168 00
(tie) (Evansville, IN)
Bill Supper $ 168 00
(Newburgh, IN)
10th place Sherri Daniels $ 134 40
(Evansville, IN)
LAST PLACE Travis Farhar $ 268 80
(Evansville, IN)
420 Paid Entrees
“Enjoy the spring. Thanks for your donations.”
........See you in 2011
