Our lucky lottery winners’ best stories of the year

It was a great year for stories of good fortune in North Carolina, and we’re lucky enough to hear a lot of them here at NCEL headquarters. As the calendar year comes to a close, we’d like to share with you the best stories our winners shared with us. So without further ado, here’s our take on the Top 11 of 2011:

#11 JUMBO CHRISTMAS IN JULY: We’ll start with a lottery winner with the holiday spirit and the name to match. When Eddie Christmas of Durham dreamed about what he’d do if he won the lottery, he told his mother he would pay off his mortgage – and her mortgage too. On July 14, as Christmas collected a $750,000 top prize in the Jumbo Bucks game, he said that he planned to make good on that promise.

#10 TEAM OF TEN WINS $250,000 TOGETHER: “We’ve been playing for fifteen years in Georgia,” said Susan Breedlove, one of the 10 employees who are cooks and wait staff at the Sunset Restaurant in Franklin in Macon County. “When our state started the lottery, we made the switch. We’re glad we won it in North Carolina.” The group won $250,000 in the March 15 Mega Millions drawing.

#9 CASH 5 WINNER CHEERED BY COWORKERS: Eric Cargain of Kinston worked for several newspapers in Eastern North Carolina. When we announced that he’d won a $60,000 Carolina Cash 5 jackpot, his former coworkers at the Kinston Free Press were stunned to hear the news: “Cargain, who still resides in Kinston, walked into The Free Press’ North Queen Street offices Tuesday afternoon and was greeted with applause, hugs and cheers from former co-workers…” We applaud Mr. Cargain as well.

#8 POWERBALL TICKET RESCUED FROM TRASH: James Dixon, a retired maintenance supervisor from Burlington, almost made the mistake of throwing away a winning Powerball ticket. Why? Well, he tossed the ticket in the garbage after checking his numbers in the newspaper, not realizing that it was yesterday’s newspaper. Something told him to retrieve his ticket from the garbage and compare his numbers to those on the lottery’s website. Good thing he did – it was worth $200,000!

#7 HIGHWAY PATROLMAN TAKES A LUCKY U-TURN: A retired highway patrolman’s hunch to turn around on his way home from work to buy some lottery tickets paid off. Charlie Earp of Germanton in Stokes County decided to buy five Jumbo Bucks tickets. Amazingly, he won a prize on every ticket – including the top prize of $750,000. Watch a short YouTube video of him telling the story.

#6 THE PRIZE OF A LIFETIME: One of the biggest lottery wins of the year will continue to pay Paula Graham $200,000 a year every year for the rest of her life. Graham, who is from Advance, bought her winning $200,000 a Year for Life ticket at Carleton’s Tanglewood in Clemmons. Our executive director, Alice Garland, presented Graham with an oversize check at the store. “I’m turning 51,” Graham said, adding “I’m going to be living for a long time.”

#5 A MOM'S WINNING MOMENT: We think you’ll agree that this year’s No. 5 story of winning is not only amazing, but beautiful too. Sandra Townsend of High Point was sitting on her front porch swing with a friend when she won $500,000 instantly. She has been raising her three granddaughters since 2007 when her oldest daughter passed way in a car accident. Watch WGHP Fox 8’s story about Townsend’s $500,000 Anniversary Cash win.

#4 PICK 4 PLAYERS WIN RECORD PRIZE PAYOUT: When the combination 6-6-6-6 was drawn on the afternoon of Saturday, Oct. 29, it led to a record $2.7 million payout and marked the fourth time in NCEL history ‘quads’ have been drawn. It was also the third time in as many months the record was broken.

#3 THIS IS MY SUPERBOWL: Who won the Super Bowl in 2011? If you answered the Green Bay Packers, David Duncan might not agree. Duncan, a retiree from Shelby in Cleveland County, won $198,150 the Sept. 24, 2010 Cash 5 drawing – but didn’t collect his winnings until January 2011. “I’m on cloud nine,” Duncan told us when he claimed his prize. “I’ve dreamed of this for years. This feels just like winning The Masters or the World Series. This is my Super Bowl.”

#2 LIGHTNING STRIKES TWICE: In at No. 2, a story of incredible double luck: a newspaper carrier from Scotland County hit the lottery twice in 2011. Floyd Beauchamp Jr., a resident of Gibson in Scotland County, scratched off a $100,000 prize in January playing the lottery’s The Price is Right game. September 8, he scratched off the $150,000 top prize on his $150 Grand ticket. But Beauchamp said he's not done winning. “Lighting strikes twice. It can strike three times,” he said. “I’m going for the full million next time.”

#1 THE JONSES WIN THE JACKPOT: A Greenville family won North Carolina’s fifth major multimillion dollar jackpot – $57 million. James Jones’ ticket was one of two to match all six numbers in the Sept. 14 Mega Millions drawing. “For my family, it will mean the ability to finish the education of our grandchildren and their grandchildren,” Jones said. Watch this short YouTube video to see what else he said about what winning the jackpot means for his family.

As we look back at 2011 and forward to 2012, we want to wish all of you the best in all things. We also want to thank you for the time you took to talk with us here in the Lucke-Zone throughout the year. We can’t wait to find out who will be a part of next year’s Top 12 of 2012 winner stories. Best of luck, and have a happy new year, North Carolina!