Army veteran with sense of humor is new Maryland millionaire

Drawing Date: 8/4/2015

August 12, 2015 - A surgical technician with a unique sense of humor and his wife were certainly in a joking mood on Aug. 10 when they visited Maryland Lottery headquarters to claim a $1 million Mega Millions prize.

The first second-tier win in the game in Maryland this year came about because the Glen Burnie man was dog sitting for his son in Carroll County. On his way home, the 51-year-old stopped at High’s #065 in West Friendship for a snack, a drink and a Mega Millions ticket for the Aug. 4 drawing.

Several days passed and the Anne Arundel County resident was on a lunch break when he saw a startling TV news report. A $1 million Mega Millions ticket was sold at the very High’s store he’d visited. The father of six had no idea that his Quick Pick line of 2, 19, 44, 51 and 57 matched all five of the white balls drawn and his Mega Ball of 13 was only one digit off. The Mega Ball number drawn on Aug. 4 was 14.

“I looked in my wallet for the ticket and it wasn’t there,” he recalled. “So I figured, it’s either in my truck or at home. I went out to my truck, and it wasn’t where I thought it was, but I finally found it, and then I pulled out my phone and looked at the winning numbers, and I got the chills and the shakes.”

Once his work day was over, our lucky player’s next move was visiting his wife at her office. She can be excused for not believing his incredible news because he played a “mean trick” on her about five years ago.

“I bought a ticket that had the winning numbers from a past drawing and I threw it in a pile of other tickets for her to check the numbers to make her think we won,” he said. “So, when I gave her the ticket this time, she said, ‘I’m not falling for this again.’ And, I said, ‘Look at the date this time.’ And at that point there were tears and smiling, and we were just very happy.”

“I dropped to my knees and thanked God,” his wife said.

The winner, who served in the U.S. Army for 22 years, has four grandchildren and is an avid Washington Redskins fan. Because he wished to remain anonymous about his Lottery win, the fan agreed to take a photo with his winner’s check made out to “HTTR Forever” in tribute to his team and the song “Hail to the Redskins.” He plans to pay off debt with his prize and save the rest for retirement.

“We’re still going to do more thinking about what we’ll do, but this is going to make things a little easier,” he said.

For selling the second-tier winning Mega Millions ticket, the High’s located at 12780 Frederick Road in Howard County will receive a $2,500 bonus from the Lottery.