Sarge
03-17-2009, 02:57 PM
Story behind lotto win is, uh, big
By REID FORGRAVE • rforgrave@dmreg.com • March 17, 2009
http://cmsimg.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=D2&Date=20090317&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=903170386&Ref=V2&Profile=1001&MaxW=318&Border=0 (http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?template=zoom&Site=D2&Date=20090317&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=903170386&Ref=V2&Profile=1001)
JUSTIN HAYWORTH/REGISTER PHOTOS
Steve Charlton won $2 million in the Illinois Lottery in 1992 and spent some of the money on his home in Runnells and invested some in a Chicago band named Hello Dave. His prize is being paid at $70,000 a year for 20 years.
Steve Charlton buys a pitcher of Budweiser for $5.50, then tips the bartender the rest of a $20 bill. He pours two glasses of beer.
Sit back. Relax. Take a sip. On this St. Patrick's Day, the 40-year-old has a story to tell.
The story is best told in the dark confines of a dive bar, and this bar, Alpine Tap in Des Moines, qualifies. It's a story Charlton has told thousands of times before, about a Hawkeye and his dumb luck, so it's a story for today, the day to celebrate the luck of the Irish.
This story involves a young man, six lucky numbers and — there's no way to avoid this part, so here it is — a sex toy the size of Charlton's forearm.
"There's a bar in Iowa City called the Vine, which we lived about two blocks from, and that last semester, I may have spent more time at the Vine than at my house," he said. "This house that we had that last semester, we moved into with four guys and four girls."
The normal years
The 23 years that brought Charlton to this point were, more or less, normal.
Grew up outside Chicago. Dad died when he was in high school. Family pinched pennies until Charlton went to college. Spent a year in Colorado, then to the University of Iowa. Fell in love with Iowa City and the Hawkeye State. Found an engineering job near Chicago. Spent his last semester living it up.
A housemate had her birthday just before school let out. They needed a birthday gift, and not just any birthday gift. Charlton and a friend went to the Pleasure Palace. They bought the birthday girl a gift. But not just any gift.
"So we have the party," Charlton said. "The dildo was a big hit. No pun intended."
Soon after, the birthday girl left for Chicago for a job. A couple weeks passed, and Charlton packed for his new job. He about to leave when he noticed something in their living room.
"I think, 'My God! Leslie's forgotten her dildo! What kind of friend would I be if I didn't take it to her?' "
He tossed it into his old Nissan Stanza and he drove to Chicago.
Working life
He first stayed with his mom, then his brother, as he entered the grind of working life.
"Neither place seemed appropriate for the dildo to come inside, so it remained in the backseat for a while," Charlton said.
One day -—March 11, 1992 — Charlton was driving home from work. He needed an oil change.
Charlton sat in the lobby of the quick lube garage as they changed his oil. Suddenly, he remembered what was in his backseat.
"Finding no way to explain why it was there, and not having given them any name or information, the plan I came up with was to go to the Kwik-E-Mart-type place next door, use their ATM machine to get cash, come back, give them a fake name, pay in cash — then never return to this place again," Charlton said.
"I knew they were going to see it back there."
Getting money from the convenience store's ATM, he felt guilty that he was not buying anything.
"Gimme five lottery tickets," he told the cashier.
It was 6:27 p.m., three minutes before the cutoff for that night's lottery draw. On one slip of paper were these six numbers, picked by the computer: 6, 10, 16, 17, 25, 26.
He tucked the lottery tickets in his pocket, paid for the oil change in cash and left as fast as he could.
The morning after
The next morning, Charlton fueled his Nissan Stanza and he bought a newspaper. At a stoplight, he compared the winning numbers from the night before.
The light turned green. The light turned red. Charlton couldn't believe his eyes: 6, 10, 16, 17, 25, 26.
His heart raced. Charlton drove to work.
He showed the ticket and the newspaper to a colleague, a man named Primo.
"He looks at it," Charlton said. "He looks at me. He says, 'You win?' He turns to Eduardo. He says, 'He win!' Eduardo looks back at Primo. He says, 'He win?'
"And Primo says, 'He win!' And Eduardo takes off down hallway, jumping up and down, saying, 'Steve quitting! Steve quitting! Steve quitting!' "
20-year payout
$2 million. Not like Charlton went to buy a Learjet. But $70,000 a year for 20 years was not bad for a recent college grad.
The night before his big press conference, where the Illinois State Lotto officials were presenting him with the winner's check, it was St. Patrick's Day. Charlton got the ticket from the safe deposit box and stopped at a hometown bar.
Guess what I have in my pocket? he whispered to a friend.
His friend whispered back: What the (expletive) are you doing here?
Charlton drank one beer to celebrate his luck, then went home.
A life-changing event
Change his life?
You bet.
The Nissan Stanza conked out, so Charlton bought a new Jeep. He bought his mother a car. He quit his job and traveled Europe for six months. He was the prize for a radio show game: win a date with a lottery winner. He moved back to Iowa City and met his future wife.
But something he heard about lottery winners stuck with Charlton: Seven of 10 declare bankruptcy. He decided to be prudent. He made diverse investments. He provided seed money to start businesses.
However, finding a job — because he wasn't going to retire at 23 with $2 million — proved difficult.
"I think everyone who interviewed me thought, 'This guy's going to be here five minutes and he's gonna be gone,' " Charlton said. "I tried both ways, telling them in interviews and not ...
"If you just have a five-year gap in your work history, where are they going to assume you were? Shackled in Anamosa. So what do you do?"
For years, what Charlton did was deliver flowers in Iowa City. It was the best job he's ever had, because "everybody's happy to see you coming," Charlton said.
Where is it now?
These days, Charlton lives in Runnells and is married with a daughter.
He ended up using his biology degree after all: For five years he's worked in soil and groundwater sampling for an environmental services company.
How he won the lottery doesn't come up too much any more. When it does, Charlton said it's a story best told over beers.
As for the, um, adult toy?
Charlton has it. He jokes that he hangs it over his mantle like a prized fish, but in truth it's in a plastic tote in his basement.
Story behind lotto win is, uh, big | DesMoinesRegister.com | The Des Moines Register (http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20090317/NEWS/903170386/1001/NEWS)
By REID FORGRAVE • rforgrave@dmreg.com • March 17, 2009
http://cmsimg.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=D2&Date=20090317&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=903170386&Ref=V2&Profile=1001&MaxW=318&Border=0 (http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?template=zoom&Site=D2&Date=20090317&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=903170386&Ref=V2&Profile=1001)
JUSTIN HAYWORTH/REGISTER PHOTOS
Steve Charlton won $2 million in the Illinois Lottery in 1992 and spent some of the money on his home in Runnells and invested some in a Chicago band named Hello Dave. His prize is being paid at $70,000 a year for 20 years.
Steve Charlton buys a pitcher of Budweiser for $5.50, then tips the bartender the rest of a $20 bill. He pours two glasses of beer.
Sit back. Relax. Take a sip. On this St. Patrick's Day, the 40-year-old has a story to tell.
The story is best told in the dark confines of a dive bar, and this bar, Alpine Tap in Des Moines, qualifies. It's a story Charlton has told thousands of times before, about a Hawkeye and his dumb luck, so it's a story for today, the day to celebrate the luck of the Irish.
This story involves a young man, six lucky numbers and — there's no way to avoid this part, so here it is — a sex toy the size of Charlton's forearm.
"There's a bar in Iowa City called the Vine, which we lived about two blocks from, and that last semester, I may have spent more time at the Vine than at my house," he said. "This house that we had that last semester, we moved into with four guys and four girls."
The normal years
The 23 years that brought Charlton to this point were, more or less, normal.
Grew up outside Chicago. Dad died when he was in high school. Family pinched pennies until Charlton went to college. Spent a year in Colorado, then to the University of Iowa. Fell in love with Iowa City and the Hawkeye State. Found an engineering job near Chicago. Spent his last semester living it up.
A housemate had her birthday just before school let out. They needed a birthday gift, and not just any birthday gift. Charlton and a friend went to the Pleasure Palace. They bought the birthday girl a gift. But not just any gift.
"So we have the party," Charlton said. "The dildo was a big hit. No pun intended."
Soon after, the birthday girl left for Chicago for a job. A couple weeks passed, and Charlton packed for his new job. He about to leave when he noticed something in their living room.
"I think, 'My God! Leslie's forgotten her dildo! What kind of friend would I be if I didn't take it to her?' "
He tossed it into his old Nissan Stanza and he drove to Chicago.
Working life
He first stayed with his mom, then his brother, as he entered the grind of working life.
"Neither place seemed appropriate for the dildo to come inside, so it remained in the backseat for a while," Charlton said.
One day -—March 11, 1992 — Charlton was driving home from work. He needed an oil change.
Charlton sat in the lobby of the quick lube garage as they changed his oil. Suddenly, he remembered what was in his backseat.
"Finding no way to explain why it was there, and not having given them any name or information, the plan I came up with was to go to the Kwik-E-Mart-type place next door, use their ATM machine to get cash, come back, give them a fake name, pay in cash — then never return to this place again," Charlton said.
"I knew they were going to see it back there."
Getting money from the convenience store's ATM, he felt guilty that he was not buying anything.
"Gimme five lottery tickets," he told the cashier.
It was 6:27 p.m., three minutes before the cutoff for that night's lottery draw. On one slip of paper were these six numbers, picked by the computer: 6, 10, 16, 17, 25, 26.
He tucked the lottery tickets in his pocket, paid for the oil change in cash and left as fast as he could.
The morning after
The next morning, Charlton fueled his Nissan Stanza and he bought a newspaper. At a stoplight, he compared the winning numbers from the night before.
The light turned green. The light turned red. Charlton couldn't believe his eyes: 6, 10, 16, 17, 25, 26.
His heart raced. Charlton drove to work.
He showed the ticket and the newspaper to a colleague, a man named Primo.
"He looks at it," Charlton said. "He looks at me. He says, 'You win?' He turns to Eduardo. He says, 'He win!' Eduardo looks back at Primo. He says, 'He win?'
"And Primo says, 'He win!' And Eduardo takes off down hallway, jumping up and down, saying, 'Steve quitting! Steve quitting! Steve quitting!' "
20-year payout
$2 million. Not like Charlton went to buy a Learjet. But $70,000 a year for 20 years was not bad for a recent college grad.
The night before his big press conference, where the Illinois State Lotto officials were presenting him with the winner's check, it was St. Patrick's Day. Charlton got the ticket from the safe deposit box and stopped at a hometown bar.
Guess what I have in my pocket? he whispered to a friend.
His friend whispered back: What the (expletive) are you doing here?
Charlton drank one beer to celebrate his luck, then went home.
A life-changing event
Change his life?
You bet.
The Nissan Stanza conked out, so Charlton bought a new Jeep. He bought his mother a car. He quit his job and traveled Europe for six months. He was the prize for a radio show game: win a date with a lottery winner. He moved back to Iowa City and met his future wife.
But something he heard about lottery winners stuck with Charlton: Seven of 10 declare bankruptcy. He decided to be prudent. He made diverse investments. He provided seed money to start businesses.
However, finding a job — because he wasn't going to retire at 23 with $2 million — proved difficult.
"I think everyone who interviewed me thought, 'This guy's going to be here five minutes and he's gonna be gone,' " Charlton said. "I tried both ways, telling them in interviews and not ...
"If you just have a five-year gap in your work history, where are they going to assume you were? Shackled in Anamosa. So what do you do?"
For years, what Charlton did was deliver flowers in Iowa City. It was the best job he's ever had, because "everybody's happy to see you coming," Charlton said.
Where is it now?
These days, Charlton lives in Runnells and is married with a daughter.
He ended up using his biology degree after all: For five years he's worked in soil and groundwater sampling for an environmental services company.
How he won the lottery doesn't come up too much any more. When it does, Charlton said it's a story best told over beers.
As for the, um, adult toy?
Charlton has it. He jokes that he hangs it over his mantle like a prized fish, but in truth it's in a plastic tote in his basement.
Story behind lotto win is, uh, big | DesMoinesRegister.com | The Des Moines Register (http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20090317/NEWS/903170386/1001/NEWS)