Illinois man wins Dick Vitale's Super Sixteen Basketball Bash purchasing just one raffle ticket
SARASOTA — At his home in Johnsburg, Ill., lifelong Boston Celtics fan Bill Jackewicz has a basketball autographed by Larry Bird.
Perhaps the 69-year-old should consider bringing the ball with him on his upcoming visit to the area to get a second signature from hoop royalty.
The New Jersey-born Jackewicz didn’t expect to win Dick Vitale’s Super Sixteen Basketball Bash Sweepstakes, and with good reason. Last year’s winner of the inaugural event, Illinois’ Tammie Johnson, bought 50 tickets, each costing $100. Jackewicz, on the other hand, purchased the grand total of one.
Awesome, baby!: Illinois couple wins first annual Dick Vitale Super Sixteen Basketball Bash
“Every time (Vitale) has a raffle,” he said, “I enter it, never thinking I’m going to win. I donate to his cause every year. It was kind of a shock when I got the call that I had won. I didn’t remember what the prize was, to be honest with you.”
Jackewicz will see a healthy return on his $100 investment. He and his best friend from New Jersey, Steve Lavorerio, will watch on March 28 a Sweet 16 basketball game at Vitale’s Lakewood Ranch home with the ESPN college basketball analyst. The two also will receive a complimentary dinner cruise, airfare, and lodging.
The second part of Jackewicz’s win happens on Friday, May 3, when he’ll receive two all-access tickets to the 19th Annual Dick Vitale Gala at the Ritz-Carlton, Sarasota. The honorees for this year’s event are former New York Yankee and MLB Hall of Famer Derek Jeter; NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon; Tennessee men’s basketball coach Rick Barnes; and NFL Hall of Famer and cancer survivor Jim Kelly. Last year’s Gala raised a record $12.4 million, bringing the total raised since its inception to more than $68.1 million.
The second sweepstakes raised $150,400 for pediatric cancer research, doubling last year’s results. Donating to Vitale took on added importance for Jackewicz after his wife died in 2022 from cancer. The chemical engineering major beat prostate cancer in 2011.
But growing up in New Jersey, Jackewicz couldn’t beat the kids who beat on him for not being a fan of the New York Knicks. He preferred rooting for Bill Russell, John Havlicek, and the hated Boston Celtics. “I wasn’t a Knicks fan,” he said, “and I took a lot of heat for that.”
Flying in from Illinois, Jackewicz will connect in Sarasota with Lavorerio, who’s coming in from Newark. He’ll also make time to see a sister who lives in Venice. He got lucky winning the sweepstakes with one ticket. Jackewicz hopes his luck continues and the game he watches with Vitale will feature either the University of Illinois or Northwestern, both of which made the NCAA tournament.
“I’m thrilled to have our winner, Bill, attend both of these events that are so close to my heart,” Vitale said. “The goal of this raffle is to raise funds for the best pediatric research in the nation, and every ticket sold did exactly that. My family and I are honored to have another cancer research champion on our team and look forward to having him join us for the Super Sixteen Bash and Gala.”
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Illinois man wins ESPN's Dick Vitale Super 16 raffle
