In the hours after the Powerball drawing 28 years ago today, lottery officials used their computer to trace the $50.1 million winning ticket to Kwik Stop No. 3 in North Platte, Nebraska.
Stan Tegler of Hastings, who said he was married to the potential winner’s sister, told the Hastings Tribune that Dianne and Lyle Fleharty bought the winning ticket while in North Platte to watch their son play in a baseball tournament.
The Hastings couple, both natives of Nebraska, opened a press conference four days later, at the offices of the Nebraska Lottery, by telling how they watched on television as the numbers 1, 2, 8, 21, 31 and the Powerball number of 18 were drawn the night of July 30. Fleharty had chided his wife earlier in the day for picking the numbers 1 and 2 on each of the five $1 tickets they bought. They said it was the first time they had entered the Powerball lottery, which began in Nebraska just nine days earlier, on July 21.
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“Nobody picks 1 and 2,” Fleharty said he’d told his wife. “She told me, ‘This is my ticket. I’ll do it however I want.’ “
In the days leading up to the press conference, the Flehartys had their telephone number changed and could not be reached for comment.
“I needed to get my thoughts in order,” Lyle said. The experience has been “almost incomprehensible,” he said.
After the win, Dianne Fleharty suggested they buy siding for the house, and the family joked about other needs — a garage, a new driveway, a sprinkler system.
Steven Seline, the Flehartys newly hired tax and estate lawyer, said he was contacted by the Flehartys at the Omaha offices of the Kutak Rock law firm.
“Not only are the Flehartys lucky,” Seline said, “but the lottery is lucky to have them win it. They are really nice, happy people.”
The first of 20 annual payments to the Flehartys — $1,680,261.85 after taxes — were to begin two weeks after claiming the prize, acting Lottery Director Jim Quinn said.
Let’s take a look back at some past Nebraska Powerball winners.
Photos: Nebraska Powerball winners
Zach and Shelby Norenberg of Fremont plan to use Zach’s 2019 Powerball winnings to pay off their mortgage and student loans.
NEBRASKA LOTTERY
This winning Powerball ticket netted $50,000 for 37 employees of Baxter Auto in La Vista in January 2016. One more correct number would have netted them part of the $1.5 billion jackpot.
ERIC TAYLOR, THE BEAUTIFUL LEADER
Eric Brewer, a service technician at Baxter Auto, proudly displays the $50,000 check he and 36 other employees at Baxter won in a Powerball drawing in January 2016.
ERIC TAYLOR, THE BEAUTIFUL LEADER
Powerball lottery winners, Erica, right, and David Harrig, of Gretna, who won $34.1 million in December 2013.
KENT SIEVERS, THE WORLD-HERALD
From left: Nebraska Lottery Director Jim Haynes, Nebraska Tax Commissioner Kim Conroy, Powerball winners David and Erica Harrig and Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman at the Governor’s Hearing Room at the State Capitol in December 2013.
CHRIS MACHIAN, THE WORLD HERALD
Kim Conroy, Nebraska Tax Commissioner, left, laughs as Powerball winner David Harrig takes a photo of the media in attendance before he and his wife, Erica Harrig, right, speak during a press conference in December 2013.
CHRIS MACHIAN, THE WORLD HERALD
Patricia Krontz, of Homer, Nebraska, won $1 million in 2013 after her Powerball ticket matched all five white ball numbers — 4, 6, 34, 49, 56.
NEBRASKA LOTTERY
In 2006, the winners of the then-record $365 million Powerball lottery jackpot were announced at a press conference at the Lincoln Marriott Cornhusker Hotel. The press was carried on live television and featured a throng of conference reporters and photographers worthy of a presidential visit.
KILEY CRUSE, THE WORLD-HERALD
Top row, from left: attorney James Hoppe, Robert Stewart, Alain Maboussou, Dung Tran, Eric Zornes and David Gehle. Bottom row, from left, Chasity Rutjens, Quang Dao and Michael Terpstra. The winners of what was then the nation’s largest lottery prize were revealed at a press conference at the Lincoln Marriott Cornhusker Hotel in February 2006.
PHIL JOHNSON, THE WORLD-HERALD
Siena Francis house residents receive gift cards to buy Christmas presents, courtesy of Alain Maboussou, a former packing plant mechanic who shared a Powerball winning ticket with seven other co-workers in 2006. Maboussou made yearly donations of $20,000 for Christmas shopping trips for Siena Francis guests.
KENT SIEVERS, THE WORLD-HERALD
Bob Pagani, a man claiming to be an out-of-work truck driver who had won the $365 million Powerball jackpot, turned out to be a hoaxster. His hoax from him started falling apart as reporters questioned discrepancies in Pagani’s story, including how the ticket was purchased.
JEFF BUNDY, THE WORLD HERALD
Lyle and Dianne Fleharty of Hastings opened a press conference at the offices of the Nebraska Lottery by telling how they watched on television as the numbers 1, 2, 8, 21, 31 and the Powerball number of 18 were drawn the night of July 30. “Nobody picks 1 and 2,” Fleharty said he’d told his wife.
THE WORLD HERALD
Check out this history of Nebraska Powerball jackpot winners.
THE WORLD HERALD
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George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism