March Madness Final Update
April 14, 2019
“Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Claus”
Arguably the best NCAA Elite Eight, Final Four, Semifinals, and Final Game combined in the history of the tournament came to a thrilling conclusion last Monday night. Annual drama, unlikely finishes, controversy, more controversy, overtime, and more overtime! History was made on many fronts. CSI was even called in to review fingertip evidence from a hundred angles to overturn Texas Tech’s last chance to win the title. That was after Columbo himself could not decide. And “One more thing”, Virginia never looked back, and championed free throws to pull away in overtime 85-77. That’s 162 points. 5 way tie gets some of you 20. After an ignominious loss for the first time ever to a #16 seed (UMBC) last year, the Cavaliers were granted three wishes. Three miracles occurred. First over Purdue, then over Auburn after the Tiger celebration began, and finally against the Red Raiders.
All instant classics.
Kyle Guy, Mr. Indiana basketball, did it again, calm, cool, and collected and was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. Born on August 11, 1997, same day, but three years later than this year’s tournament champion!!!
Congratulations to our 2019 March Madness Champion………….
~ Kelly Morgan
Born in Texas, and for no other reason, Kelly rode the Red Raiders to the final game, but didn't think they could actually win it all so she chose Virginia to fill the void. Kelly is an Indiana University graduate from two years ago and currently resides in Chicago, Illinois. She works for BreakThru Beverage and handles all the accounts around Wrigley Field. Interestingly on the day of the finals, Kelly was at the Cubs home Opening Day (working of course) with the March Madness Championship on the line. Tom Waits, aka Ryne Sandberg, conceded that evening and took home third place. .Kelly played high school golf with Tom’s daughter-in-law Katie and credits her help on the course. Kelly will be back in town Thursday to collect her winnings and accept congratulations. Daddy’s ‘Lil Darling. Now she can add A+ Basketball Prognosticator to her resume. Way to go Sugarpop!!
This year was a family affair on the leaderboard. Thanks goes out to Jill Tullar Carpenter, executive director of the Community Foundation Alliance (administers our March Madness fund). Jill’s son Alex took second place, husband Jon took seventh place, and Jill shared in 162nd. Keith Bratton negotiated tenth place and his son Austin stormed to fifth place.
And she who would be first shall not be last, but dad was:-)
Tournament Recap
Apologies for the delay. Accounting took awhile, and we have finally settled in on an official 519 entries this year, which includes our personal donation to cover ALL of the unpaid slackers. More this year than most unfortunately, but no matter. However we still want your money. So send it in. Or Venmo/jpmorganmd.
Another record number of entries this year, and we thank you all for participating. 5 of our top ten had Texas Tech in the finals. 8 had Virginia to win the game. No one had all four teams in the final four The order of finish and everything else can be perused on the website, www.garygurtcheff.com Special thanks as always to our super webmaster who makes this all work! And makes the endeavor worthwhile!
Charity Information
Special thanks to all the March Madness participants who have donated $ 8005 additional dollars to charity. See list below! $2595 also comes from the pool itself. 130 individuals have sent in extra money and thanks to everyone involved, we have raised a grand total of $10,600 this year to distribute to the following organizations and our endowment fund, in the amounts listed. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!! This is a new record for total money raised for charity.
Evansville Rescue Mission: $ 2000
Tri-State Food Bank Back Pack Program for Kids $ 2000
Ark Crisis Child Care Center Fairy Tale Ball: $ 600
March Madness Endowment Fund: $ 6000 ($ 9000 with matching funds)
An additional $3000 will be given thanks to matching funds from the Eli Lilly Endowment for every dollar the March Madness Endowment Fund brings in. This will raise the Grand Total of charitable donations for 2019 to $13,600. Thank you so very much!!
Cheers to our additional donors. We have now surpassed 55% of all March Madness participants/families donating additional dollars to the charities. Special thanks to:
Gary Bellew Ron Bonger Keith Bratton
Dan Brown Jack Cleary Mike Cleary
Jon Coleman Chris Combs Lois Davidson
Patty Dewey Scott Elliott Mark Erickson
Travis Farhar Brad Fulkerson Sam Garau
AJ Gauthier Phil Gilson Scott Gowdy
Gary Gurtcheff Jim Hall Kevin Kalb
Clint Keown Brian Kwon Julie Leaf
Colleen Martin Eric Miller Sara Miller
Christy Mills Alan Newman Lance Payton
Stacy Payton Paul Perry Larry Renschler
Tom Rose Karen Rush Keith Shipman
Tom Slade Joe Smith Tony Stephens
Fred Stutz Dale Todd Mark Vickers
Tom Waits Rob Wathen Pat Wempe
Rick Wepsic John Willis Greg Willming
Additional thanks to:
Ervin Aeschliman Amber Anslinger Mike Arco Brooke Barkley
Don Barry Tom Berkley Sr Drew Bender Dan Bishop
Michael Blake Joel Bowers Mike Brown David Carlson
Jill Carpenter Tom Carpenter Craig Carter Paul Catterson
Roger Colman Brian Cooper Gary Delk Aaron Deloof
Mariellen Dentino Andre Dugas Steve Elliott Melanie Emge
Ryan Fears Rick Friedman Steve Gilliam Brian Goffinet
Corey Greening Kevin Ham Jim Hauser Shane Headlee
Jim Heinrich Wayne Hentrup Todd Herrenbruck
Brandon Iafrate Terry Iafrate Chris Jesop Jason Jones
Steve Jones Rob Kadela Paul Kainrath Ray Kixmiller
John Lamb Doug Lane Michael Lightner
Dave Machismo Steve Mank Ken Marshall Dee Massengale
Fred McCool Jim McDaniel Judy McDonald Greg Meyer
John Miles Keith Miller Dana Mills Ann Morgan
Lynne Morgan Patrick Morgan Ryan Morgan Michael O’Connor
Skip Oliver Bill Papineau Donna Preziosi Mike Pyferroen
Jason Robbins TJ Schick Jake Schiff Kevin Shinar
Mert Shipman Joe C Smith Bill Vukovich
Lee Wagmeister Steve Ward Tom Weber Kevin Wetzler
Melissa Wideman Duane Williams Lebra Winiger Danny Winn
Jake Wojkovich Ryan Wolfe
My apologies if I have missed anyone who has contributed additional dollars.
Final Standings and March Madness Winners 2019
1st-Kelly Morgan Chicago, IL $ 3114
2nd- Alex Tullar Indianapolis, IN $ 1557
3rd- Tom Waits Newburgh, IN $ 779
4th- Gary Bellew Newburgh, IN $ 545
5th- Austin Bratton Jacksonville, FL $ 390
6th- Chris Tilley Walkersville, MD $ 312
7th- Casey Keown Evansville, IN $ 234
Tie- Jon Carpenter Newburgh, IN $ 234
9th- Stephen Weber Evansville, IN $ 156
10th- Keith Bratton Evansville, IN $ 156
Last Place- Yours Truly Newburgh, IN $ 312
Goat- Dan Brown Evansville, IN $ 100
162nd Place- (5 way tie): Tim Dant, Ty Watkins, Keith Miller, Jill Carpenter and Lana McConnell (again)$ 20 a piece
Bridesmaid-Casey Eaton $0 No Money. At least your name is in lights!
2nd Bridesmaid-Brian Cooper. Shout out to the other commish!
3rd Bridesmaid-Rick Friedman. A good run!
And Tiger Woods won the Masters today!
~“Read the book. Follow the directions. History repeats itself. But every now and then, YOU will make history”
~ Rest in peace Terry Friedman, Patty Gowdy, Mark LeMond, and Stevie Gabel
See the rest of you in 2020 for our 24th year God willing