For a living, they made hams. They worked the concrete floors inside a sprawling brick factory just across a row of railroad tracks from the downtown business district here, logging their time on the second and third shifts of a plant that doesn’t sleep.
On Wednesday, they stepped forward as multimillionaires.
Eight co-workers at a Con-Agra ham processing center, who each had contributed $5 to buy a pool of lottery tickets late last week, emerged from three days of seclusion to claim the record $365 million Powerball jackpot. They wore bright yet anxious smiles as they talked about their good fortunes and pondered their not-so-anonymous futures.
“I’ve been retired for about four days now,” said Eric Zornes, 40, who first learned of his newfound wealth after returning home from an unsuccessful weekend trip to a casino.
It’s the largest lottery jackpot in the nation’s history, and as it turns out, is perfectly divisible by eight. The winning alliance opted for the one-time cash payout and each member will receive $15.5 million after taxes.
The gang of eight was introduced at a televised news conference here at The Cornhusker hotel like contestants on a game show. As the winners made their way to a makeshift stage, the voice of a lottery official boomed: “Michael, come on down. Our next individual is Quang Dao. And we’re happy to introduce Rob Stewart!”
The faces of the new millionaires represented a tapestry of the American industrial workforce: Two are Vietnamese refugees who immigrated to Lincoln 16 years ago; one is a political refugee whose family fled Congo in 1999. Five are married. Three are single.
The governor of Nebraska and other assembled dignitaries led the applause as the seven men and one woman strolled before a bank of television cameras. Three of the winners wore sunglasses and took questions from reporters with refreshing humor. Soon, all of them were presented giant checks as a symbol of their fresh prosperity.
“We’re still thinking we’re going to wake up from a dream,” said Chasity Rutjens, 29, who has worked at the plant for nine years. “You always think, `Geez, it would be nice not to work anymore,’ but it’s a lot different when it happens. We’ll see how it turns out.”
Not all of the winners, though, stepped immediately into early retirement. At least three workers said they would stay on the job–for now, anyway.
“They would have been short of help,” said David Gehle, 53, a supervisor who has worked at the plant for two decades. “The managers, we think a lot of them. We couldn’t just leave them.”
Four hours before the lottery news conference, Gehle had finished working the overnight shift at Cook’s food processing, a division of ConAgra. He said he planned to report to work Wednesday for his 10 p.m. shift and politely asked not to be disturbed until then, saying: “I need to get some sleep.”
For the last five years, workers at the meatpacking plant pooled their resources every time the Powerball jackpot eclipsed $45 million. They employed a careful system of bookkeeping, photocopying their lottery tickets and keeping a log of the $5 investors.
As the game’s payoff grew to $365 million, the gang of eight formed the lucky alliance. Shortly after 3 p.m. on Friday, Dung Tran, 34, walked into the U-Stop convenience store two blocks from the plant and bought what turned out to be the winning ticket.
He had squirreled away the ticket–declining to reveal where–until turning it over to lottery officials Tuesday.
“I held onto ticket,” said Tran, who wore a red Nebraska Cornhuskers hat, as he spoke to a crush of reporters. “I can’t sleep. I scared.”
After the winning six numbers were drawn Saturday night, word slowly started to spread that one of the group’s tickets was golden. Alain Maboussou, 26, said when his wife woke him up on Sunday, she wondered if he had missed a shift because his co-workers had called “like 20 times.”
Maboussou, who fled the Congo to escape civil war in Africa, said he planned to quit his job and pursue a college business degree. His winnings, he said, would provide for his wife and 3-month-old daughter.
“She’s going to be happy for the rest of her life,” he said.
Before their grand introductions on Wednesday, the eight winners had hunkered down as Nebraska’s capital city was abuzz with suspense and gossip about the winning ticket. They gathered privately Sunday and turned to the Yellow Pages to find an attorney, ultimately reaching Jim Hoppe, who happened to answer his office telephone.
“If you stay in the office after normal hours,” Hoppe said, “strange things can happen.”
The last time so much attention was paid to Lincoln–if the number of satellite trucks lining downtown streets is a good measure–was nearly a decade ago when Nebraska won its last national football championship. After the news conference was televised live on local channels and nationally on cable stations, the implications for the Powerball winners dominated conversation here.
“Whenever there is a lot of money, everything changes,” John Baylor, a talk show host on Lincoln radio station KFOR, told his listeners. “Do they keep slicing ham or sit back and watch the interest roll?”
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Mike Terpstra, a 47-year-old supervisor at the plant, did not have an immediate answer to that question. He needed time, he said, to absorb his new station in life and determine what to do with his money.
“Everybody has dreams–buy an island, buy an airplane,” Terpstra said. “But in reality, I’m not a fan of flying and don’t really like water.”
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The eight winners
Quang Dao, 56, a third-shift sanitation worker who has worked for the ConAgra ham processing plant for 15 years. He left Vietnam for America and has lived in Lincoln for 16 years. He is married with four sons and one daughter.
David Gehle, 53, a third-shift supervisor who has worked at the ham processing plant for 20 years. He’s been in the pool four or five years. He’s a native of Lincoln and is unmarried.
Mike Terpstra, 47, a third-shift plant supervisor in charge of sanitation with 16 years of service. He has been in the lottery pool about four years. He is single.
Eric Zornes, 40, second-shift maintenance mechanic who has worked at the plant for 10 years. He is married and has two children.
Dung Tran, 34, came to Lincoln from Vietnam as a refugee 16 years ago and has worked at the plant for those 16 years. He is married and he has one son.
Robert Stewart, 30, a maintenance worker with eight years of service. He is married.
Chasity Rutjens, 29, a second-shift packaging supervisor who has worked at the plant for nine years. She is single.
Alain Maboussou, 26, second-shift maintenance mechanic who is married and has a 3-month-old daughter. He and his family fled their home in Congo on Sept. 20, 1999, in the midst of a civil war.
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