Disqualified 12-year-old ESPN bracket champ donates half of Best Buy prize to Make-A-Wish
The classiest and NCAA bracket-savviest kid in America, sixth-grader Sam Holtz of Lake Zurich Middle School North in Illinois, made another great move on Thursday when he donated half of his $1,000 Best Buy reward to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Sam's astonishly accurate NCAA men's tournament bracket tied for first place in ESPN's Tournament Challenge, but the 12-year-old was disqualified for the $20,000 Best Buy gift card prize (and a trip to the 2015 Maui Invitational) because contest rules required participants to be 18 or older.
"It's cool. I'm not mad about it, and I knew I wasn't eligible," Sam told the Chicago Tribune about missing out on the grand prize.
Pretty zen reaction by a youngster to a real bummer. But Best Buy came through and rewarded Sam for his achievement with a $1,000 gift card, which he used to buy a pair of XBox One systems. Then Sam decided to share one of those with charity.
"I decided to donate one of the XBox One systems to Make-A-Wish because of my cousin Alec," Sam said. "When he was real little, he was in Make-A-Wish, and back then [23 years ago], people granted his wish of going to Disney World. I thought I'd kind of repay them for what they did for my cousin [who survived his illness and is now an adult]."
Best Buy helps Lake Zurich sixth-grader Sam Holtz cash in on NCAA bracket. http://t.co/Lfb71cumeM pic.twitter.com/chHVdDUbEl
— ChicagoSports (@ChicagoSports) April 9, 2015
"I just want to say thanks to everyone who interviewed me or had me on their shows, and to Best Buy for doing what they did even though they didn't have to," Sam said. "What they did was really kind. I'm so thankful toward everyone. I still can't believe this all happened."
