12-year-old snubbed by ESPN, uses bracket to help others

LAKE ZURICH, Ill., April 11 (UPI) — The Illinois sixth grader who beat out 11.57 million people in ESPN’s Tournament Challenge wasn’t eligible for a $20,000 Best Buy gift card and a trip to the 2015 Maui Jim Maui Invitational, but did use his prize to help others.

Sam Holtz, of Lake Zurich, filled out a bracket using his father’s help and email address, but was not able to claim the ultimate jackpot because he fell under the {link:18-year-old age requirement.: “http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2015/04/07/12-year-old-filled-out-ESPNs-top-NCAA-bracket/7191428410852/”,nw, t: “UPI on Holtz”}

Best Buy awarded Holtz a $1,000 giftcard for his efforts. On Thursday, Holtz used the gift card to first buy himself a Microsoft XBox One, he then bought another for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, {link:according to the Chicago Tribune.: “http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/lake-zurich/sports/ct-lzc-lake-zurich-sam-holtz-ncaa-best-buy-tl-0409-20150409-story.html”,nw, t: “Tribune on Holtz”}

“I decided to donate one of the XBox One systems to Make-A-Wish because of my cousin Alec,” Sam told the Tribune. “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].”

Holtz said his father helped him enter the contest and allowed him to use his email address. It was unclear Tuesday whether Holtz would be eligible to claim a prize through his father.

“I’m irritated,” Holtz {link:told the Daily Herald: “http://www.cbsnews.com/news/espn-wont-give-boy-12-reward-for-winning-bracket-challenge/”,nw, t: “Holtz to Daily Herald”}. “Yes, I’m still proud of my accomplishment, but I’m not happy with the decision.”

Holtz finsihed in the top one percent of contestants, based on points, and would have been entered into a drawing for the main prizes if he was older than 18. The sixth-grader missed just six games in the entire bracket, but said that he had no secret method.

“There is no secret,” {link:Holtz told the New York Post: “http://nypost.com/2015/04/07/12-year-old-bracket-champ-denied-20k-prize-by-espn/”,nw, t: “Holtz to NY Post”} . “There was some luck, and I studied ESPN.com. I just picked the teams that I felt had the best players.”