DIETERICH — Those who knew John Waldhoff remember him as someone who would do anything for anybody in the Dieterich community.
“If you needed a load of rock, he’d bring you a load of rock. I mean, that’s just the nice guy he was,” said Steve Kibler.
They also say he was a jokester – except when it came to the lottery.
For many years, Waldhoff collected money and purchased lottery tickets for the Dieterich Coffee Shop Cartel, a group of residents from Dieterich and surrounding communities who gathered regularly at the now-defunct Wagon Wheel Cafe in Dieterich. Most group members never expected to win, but they recalled that Waldhoff always believed they would.
“A lot of people gave John a hard time about it. They didn’t believe him,” said group member Burnel Beckman.
Then, in late 2005, Waldhoff had a feeling they were about to win.
“I think for roughly 15 years they were playing about the same numbers, just continuing the same tickets to be purchased,” said Beckman. “Maybe a couple months before we hit, John was talking about how he had a feeling about some of these numbers, if he could just visualize it better.”
So Beckman created a chart and graph with the numbers they had been playing for several months. According to Beckman, Waldhoff took half of the numbers they had been playing and kept playing that group.
For the other half, he started changing the numbers according to what he thought he should play.
“He told me that he was starting to make more money and he was making it off the ones where he selected the numbers rather than the old ones,” he said.
Then, in early 2006, Waldhoff went out of town on a trip with a few other guys from the area. Norbert Lustig was in charge of tracking the lottery tickets while he was away.
“He told Norbert, ‘You know, we’re getting pretty close here. I think this could be it,’” recalled Beckman.
On the evening of Feb. 20, Lustig was listening to the numbers as they were drawn. One by one, he heard each number on the group’s ticket being called: 01-13-22-31-36-45. The Illinois Lotto jackpot was $7 million.
“He double-checked and triple-checked everything, and then he called John on his cellphone,” said Beckman.
Waldhoff thought Lustig might be playing a joke on him at first, Beckman remembered.
Beckman received a call at 1 a.m. from one of the men on the trip, who told him they might have hit the jackpot. Beckman went online, which, at the time, was via dial-up, to confirm it. The Illinois Lottery website showed one winning ticket sold in Dieterich, Illinois. Beckman couldn’t sleep after that. His wife and daughter were away, and his son was still asleep. So, he decided to wait until later that morning to tell them.
By morning, news had spread across the Dieterich community. Many were unsure if it was true. Cindy Lidy heard the rumor from a co-worker. She was one of the Coffee Shop Cartel, so she called her husband and told him to go find out if it was true.
With the win verified by the Illinois Lottery, the group of 55 members opted to receive the winnings in one lump sum. After taxes were taken out, each ended up with over $52,000. They used some of the money to host a big party with a steak dinner and an open bar, and to compensate Waldhoff for his years of managing the pool.
Many members used their winnings for practical purposes.
Kibler had just ordered a motorcycle before the group’s win. He paid it off. Then, he either gave the rest to his kids or spent it.
Lidy put some of her money in tax-free bonds. The rest she spent on family.
“I sent a letter to all my family members and said, ‘Money is the root of all evil, so I’m sharing this evil stuff with you,’” she quipped.
She gifted her mother-in-law new batteries for her golf cart and her father a trip to California to see his brothers. Her brothers and sisters each got a check, and she shared some money with her children. For her husband, she bought a 1999 International grain truck.
Lyle McKinney gave each of his three children $5,000, but he can’t recall how he spent the remaining funds.
Roch Westendorf’s wife ordered new living room furniture before they won, so they paid for that. To reduce their tax burden that year, the couple maxed out their 401(k)s at work. Since Westendorf was one of the youngest in the group at age 40, the couple also set aside money for their children’s college tuition.
Beckman bought a new car, which he still drives. He also paid for a year of his daughter’s college tuition and bought gifts for his son, his parents and his in-laws.
As for the other members, Lidy notes that many of them bought new trucks.
“The money was spent locally by a lot of people,” she added.
The lottery group continues to play and has not let anyone else in since they won. Many of the members, like Waldhoff, have passed away, and fewer than a handful have dropped out. Out of the original 55 members, 28 remain.
The group hasn’t hit another major jackpot, but averages small wins of between $70 and $150 every five weeks. Westendorf collects the money every seven months, using the same letter-writing method Waldhoff did. Waldhoff would write a letter to the pool members stating that the money needed to be in by a certain date. Waldhoff would then keep track of who was in the pool by posting a list on the bulletin board at the Wagon Wheel, along with a photo of the tickets.
Like Waldhoff, Westendorf deposits the money he receives into a savings account. About every five weeks, he purchases $480 worth of tickets.
“I buy 30 numbers of lottery, and then one Quick Pick on the Powerball,” he said. Occasionally, he buys $10 worth of Mega Millions when the jackpot reaches a significant amount.
Westendorf continues to use the handpicked number system that won them the jackpot. He places the numbers drawn more often into a new category.
“I’ve probably played the same numbers now for the last six or seven years,” he said.
The only numbers Westendorf doesn’t play are the ones that won the $7 million jackpot. When asked why, his response is: “Well, it’s already won. You think it’s going to win again?”
Still, Kibler notes there are people who have won Lottery jackpots more than once. If they did win again, Westendorf knows exactly what he would do with the money.
“I’m gonna spend it,” he said.
They know the odds of winning that jackpot again are slim. Still, one thing keeps them playing: camaraderie.
“For $150 a year, we have a lot of fun,” said McKinney.
Thirteen members gathered recently for a reunion at The Rail Yard in Dieterich, along with some spouses of those who passed away. They reminisced about the day they found out they had won the lottery. While the lottery win didn’t make them rich, Beckman said it was just the right amount.
“We didn’t win enough for you to be quitting your job, changing your life, doing something stupid. But it was enough to make you happy,” he said.