Powerball: Oklahoma lottery winner says yes to TV; no to marriage proposals
"Good Morning America," the ABC television morning news show, is looking for lottery winner Nita Jacobs of Sallisaw.
Jacobs was the winner Aug. 25 of $600,009 in the Powerball lottery. She won by choosing her numbers off football players' jerseys. Apparently because of her unusual manner of selecting numbers, "Good Morning America" hopes to present her story to the entire country.
The "Good Morning America" representative contacted a local paper Thursday, hoping to find Jacobs.
Jacobs said she would be glad to talk to them. "Maybe I'll get season tickets to the Cowboys," she said with a laugh.
Jacobs, a former racehorse trainer, now boards horses at her place north of Sallisaw. She had to give up training after knee surgery. Ironically, it was the knee surgery that led to her lottery win.
She explained, "I was on my way home Saturday and stopped at the store (Best Mart on Maple Street in Sallisaw), and I thought about buying a ticket. But my knee was hurting so I went on home.
"I was home about 15 minutes when a friend called. She was at the store buying milk and wanted to know if I needed anything. I told her 'I sure would like a ticket.' I told her just to pick out some numbers and she said 'Oh no.' I had to pick out my own numbers.
"I was watching the Cowboys football game and I just started reading the numbers off the jerseys, and I just scribbled them down."
Jacobs said after her lottery tickets were delivered, she threw her scribbled numbers down on the nightstand beside her bed, took a shower and made some sandwiches.
"Then I thought I'd better check my numbers. I went and got the numbers I scribbled down and when I got to the third or fourth number my hand began to shake. I couldn't believe it," Jacobs recalled.
Friends advised Jacobs to go back to the convenience store to check on her numbers.
"I was shaking and still in my pajamas, but I drove to the convenience store and they checked my numbers, then they all began whooping and hollering.
"There I was in my pajamas at the store and everybody was yelling," Jacobs said.
Jacobs had the Powerball's first five numbers right on her ticket, and the power play was times three. As a result, the five correct numbers, which pay $200,000, were multiplied times three, for a total of $600,000.
But that's not all.
Jacobs had bought more than one ticket. Her second ticket had no numbers right except for the power ball itself. Tickets with only the power ball win $3, and with the times-three power play, Jacobs won another $9. No one wants to think about what might have been if all the correct numbers had been on one ticket.
Jacobs said she plans to buy a new vehicle and perhaps take some trips. She'd really like to see a Dallas Cowboys game.
And, she reported, she did turn down all three marriage proposals she received Sunday.
"I walked into church and Rodger Smith (a retired jockey) got down on his knee and asked me to marry him," Jacobs said. "I told him no."
But, if "Good Morning America" calls, Jacobs said she won't tell them no.
