HUTCHINSON, Kan. — In NCAA March Madness and Highlander, there can be only one.
Tracy Schmidt, left, sits in his new mower thanks to the generosity of Brant Scripsick, right.
The same is true of “Got the Green Fever” from Prairieland Partners John Deere. Of the nearly 100 entries, only one could win the John Deere D110 Lawn Tractor valued at $1,700. Meet the one, no not Neo, but rather Tracy Schmidt of McPherson.
Tracy correctly guessed which teams would be in the Final Four and who would make the National Championship Game. If Wisconsin would have won it all, Tracy would have enjoyed a clean sweep of the “Got the Green Fever” Bracket Challenge from My 93.1 and Country 102.9. He scored six of the possible seven points to defeat all the other entries.
“It’s the most amazing thing that’s ever happened to me, I think,” Schmidt said. “I’d of never dreamt it.”
So, how did Tracy manage to guess so many teams correctly? Enter his wife, Andrea.
Some people advance teams to the next portion of the bracket based on mascots or team colors, but not Andrea. She has a special formula when it comes to selecting a winner. Andrea says she finds out where the game will be played and chooses the team “if they have less to travel.” She figures a team playing closer to home will have more fans in attendance to cheer said team on to victory.
The lawn tractor could not have gone to a more-deserving couple. Brant Scripsick, Prairieland Partners Store Manager in Hutchinson, said, “I’m happy it goes to a good owner.”
Before now, Tracy and his wife didn’t even have a mower to call their own. They had to borrow one from Tracy’s father and haul it to their house via trailer. The hours-worth of grass Tracy had to cut usually took closer to an hour and a half to complete with the loading and unloading. His wife couldn’t help because the mower was of the Zero Turn variety. She just kept spinning in circles.
However, Andrea promised Tracy if he ever got a mower with a steering wheel, she’d have no problem doing her fair share of the duty.
“I’m surprised and shocked. This is one of those once-in-a-lifetime things,” Tracy said. “I got blessed.”
“It’s the grace of God when something like this happens.”