GRIMES MAN WINS 2010 ISU SEASON FOOTBALL TICKETS
IN 'ROCK THE STADIUM' PROMOTION

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Joseph "Howard" Cox Is Grand-Prize Winner In Lottery Promotion

DES MOINES, Iowa – A Des Moines-area man scored tickets for the 2010 Iowa State football season as the grand-prize winner in the Iowa Lottery's "Rock The Stadium For Veterans" promotion.

"This is unbelievable," Joseph "Howard" Cox of Grimes said Saturday after realizing he was the grand-prize winner. "It's great. It's just exciting."

Cox, a long-time Cyclones fan, said he likes Iowa State because "it's an institution of learning first and then sports second."

"I think that's what brings it out for me," he said. "And everybody else in my family is an Iowa fan, so somebody's got to be on the other side!"

The Rock The Stadium promotion began Aug. 12 and ran through Sept. 9. Players entered by visiting the Iowa Lottery's Web site at www.ialottery.com and keying in the serial number from nonwinning tickets in "The Freedom Rock" instant-scratch game.

Ten semifinalists were selected during the promotion's preliminary drawing on Sept. 10. Each semifinalist won four tickets to Saturday's Army-Iowa St. football game at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames. They also got to attend a pre-game picnic and had a parking pass for the game along with $100 spending cash.

The promotion's final drawing was held during the pre-game picnic in Ames. Semifinalists were eliminated one by one in a reverse drawing until just Cox's name remained. As the grand-prize winner, Cox received two season tickets for the 2010 Iowa State football season and $1,000 spending cash for while he's at the games! All state and federal withholding taxes also were paid by the Iowa Lottery.

Cox, 53, said he's especially looking forward to attending next season's Iowa-Iowa St. game.

"It brings out the rivalries of everybody in town!" he said.

Cox said that his wife, Barb, who attended Saturday's drawing with him, will definitely be the one going to the games with him next year.

"She loves sports just as much as I do so it works really well," he said.

Proceeds from the sale of tickets in The Freedom Rock game are dedicated to the Iowa Veterans Trust Fund, which directly benefits Iowa veterans and their families. To learn more about the Veterans Trust Fund, visit www.iowava.org.

The Freedom Rock tickets have a red, white and blue theme and feature artwork of this year's version a huge boulder in Adair County that is painted each year by Ray "Bubba" Sorensen II, a Greenfield artist. Players can win up to 10 times on each ticket and prizes range from $2 to $7,777.

Since the Iowa Lottery's start in 1985, its players have won more than $2.4 billion in prizes while the lottery has raised nearly $1.2 billion for state programs.

©All images 1999-present: THE FREEDOM ROCK/SORENSEN STUDIOS. The Freedom Rock is a registered trademark and is used with permission.