Ron Bowser always faced a major obstacle when it came to the Butler Eagle's annual March Madness contest.

Eligibility.

“I was an Eagle newspaper carrier for 35 years,” Bowser, 80, of Summit Township, said. “I couldn't do a bracket. I was ineligible.”

When he retired in 2009, Bowser became eligible. He's participated in the contest every year since.

This year, he broke through.

Bowser correctly picked Baylor, Gonzaga and Housto to reach the Final Four — missing only on Michigan — and had six of the Elite Eight teams pegged.

“I had Baylor winning the whole thing,” he said. “When that happened, I told my wife the Butler Eagle might be calling us tomorrow.”

Bowser won the $500 first prize in topping the field of 764 bracket entries submitted to the Eagle.

Melissa Drake of Slippery Rock claimed the $250 second-place prize while Sam Karns of Grove City — a former Butler High School girls basketball player — took the $100 for third place.

“I've never come close to winning that thing,” Bowser said of the March Madness contest. “I did win the newspaper's weekly football contest before.

“I follow college basketball a little bit. I guess I looked up some stuff on one or two teams, but mostly, I just made the selections on what I knew.

“I didn't hit on any of those early upsets, but when I saw I had six teams left in the Elite Eight, I felt like I was in good shape,” Bowser added.

Since he and his wife are retired, Bowser said “we'll probably take a little vacation” with the prize money.

Drake has nine brothers and three sons. Many of them fill out brackets and enter the contest every year.

Her sister, Donna Drake, won the March Madness Contest before.

“I've never come close before this year,” Drake said. “I needed Baylor to win that last game because I only had two teams (in the Final Four).”

Drake's Final Four consisted of Baylor, Gonzaga, Illinois and Brigham Young.

“A friend of mine convinced me to take Baylor to win it,” Drake said, laughing. “He'll probably want part of this money.”

Drake was a volleyball and basketball player through middle school during her school years. She was a cheerleader at Sharon High School.

Karns is a 2006 Butler graduate and said her family has been submitting entries to the March Madness Contest “for as long as I can remember, at least 15 or 20 years.”

She admits she usually puts in a lot of time studying the teams and matchups before submitting her entry.

“This year, just to keep with tradition, I went over to my mom's house and filled out a bracket in like 30 seconds,” she said. “It figures that's the one that wound up winning something.”

Karns said 15 family members enter their own March Madness pool every year and she won that one this year, edging out her young niece by a point.

“Baylor winning it made the difference,” she said. “I've always been a big fan of (Baylor's) girls team, so I picked their guys to win. And I know how hard it is for a team to go all the way through a season undefeated.”

Usually an avid college basketball fan, Karns admitted to not watching a single game all season.

“Just too busy,” she said. “I used to pick Villanova to win it all every year. The one year I didn't, that's the year they won it.

“It's funny how that stuff works.”