More than $8,700 raised for schools in Stupor Bowl

The club faced off in the final round against the Harrison family, last year’s winners, and defeated them 250-95 in the annual fundraiser for Dixon Public School District Foundation.

Bruce McConnell is treasurer of Dixon Public Schools Foundation.

This year’s auction brought in about $3,200, he said. The auction and team participation fees brought in about $8,700, and that does not include proceeds from the concessions, he said.

The event was successful in comparison to previous years which raised about $10,000 including concessions, auction proceeds and team fees, he said.

Many of this year’s questions were about Rita Crundwell, the former Dixon comptroller who pleaded guilty in November to stealing $53.7 million from city coffers. Her maiden name (Humphrey) and date of arrest (April 17, 2012) were among the questions.

Geoff Vanderlin, a member of the Kiwanis team, said Rob Bates, a new team member, helped a lot, specifically with his answer to the number of clubs a golf player may carry in his bag in the PGA tour. Bates, 24, contributed with the correct answer of 14.

That question was the first in the final round, so the team gained momentum from getting it right, Vanderlin said.

The team benefited from “a great mix,” Vanderlin said.

This year was the first that the Kiwanis Club took first place. They finished in third place in 2004 and fourth place in 2005. In 2011 and in 2012 they won the “first place consolation prize,” meaning they were undefeated in the mornings, lost their first afternoon rounds, and grabbed first place in the consolation round.

Margaret Tyne was captain of the Kiwanis team.

“It feels really good,” she said of the victory. “It took a lot of teamwork.”

The team did not practice for the event, she said.

“We didn’t even make name tags,” she said.

The fundraiser used a new format this year, which involved having all 20 teams in the Reagan Middle School cafeteria all day. In past years, contestants faced off in classrooms, two at a time. The school was not able to set up multimedia equipment in each classroom so it did not use video clips or photos with the previous format.