<< Back 6/26/02 UNCA athletics auction raffle ticket nets waitress $1,000 in groceries SMN Talk about just in time. Dot Williams, an eight-year veteran waitress at the Leicester Grill has a houseful of company coming in a few days. Always a budget shopper at the grocery store, she’ll be able to fill quite a few buggies thanks to the gift of a UNCA Athletics Auction raffle ticket, which turned out to be the winning number. The ticket, one of 3,335, is worth $1,000 in groceries at Ingles Markets. It was given to her before the drawing by one of her regular Leicester Grill customers, Cecil Hutchins. Hutchins is a UNCA alumnus who played for the Bulldogs, as did both his parents in the late 1920s and early 1930s. He helps each year with the Bulldog Scholarship Auction, which raises funds for athletic scholarships. He sold 50 $1 raffle tickets and bought 50 himself, giving about 20 away to area businesses where he traded. Hutchins gave a ticket to Williams, as well as one to another waitress and the cook. “I’ve entered raffles but I’ve never won one, ever. It feels wonderful. It’s unbelievable,” said Williams, amid the lunchtime hubbub. “I’ve got company coming in about a week — my mom and dad, two sisters and their husbands, and maybe a couple more. I don’t know what I’m cooking yet, but this sure came at a good time.” Hutchins has no regrets about giving away the winning ticket. “It’s nice to know the person who won it and that I had a part in it,” he said. Pat Bryant, UNCA’s associate athletic director for marketing and development, coordinated the auction. “This was our sixth annual auction and our most successful. We raised $55,000 for student-athlete scholarships,” he said. Among the items auctioned off were sports memorabilia, a motorcycle, one-week beach vacation packages, and tickets to the ACC tournament and a Duke University basketball home game.