By Jim Beers, Contributing Writer
CHESTER – Thursday night August 3 was a big win at Busch Stadium in St. Louis for Chester’s Sara Hammel. Even though the Cardinals fell 5-3 to the Minneapolis Twins, Hammel, who was selected to participate in the nightly Casino Queen Trivia Contest, answered all four questions and won the grand prize in front of thousands of fans.
Master of Ceremonies, Todd Thomas, monitors the contest which consisted of four Harry Potter trivia questions. Hammel answered all four correctly to win the grand Casino Queen prize package. (Photo by Steve Colonel)
Hammel said, “At the annual St. Mary’s Auction fund-raiser, my husband, Jeff Hammel, and good friend, John Powel, had the highest bid for four Cardinal’s tickets. The seats were donated by Nate Brown and were really good. They were for the St. Louis Cardinals vs Minnesota Twins game Thursday August 3 at Busch Stadium.”
So, on Thursday night, August 3rd, Jeff Hammel and his wife Sara, along with John Powell and his wife, Dainelle, made the trip to St. Louis for the Cardinal game.
“As we walked into the stadium, we were asked by two girls that were members of “Team Fredbird” if we would like to upgrade our seats. At first we were excited, but upon examining the available seats, we determined that our seats were better, so we kept them”, said Sara Hammel.
“Once we got to our seats, our friend John saw Busch Stadium Master of Ceremonies (MC) Todd Thomas, known around the stadium as ‘That other Guy’, in our section recruiting someone to participate in the nightly Casino Queen Trivia Contest.”
“John Powell yelled to Thomas and got his attention. John told Thomas that we would like to participate. The contest content was for Harry Potter Trivia. Being an English-Language- Arts teacher at Chester High School, as well as an avid reader, I felt fairly confident taking part in the contest.”
When it was time for the segment of Casino Queen Harry Potter trivia, Thomas returned to the section where the Hammels and Powells were sitting. Sara Hammel was chosen to answer the questions, however, Danielle Powell was there for emotional support and confirmation of Sara’s answers.
Sara and Jeff Hammel of Chester pose for a quick photo Thursday August 3 at the Cardinals vs Minnesota Twins game at Busch Stadium. Sara had just won the grand prize in the Casino Queen Trivia Contest. (Submitted photo)
Sara said, “Being a teacher I was afraid that if I didn’t get the questions right that I would not be able to show my face at Chester High School again. I was so nervous that I didn’t even pay any attention to the thousands of fans watching me on the huge video screen at Busch Stadium.”
There were four questions posed to Hammel. The first question was a “give me” for Hammel. “What house did Harry Potter belong to? Hammel answered, “Gryffindor” to a round of applause from Cardinal fans.
The second question was, “What was the name of Harry’s first broom?” Hammel answered, “Nimbus 2000” which was correct. Sara said, “I got nervous on this one and looked to Dainelle for confirmation.
The third question was, “What was Ron Weasley afraid of?” Hammel got that one correct also with an answer of “Spiders”.
The last and final question was, “What pet did Hermione take with her to Gryffindor”? Hammel sealed the deal by answering, “Crookshanks the Cat”. Hammel said, “I came in with a mic drop with the final answer, and ‘BOOM’, I was a winner!”
Todd Thomas and the “Team Fredbird” girls immediately presented Hammel with her prize consisting of a see-through Casino Queen bag, a Casino Queen T-shirt, an Albert Pujols bobble head, and a Casino Queen voucher worth $25.
In summary, Hammel said, “I didn’t tank, so I CAN show my face at school come August 16th! WHEW! This was a nice way to end the summer! Jeff and I are surely going to buy lottery tickets tonight after the game!”