Leary feels at home with $500

He picks nine of 10 correct to win Football Fever's top prize

Star-Bulletin staff

Russell Leary said he is not an avid sports fan, and picking the winners in the last Football Fever contest was not a very scientific effort.

"It was real random luck - I basically picked the home teams," he said.

All except for Atlanta, Washington and Notre Dame.

"I didn't think it would look good if I had X's only on the right side of the ballot," said Leary.

Leary won the weekly $500 drawing with a 9-1 record. He qualified by surpassing the 6-4 record posted by celebrity panelists Shawn Ching of KITV and Charly Espina of FM100.

"I'm still going through shock," said the 30-year-old McKinley High graduate, who now lives in Waikiki. There were 19,851 contestants in the Week No. 12 contest.

Despite his assertion that he is not a dedicated sports fan, Leary does have an interest in sports.

In fact, he has designed a sports betting web site.

Star-Bulletin sports editor Joe Edwards maintained his lead among the celebrity pickers, although by a scant margin. He is 68-49 on the season. Ching is one back, at 67-50.

The men's panel, which also includes Bill Van Osdol of FM100, also held onto the lead over the women's panel, with a 191-160 record, after going 14-16 this week.

But the women's panel, which also includes the Star-Bulletin's Cindy Luis and KITV's Paula Akana, was only one back for the season, at 190-161, after going 15-15 last week.