N.J. salesman, 73, claims $165 million lottery ticket

Jeffrey Gold

Thursday, Aug. 1, 2002 | 9:49 a.m.

CRANFORD, N.J. -- A semiretired hat salesman from Cliffside Park came forward Wednesday to claim the $165 million Mega Millions jackpot, the largest single-ticket jackpot in the 32-year history of the New Jersey lottery.

Sundel "Sonny" Judson, 73, said he plans to form a foundation and use part of the money to support charities he has given money to in the past.

He disclosed that he already was a millionaire before his big win -- if one includes his retirement accounts -- and said he hoped that the jackpot wouldn't change his life.

"I was pretty well off before this," Judson said.

Judson said he has been married for 52 years and has grown children and grandchildren, and that they will also benefit from the windfall.

He has lived in his Bergen County condominium for 28 years, and said he plans to stay in the building, but maybe in a bigger apartment.

Other than that, Judson insisted he plans no shopping spree, not even for his wife.

"I offered her a mink coat, and she said, 'What am I going to do with a third one?' " he said.

Judson claimed he was diagnosed with leukemia almost 30 years ago and given only a few months to live.

"I never felt sick," Judson said, adding that he eschewed chemotherapy in favor of a vitamin program suggested by his wife.

"I guess I beat the odds," he said.

The same would apply to his win in the Mega Millions game. The odds of winning are 1 in 135 million.

Judson said he plans to continue working at Hyp, a New York City maker of baseball caps, also known as Hypnotic Hats Ltd. He joined Hyp several years ago after Paramount Headwear, for whom he worked since the 1950s, wanted him to retire, he said.

Judson said he is not a regular lottery player, but will continue buying tickets, having just won $2 on Tuesday night.

He bought the winning ticket for the multistate game July 16 at Evergreen Pharmacy, across from his condominium, almost as an afterthought, since he had extra cash in his hand.

He bought it as a quick pick, meaning the lottery computer randomly chose the winning numbers, 10, 24, 35, 49, 52 and the Gold Mega Ball 47.

Judson said he returned the next morning and had the clerk check his tickets, and was pleased when the first was worth $7. The third ticket hit the jackpot.

He chose the cash option, so the ticket is worth $92 million before a 27 percent federal withholding tax, lottery officials said.

When Judson told his wife they "put the ticket away and went to Tanglewood," Judson told reporters at a news conference at Union County College, because the couple already had tickets for the music festival in Lenox, Mass.

Since then, he worked at forming the charitable foundation, with help from his longtime financial adviser and cousin, Judson said.

A colleague at Hyp, licensing director David Fischer, said Judson was a "very understated" man who might just be able to keep the jackpot from changing his life.

In the meantime, "We're going to work him for a lunch," Fischer joked.

Mega Millions also is sold in Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Ohio and Virginia.