$195 Million in the Green, He Still Mows It

Frank Capaci got up at the crack of dawn as usual Friday to mow the golf course near his Illinois home, despite the fact he was suddenly rich enough to buy the entire club and more than a dozen like it.

Capaci, 67, and his wife, Shirley, had won the $195-million Powerball prize, the richest jackpot in world history.

After cutting the greens, he set out with his wife for Wisconsin in their 1990 Grand Am to get their ticket validated at a lottery office.

“If I didn’t show up, I would have gotten fired and lost my job,” joked Capaci, a retired electrician who works part time at Poplar Creek golf course near his home in Streamwood, Ill.

The Wisconsin lottery confirmed that the Capacis did have the winning ticket. The prize will be paid in a $104.3-million lump sum, as requested at purchase, instead of 25 annual checks of $7.7 million each. After taxes, the total probably will be about $55 million.

The Capacis sat mostly silent at a news conference, not saying what they would do with the money. Mrs. Capaci, 63, has hinted that the money will not be spent wildly. Capaci has said he might want to buy a Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

He’s rich enough to buy about 2,900 of Harley’s 95th anniversary edition two-seaters in the exclusive champagne-cherry red, which have a suggested retail price of $19,290.

The couple will make their plans more public in a news conference Wednesday in Pell Lake, Wis., where the winning ticket was bought, officials said.

Brian Capaci said his mom telephoned with the news.

“At first I didn’t believe her, but then she started crying,” he said. “I didn’t know what to do. I was shaking and crying too.”