Hawthorn Woods boy receives 'consolation prize' for his winning ESPN basketball contest bracket

The Hawthorn Woods boy who had one of the two best entries in ESPN's college basketball bracket challenge but couldn't win a prize because he was too young to enter the contest wound up with a prize anyway.

Twelve-year-old Sam Holtz and his family were given a pair of Xbox One video game systems by Best Buy as something of a consolation prize.

The family has decided to donate one of the machines to the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Illinois in honor of a relative who battled childhood cancer.

The Holtzes received the Xbox sets Thursday at the Best Buy store in Deer Park. Ryan Blackburn, a marketing director for Make-A-Wish, was on hand, too.

"We think it's really wonderful that a 12-year-old young man is thinking about making a donation to our organization," Blackburn said.

"We're really happy for Sam and his family."

Sam finished tied for first place in the ESPN contest, which was connected to the results of the college basketball championship series.

The grand prize was a trip for two to Hawaii or a $20,000 Best Buy gift card.

But ESPN's rules said participants had to be at least 18 years old.

Sam has received a lot of media attention since he was announced as the winner who didn't actually win.

"It was pretty cool," he said.

A Best Buy corporate representative called the family Wednesday to offer Sam a $1,000 shopping spree, said the boy's dad, Butch Holtz.

Instead, they asked for the video game systems with the intent to donate one to charity.

"We never expected anything in this from Day One," Butch Holtz said. "We really didn't care."

Tim Daly, manager of the Deer Park store, said company officials wanted to reward Sam even though he was too young to actually enter the contest.

"He had an amazing bracket," Daly said.

The second Xbox will be given to a child with a life-threatening illness who requests such a system as a wish, Blackburn said.