Good karma? Man who saved two from river later wins $40,000 in raffle

If you don't believe in karma, this one is going to be hard to reconcile.

Less than a month after he pulled two people out of the Fox River, Thomas Wangler Jr.'s name was chosen as the winner of a Corvette in the Batavia Rotary Club's annual raffle.

He has decided to take a cash prize instead, which equates to about $40,000.

"It's so crazy," Wangler said. "For a young family like us, $1,000 would have been a lot."

Wangler, 37, won the grand prize in the club's annual raffle last week. He had his choice of a 2008 Corvette convertible or $40,000 in cash.

Each year the 800 tickets for the raffle go quickly, said Rotary Club President Bryan Moss. Wangler bought one of the $100 tickets shortly after deciding to join the club recently.

He plans to remodel his house so his 7-year-old daughter can have a new bedroom of her own.

"We've wanted to do it for a long time; we just never thought we'd have the money," he said.

On Oct. 24, Wangler and his wife, Paula, were walking along the Fox River Trail when they saw two people whose canoe had capsized in the water.

Wangler, an Eagle Scout, went into the river and pulled both people to safety.

The two state employees, who had been taking water samples, were at risk for hypothermia during the 15 to 20 minutes they were in the water, fire officials said.

Most everyone Wangler has talked to said the win was a result of karma for his good deed, he said.

"I don't know how I feel about that," he said. "I didn't do it for that; it's just how I'm geared.

"But once in a while, it's nice to see the nice guy get ahead."