By Randy Grider
The top scorer at an NBA game in Memphis, Tenn., on Wednesday, Jan. 17, wasn’t a basketball player.
It was truck driver Juan De La Paz of Chaparral, N.M., who was announced at halftime of the Grizzlies-Philadelphia 76ers contest as the $1 million winner of Swift Transportation’s Thanks A Million II appreciation contest.
“I still can’t believe it,” De La Paz said. “It’s like being on a cloud.”
The 28-year-old was one of 10 drivers chosen in a drawing to make the trip to Memphis. The other nine drivers each received $10,000. This was the second time in four months Swift has held the Thanks A Million contest; the first winner was Robert Goar of Whittier, Calif., who won $1 million at Swift’s corporate office in Phoenix in September.
Each Swift driver across the country is given a chance to be selected for the contest drawings by earning safety and productivity vouchers for each 500 miles they drive without a violation. A violation in the last six months eliminates the driver from the contest. De La Paz earned 103 vouchers during the qualifying period.
Swift Vice President David Berry said a large majority of the approximately 20,000 Swift drivers were eligible for this latest giveaway. “Swift is a very safe company,” Berry said.
