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LARRY AND DONNA CRUMBLEY, above, won one of
Home Box Office’s 17 grand prizes, and thus a trip to the
Super Bowl last month in Miami.
Super Bowl trip was
‘first-class’, fun — and free
By Rhonda Watters
Battalion Reporter
As the weeks pass and Dallas Cowboy fans
everywhere try to erase the painful memory of
Super Bowl XIII, one can find two fans in College
Station who, though disappointed at the game’s
outcome, are not in such a hurry to forget it all.
Instead of watching the game on TV like almost
everyone else, this local couple got to take a short
vacation in Miami and watch the Super Bowl in per
son.
And the trip was free.
Larry Crumbley, a professor of accounting at
Texas A&M University, was one of 17 grand prize
trip-for-two winners to the Super Bowl in a contest
sponsored by Home Box Office, the nation’s largest
pay cable network.
“It was fantastic, a first-class operation all the
way,” Crumbley said. He and his wife, Donna, spent
four days in Miami almost expense-free, having to
pay only for some of their meals.
The contest, called HBO Hero Sweepstakes, was
held in conjunction with an HBO series called “In
side the NFL.” The series, co-hosted by Len Daw
son and Merle Harmon, is an hour-long weekly
show that discusses and shows highlights of the
NFL football games of the previous week through
out the football season.
To be eligible for prizes, Crumbley said he had to
send in a postcard correctly picking the winning
teams of the six pro football games scheduled for
the coming week. Each week a grand prize winner
was chosen at random from those who guessed
correctly.
Crumbley, who began entering the contest last
season, made his lucky pick in the 14th week of this
year’s contest, his 25th try overall.
“I used their (Dawson and Harmon) opinions and
their two point-spreads and that’s how I made my
two picks,” he said.
The Crumbleys, who were the only winners from
Texas, left on the Thursday before the Super Bowl
and returned the following Monday.
Miami “was like four days of New Year’s Eve,”
said Mrs. Crumbley. She said they attended several
parties, and one night HBO gave them tickets to
attend a “Hollywood-type show.” During the day the
winners were allowed to plan their own activities,
such as sight-seeing or shopping.
In addition to the plane tickets, lodging, transpor
tation and game tickets, Crumbley said the prize
also included three HBO-sponsored dinners and
two brunches.
At the game, “we had pretty good seats,"
Crumbley said. He added that the winners did not all
sit together, but were scattered throughout the
stadium. His two seats were located between the
goal line and the 10-yard line at the end of the field
where, unfortunately for the Cowboys, “most of the
action took place.”
Crumbley said there seemed to be far more
Pittsburgh fans at the game than Dallas fans. Mrs.
Crumbley added that the Pittsburgh fans had a lot of
spirit and that she thought “the fans played a big
part” in the Steeler victory.
According to Jeb Seder, public relations repre
sentative for HBO at the home office in New York
City, HBO executives have not yet decided whether
the contest will become a yearly event. He said the
main purpose of the contest was to find out how
many people had access to programs on HBO in the
last two seasons.
He added that the contestants did not have to be
a subscriber to HBO, and some of the winners were
from areas that HBO did not operate directly in.
In addition to the 17 grand prize trips given away,
Seder said each week 20 glass bowls, call “Super
Bowls,” were given away as second prizes.
If they continue the contest, Crumbley said he is
not sure whether he will enter again. “I have a feel
ing they won’t let me win again,” he said.
But according to Seder, that is not necessarily so.
He said Crumbley “could conceivably win again be
cause the first part of the contest (picking the win
ning teams) is skill.”
MOVIES
“Movie, Movie’’
“Agatha”
The scene above is from “Movie, Movie,” a Warner Bros, film which takes a 1970s
look at the film fare that was so popular with audiences of the 1930s. Heading the
cast of this unique film, which is constructed in the form of a classic double feature, is
George C. Scott, who plays different roles in each of the “features” as well as
appearing in the previews of coming attractions “advertised” between the two
movies. The two features are “Dynamite Hands,” a boxing story, and “Baxter’s
Beauties,” a backstage musical. The movie is produced and directed by Stanley
Donen, and also stars Trish Van Devere, Barbara Harris, Red Buttons, Barry
Bostwick, Ann Reinking, Art Carney and Eli Wallach, most of whom play roles in both
movies within the movie. Donen said, in describing the film: “As with much of the
movie fare of the 1930s, our film is meant to entertain and touch you at the same
time.”
Dustin Hoffman and Vanessa Redgrave, pictured above, star in the new Warner
Bros, film “Agatha.” Redgrave plays Agatha Christie, who after the success of her
new mystery is the toast of London literary society. But her personal life is crumbling:
her husband is leaving her to marry his secretary. Suddenly Agatha Christie disap
pears. As police search for her, she takes up residence at an elegant health spa,
under an assumed name. Hoffman portrays newspaper columnist Wally Stanton,
who sets out to find Christie before the police do. After much investigation, he shows
up at the spa masquerading as a businessman, and observes Christie’s interest in
electrical therapy. He also falls in love with her. During the next few days, she studies
electrical wiring, makes a series of strange telephone calls, and resists Stanton’s
offers of help. Then she sets in motion a plot as bizarre as any she has ever written.