Dave Sowa Wins 2023 NFBC $50s and FREE 2024 Main Event Entry

[Greg Ambrosius]

Dave Sowa of Bloomington, Illinois won the 2023 NFBC $50s Draft Champions competition as he had the top team among a field that included 3,384 teams. Dave entered nine NFBC $50 Draft Champions leagues and won two league titles, finishing first and 89th overall. One of those teams was so good that he finished first in the overall competition, earning a FREE 2024 NFBC Main Event entry.

This will be Dave's first entry into the NFBC Main Event as he first joined us in 2019 and has mostly played in the NFBC $50 and $150 Draft Champions leagues. After winning two titles and a FREE Main Event entry, I have a feeling the 39-year-old will be playing more often in the NFBC going forward.

Dave won his league title with 116 points (96.7% of available points) and he won the overall title with 31,468.0 points (93% of available points).

This was the third year that we included a national contest for these NFBC $50 private Draft Champions leagues. These are 12-team draft 'n hold leagues with all of the prize money going to the Top 2 teams in each league. But we then put all of the stats from these private leagues into one overall competition and give away three FREE 2024 NFBC entries to the Top 3 teams in the overall competition.

With the added prizes, we finished with 3,384 teams, just one league short of last year's record total of 3,396 teams. This is a great format where one owner could turn $50 into $400 and possibly a FREE 2024 NFBC Main Event entry.

Dave won the overall title by 956 points over Andrew Goldhor, who won a Rotowire Online Championship 3-Pack worth $1,000 for his runner-up finish. We also gave a FREE Rotowire Online Championship entry worth $350 to the third place finisher, who was Tim Sansome. Rounding out the Top 5 were Len Warrington and Kyle Cruppenink.

Great job everyone and congrats to our league and overall prize winners. Here were the Top 100 teams from this contest:

2023 NFBC $50s Draft Champions Top 100 Teams:
1 Dave Sowa Sowa 31,468.00
2 ANDREW GOLDHOR GOLDHOR 30,512.00
3 Tim Sansome Sansome 50.10 29,658.00
4 Len Warrington powerplant 29,430.50
5 KYLE CRUPPENINK C.J. Cron's Disease 29,340.50
6 Jeff Milman Milman 29,241.50
7 Mark Krom I Declare Kyle 2 28,929.50
8 Seth Krupsaw Claude Frog 28,921.00
9 nicholas durrell Fast50-8 28,791.00
10 Jimmy Easley Easley 4 28,744.50
11 Adam Good Good 28,558.00
12 Marc Rod Fellas03 28,541.00
13 Jason Funkhouser New England Machine 50s 28,527.50
14 GAUTAM RAO RAO 50s 0302 28,319.00
15 Michael Armstrong Chef's 50s entree 28,301.00
16 Dennis Spink Spink 28,231.50
17 nicholas durrell Fast50 - 6 28,186.50
18 Robert Holmes Mr. Big Stuff Plus 28,128.00
19 DANA MARSHALL Marshall 28,079.50
20 Michael Murphy The Soup Nazi 27,948.50
21 LUKE PLANSKY PLANSKY 27,945.00
22 Joshua Hook Hook 27,915.50
23 marion osborne osborne50.3 27,897.00
24 Ian Young Young 27,811.00
25 Jason Walberg Jay - 503 27,742.00
26 Nathaniel Van Heest Van Heest 27,701.50
27 Matthew Ryan The Human Rain Delay 27,639.00
28 JOSEPH HICKMAN Shohei Me the Money 27,601.00
29 Nathaniel Van Heest Van Heest 27,553.50
30 Daniel Mitchell The Dead End Kidz 27,544.00
31 Kris Negus Negus4 27,481.50
32 GARRETT TAYSOM TAYSOM 27,450.00
33 Kenneth Easterling Easterling 27,447.50
34 RYAN WILLIAMS Williams 50-1 27,440.00
35 Stephen Atkinson Atkinson 27,384.00
36 MIchael Meyer Pocket Aces 27,380.00
37 gp churchill churchill 509 27,351.00
38 James Lewis Lewis 27,250.00
39 DANA MARSHALL Last Minute 27,220.00
40 Alan Finkelstein Finkelstein 27,199.00
41 Joseph Garner Tuck My Senga Jenga Bo Benga I 27,171.00
42 Dennis Spink Bruin Beater 27,146.50
43 Lucas Conley Conley 50-8 27,137.50
44 Fred Spinder Quick Cash 6 27,120.50
45 Dennis Spink Spink 27,109.50
46 DREW MARTIN Wilkes Martin and Martin 27,040.50
47 Jimmy Easley Easley 27,037.50
48 Brian Van Hauen Moose Dongs 27,019.50
49 Sam Hatten Cincinnati Chili Dogs_50s1 27,006.00
50 JORDAN JANSEN JANSEN 26,994.50
51 BENJAMIN SORACE SORACE 26,984.00
52 JOSEPH SIMON RASMUSSEN SIMON RASMUSSEN 26,977.00
53 Fred Spinder Quick Cash 4 26,902.50
54 Tim Sansome Sansome 50.2 26,883.00
55 Nate Miller Nate Miller 26,859.00
56 Gordon Whitlow a-9 Experience 26,827.50
57 Lucas Biery Biery 50 Uno 26,815.00
58 Daniel Clark Pre Plan Dan 26,803.00
59 Matt Leahy Long Balls 50 26,788.50
60 Tony Messer Gunslinger 71 26,738.50
61 Michael Murphy The Little Kicks 26,705.00
62 Jay Paulinski Gone in 55 Seconds 26,687.00
63 Joshua Hook Hook 26,649.50
64 Trevor Gobble Scranton Stranglers 26,598.50
65 Jack Kitchen Lets Go Brandon! 26,593.00
66 Todd Keller Keller 9 26,592.50
67 DREW MARTIN Fumbling Flounders 26,579.50
68 Michael Caplan CP7 26,562.50
69 Kevin Giardino Mister Softee 26,545.50
70 Brian Martin Bugle Bois 3 26,518.50
71 Daniel Mitchell The Dead End Kidz 26,515.00
72 TRISTAN CROSS CROSS 26,507.00
73 MIchael Meyer Mookie's Men 26,488.50
74 Richard Bales B 22*** 26,432.00
75 Brian Patterson Bogey Wan Kenobi 26,377.00
76 Glenn Klevens The Juice Box 26,372.50
77 ADAM SHUBIN Shubin 50-5 26,367.50
78 Trevor Gobble People Persons Paper People 26,328.00
79 Eugene Garner Garner 26,291.50
80 ADAM NAJEMY strawberry bitch 26,269.50
80 gp churchill churchill 622 26,269.50
82 Jared Radbel Radbel 26,264.00
83 Langston Spotts Spotts 26,259.00
84 Thomas Sanders Sanders 26,237.50
85 Gary Webb The Chosen - 50 26,206.50
86 Jack Kitchen Lets Go Brandon! 26,199.00
87 Ron Kraus Kraus 26,194.00
88 Joshua Hook Sweats 26,165.00
89 Dave Sowa Sowa 26,156.50
90 DAVID HERTER Roll Over Beethoven 26,155.50
91 Ron Kraus Kraus 26,155.00
92 Lucas Conley Conley 50-3 26,144.50
93 ERIC DAVIS 50.3 26,142.00
94 CHASE METZGER Metzger 50s 2 26,118.50
95 Ryan Ireland Ireland 2 26,106.00
96 Richard Barry Barry's Bums 26,093.00
97 Brian Sciacca Boogie Shaka 50-1 26,090.00
98 cameron yoos Beaneaters 26,087.00
99 Richard Bales B 6* 26,084.00
100 Steven Conger Conger. 50 1 26,067.50

[Greg Ambrosius]

Dave drafted from the fourth spot and of course was led by Ronald Acuna, Jr. Here were Dave's draft results:

Sowa
1 4 Acuna Jr., Ronald OF Sowa
2 21 Alonso, Pete 1B Sowa
3 28 Altuve, Jose 2B Sowa
4 45 Varsho, Daulton C Sowa
5 52 Iglesias, Raisel P Sowa
6 69 Castillo, Luis P Sowa
7 76 Hernandez, Teoscar OF Sowa
8 93 Reynolds, Bryan OF Sowa
9 100 Kirby, George P Sowa
10 117 Cortes, Nestor P Sowa
11 124 Hoerner, Nico SS Sowa
12 141 Suarez, Eugenio 3B Sowa
13 148 Happ, Ian OF Sowa
14 165 Montgomery, Jordan P Sowa
15 172 Mountcastle, Ryan CI Sowa
16 189 Lopez, Pablo P Sowa
17 196 Estrada, Thairo MI Sowa
18 213 Vargas, Miguel UT Sowa
19 220 Sale, Chris P Sowa
20 237 De La Cruz, Bryan OF Sowa
21 244 Cobb, Alex P Sowa
22 261 Grandal, Yasmani C Sowa
23 268 Ober, Bailey P Sowa
23 269 Yepez, Juan OF 5004
24 285 Tovar, Ezequiel SS Sowa
25 292 Marsh, Brandon OF Sowa
26 309 Diaz, Yandy 3B Sowa
27 316 Estevez, Carlos P Sowa
28 333 Donovan, Brendan 2B Sowa
29 340 Eflin, Zach P Sowa
30 357 Fortes, Nick C Sowa
31 364 Bradish, Kyle P Sowa
32 381 Colas, Oscar OF Sowa
33 388 May, Trevor P Sowa
34 405 Candelario, Jeimer 3B Sowa
35 412 McCutchen, Andrew OF Sowa
36 429 Lange, Alex P Sowa
37 436 Waldichuk, Ken P Sowa
38 453 Ramirez, Harold 1B Sowa
39 460 Boyd, Matthew P Sowa
40 477 Turang, Brice SS Sowa
41 484 Lorenzen, Michael P Sowa
42 501 Thompson, Trayce OF Sowa
43 508 Harvey, Hunter P Sowa
44 525 Muller, Kyle P Sowa
45 532 Bae, Ji Hwan OF Sowa
46 549 Williams, Trevor P Sowa
47 556 Diaz, Yainer UT Sowa
48 573 Silseth, Chase P Sowa
49 580 Miller, Shelby P Sowa
50 597 Cleavinger, Garrett P Sowa

[Greg Ambrosius]

Here are the prizes for this contest:

NFBC $50s:
Overall Prizes:
1 - Free 2024 Main Event Entry
2 - Free 2024 RotoWire OC 3-pack
3 - Free 2024 RotoWire OC Entry

League Prizes:
1 - $400
2 - $100