Dr Pepper celebrated its 11th annual Tuition Giveaway during College Football Conference Championship weekend by awarding $725,000 in tuition to students. Five students took home $100,000 — and one of them was Tyler Gordon, a WVU law student.
“Going into it, I felt fairly confidence because of the amount of practice that I had put into everything,” Gordon said.
He threw 20 footballs into a giant Dr Pepper can. He beat out his opponent by three footballs. He said being in front of a huge crowd of people wasn’t too bad, he was more concerned with getting every ball into the hole.
“It was just grab a ball and throw,” he said.
His dad built him a replica of the giant Dr Pepper can, and he had faith in the weeks of practice he put into preparing for that moment. He said winning was the best feeling he’s ever felt.
“Outside of my wedding day that was probably one of the best days of my life. There was a big burden that came off my shoulders whenever I saw that check for the first time with my name written on it. That’s a feeling I’ll never forget having,” he said.
Now, Gordon said he’s not worried about what future job he accepts. He said this opportunity has allowed him to pursue a career without the fear of debt holding him back.
Because of his win, Gordon said he went from flying under the radar to everyone constantly coming up to him and congratulating him.
“In the airport, I can’t tell you how many dozens of people were pointing out, ‘Hey, you’re that guy from TV. I saw you throw into the Dr Pepper can last night,’ ” he said.
And yes, Gordon got to take that giant check home with him.
“I was awkwardly carrying that through the airport and that drew a lot of attention as well on our flights back,” he said.
A flight attendant saw the check on one of his flights and announced Gordon was on the plane. The whole plane cheered, he said.
“It’s certainly something that I’ll keep forever,” he said.
About a year and a half ago, Gordon started praying about his student loan debt. He said God put it on his heart that it was something He could help Gordon with.
“No matter the outcome, I trusted in Him and that’s kind of the message that I want to get across to everyone is that this certainly wasn’t my own doing, that God had a big role in this,” he said.
