EVANSTON — A huge crowd gathered outside Cowboy Joe’s Liquor Barn and SportsWorld on Saturday, Nov. 9, at to pay honor to local veterans. VFW Post 4280 performed a 21-gun salute. Afterward, the crowd reassembled inside the two businesses to buy raffle tickets for numerous prizes and to learn who won the hero nomination for this year’s contest.

General manager of both stores, Lori Bateman, announced the winner of the hero award, Former Staff Sgt. C. Wayne Fuller, who is a disabled vet, was nominated by his wife, Jessica. She described her husband as “selfless and hardworking. Despite being a disabled veteran, he drives to Hill Air Force Base for work every day and is a coach and part owner of Nomad Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in Evanston.”

Fuller’s service began in 2002 when he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, and he had a long history of service in security forces, cross trained to be an Aerial Gunner and deployed several times to Iraq. In 2011, Fuller transferred to the Wyoming Air national Guard as a flight engineer and, in 2015, he left uniformed service when he was deemed 100% disabled by the VA.

He then spent five years as combat trainer in civil service before getting a promotion to be a range control specialist at Hill Air Force Base and since was named as the assistant airspace manager. While working a full-time job, Fuller continued his higher education and earned his Bachelor of Science in sports and health science in 2017 and a master’s degree in 2021.

Fuller’s awards and decorations include the Air Medal with Oak Leaf, Meritorious Service Medal with Oak Leaf, Air Force Good Conduct Medal with Oak Leaf, Air Force Achievement Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service medal, and Air Force Expeditionary Service Ribbon.

Fuller and his wife were not present to accept the award of a Savage Axis II.308 rifle and a bottle of Crown Royal 18 year.

Bateman announced a special mention award for Cindi Schmitz who was nominated by her husband, Jonathan. In his letter, Schmitz applauded all veterans, adding the unsung hero is the person who sacrifices a lot behind the scenes.

“No one is more critical to the success of the service member than that of the military spouse,” he said.

In his letter, Schmitz said Cindi had “fearlessly” supported him while he was on active duty in the U.S. Navy and was deployed around the world for almost 24 years.

“We want to give a special thank you today to all veterans, active and reserve for their service,” Bateman said. “Today, I also want to honor my father-in-law, Robert Brent Bateman, who recently passed away. He was a devoted husband, loving father, proud grandfather and cherished friend to many. His family was his greatest accomplishment.”

Other winners of the day were Alex and Jenna Santy, who won the raffle of the Pappy Van Winkle 10-year bourbon.

The auction of a variety of rare bourbons proceeded after the awards with a packed house of bidders. Kevin Kallas presided as auctioneer and kept the bids competitively rising.

The Unicorn bottle of a Pappy Van Winkle 23-year bourbon brought in a winning bid of $3,700.

Bateman said the auction and raffles brought in approximately $25,000. The proceeds will go to local VFW Post 4280.

“We would like to give a special thanks to Kevin Kallas for donating his time to be the auctioneer and for making the event fun and successful. A special thank you to our staff for putting in the extra hours and hard work to make this event successful and, last but not least, a thank you to everyone who sent in letters of their heroes,” Bateman said.