Mulvane teacher Mary Smith solved The Wichita Eagle Medallion Hunt puzzle Monday afternoon — and found it Tuesday morning — but she had to tune out online chatter and theories about the prize being hidden somewhere else.
Smith, 54, found the medallion after reading the fifth of seven clues revealed by The Eagle. The second half of the Day 5 clue, released at 4:30 p.m. Monday, said: “You found the big dog. Now, go for the goose.” It was hidden under a set of bleachers at McAdams Park, between the Antoine Carr Basketball Courts and the Charles “Goose” Doughty Jr. Tennis Courts.
“The ‘big dog’ is obviously Antoine Carr, whose nickname was ‘Big Dawg,’” Smith said. Carr, a Wichita native, was a basketball star at Heights High School and Wichita State University and had a 16 year career in the NBA.
“Then the clue said go to the goose,” Smith said. “So everybody was looking around the tennis courts (on Monday). So I went home, and I thought about it, and I said, ‘Wait a minute.’ . . . it didn’t say you have to go to the goose, it said go toward it.”
Smith used earlier clues to guide her to the hiding spot from the basketball courts.
“We needed to be at the court and then go toward the goose. It said stay out of poison ivy, so I was like, stay off the grass, stay on the concrete. And then it’s like only the sidewalk and bleachers off the sidewalk. Then another clue said to ‘avoid the wheal,’ so I looked low, not high, and I looked up under the bleachers and went ‘Oh my God. Is that real?’ I’ve still got goosebumps.”
Smith said her son and other hunters thought she should abandon McAdams and look elsewhere. But she followed her instincts.
“My son and I went there (McAdams) yesterday, and a lot of people were there yesterday, but a lot of people were somewhere else. I was like, this is it. It’s here. I know it’s here. If it’s not, the clues are dumb,” Smith said. “When you know, you know.”
The Medallion Hunt is a family tradition for Smith, who said she isn’t sure yet what she’ll buy with her winnings.
“My mom started dragging me (along to hunt) when I was a little girl, and I took my boys their whole lives,” Smith said. “Last night, I took my boy who’s 34.”
This was Smith’s first time finding the medallion, but she said she has been close several times in the past.
“We have walked over that thing so many times,” Smith said. “So many times. We’ve been to parks before anyone else. And now I just feel like it can’t be real. It’s just not real.”
Read more:
2024 Eagle Medallion Hunt clues explained
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