staying late to pump up his grades . `` Just a very humble , kind and considerate kid , '' Linster said . Watch friends and neighbors describe the lucky cowboy '' Chris Leneaugh , once an assistant cross-county coach , remembers a dedication to running that propelled Wanless from the middle of the pack to near the front of the team by his senior year . `` Neal never gave up trying , '' Leneaugh said . `` That 's what I liked about him , his dedication . '' The yearbook also tells the tale of a hat-wearing rancher who was one of a few white students in a school filled with Native Americans -- Lakota Sioux from the Rosebud Indian Reservation . `` Oh man , he was always cowboyed up , '' said former classmate Mike Prue . `` We are all Natives around here and there he was with his Wrangler shirt and jeans . He really stuck out . '' Prue and his buddy Steve Plank said Wanless would help them with their homework , despite the differences . The story of the Wanless family is the story of a family doing muscle-aching work
WINNER , South Dakota -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Neal Wanless , a down-on-his luck cowboy before winning a $ 232 million Powerball jackpot last month , was always known for his big heart even when he barely had a dime to his name . Neal Wanless , winner of the $ 232 million lottery in South Dakota , shown here in a high school yearbook . Now , with his good fortune , neighbors and former teachers worry that he might be easily separated from his new-found money , although he does n't seem to be around to give any of it away . `` I just hope he does n't get inundated , '' his former English teacher Deana Brodkorb told CNN . `` He 's just such a nice guy and I hope he does n't get suckered . '' Flip through the yearbook at Todd County High School and the portrait emerges of the `` good kid '' that teachers and classmates remember . Wanless ran cross-country , played in the band and graduated second in his class -- the 2004 Salutatorian . Diane Linster , his math teacher , remembers Wanless coming early to school and