80-year-old exorcises demons, wins $150K ‘Last Man Standing’ prize

Bill Jensen has entered Station Casinos’ Last Man Standing contests for pro and college football for years.

The longtime Las Vegas resident and recent retiree reached the final four of the college LMS in 2016 with two weeks left before he was eliminated in a manner that haunts him to this day.

“It still just bugs me to death,” said Jensen, 80. “The line came out on Monday and San Diego State was a 13½-point favorite over UNLV. That was going to be my pick.

“Then Wednesday, when the contest number came out, it was 15½, and I didn’t want to get backdoored.”

So instead of taking the Aztecs, who covered in a 26-7 victory over the Rebels, he replaced them with a loser and hasn’t come close to winning again — until this season.

Jensen earned $150,000 for coming out on top in NFL LMS, in which bettors pay $25 per entry, or five for $100, and must pick a winning team against the spread each week.

“A strange thing happened this year,” Jensen said. “There were four of us left just before Thanksgiving, and it was like deja vu. I told myself, ‘I can’t let it happen again.’”

He didn’t. Jensen outlasted a field of 6,234 entries en route to exorcising his LMS demons, as he was the only contestant to pick 17 straight weekly winners.

“I am happy to do it and happy to do it at 80,” he said. “I can still compete.”

It all came down to Week 17, the final week of the contest, when only Jensen and another entry remained.

Jensen took the Ravens -3½ over the Dolphins. The other entry had the Rams -4½ over the Giants. Baltimore led Miami 14-13 late in the first half before exploding for 21 consecutive points on its way to a 56-19 rout.

“I was really confident I had the right side on the Ravens,” Jensen said. “It was probably the most confidence I had in a pick.”

It appeared as if Jensen would have to settle for a tie and $75,000 as Los Angeles led New York 26-19 in the final minutes. But with 3:27 left, Gunner Olszewski scored a touchdown on a 94-yard punt return for the Giants to make it 26-25. New York went for 2 and failed.

The Rams held on for a 26-25 win, but didn’t cover. The result left Jensen as the Last Man Standing.

“There’s a lot of luck involved,” he said. “It was stressful. I turned the TV off a couple times.

“On Friday and Saturday night, I did not get much sleep. But Sunday was pretty good the last couple of weeks.”

Jensen, a Kansas native and former marketing manager for Circle K who has lived in Las Vegas since the 1970s, selected the Lions in their NFL season-opening win and cover against the Chiefs on all five of his entries.

“I was trying to play to win,” he said. “I was hoping to get through September with all five entries. I ended up with three. Then I had three for a couple of weeks and split those three up and only had one winner out of the three. I was down to one probably halfway through the season.”

Jensen said he mostly tried to avoid popular picks.

“I tried to stay away from what I thought the public was going to take. Usually, there was a public (underdog) each week or a public favorite,” he said. “My only strategy was trying to stay away from the masses. I didn’t want to be one of the masses that got knocked out on a certain game.”

His closest call came in Cleveland’s 13-10 win over the Steelers as 2½-point favorites in Week 11. The Browns led 10-0 at halftime, but Pittsburgh tied it in the fourth quarter.

“I was so worried that game was going to go to overtime and end in a tie,” he said.

Bishop Gorman product Dorian Thompson-Robinson, in his second NFL start, completed four straight passes in a clutch drive to set up Dustin Hopkins’ game-winning 34-yard field goal with two seconds left and keep Jensen standing.

“College football was my favorite sport, but the last couple years, it seems like I’ve done better in the pros,” he said. “It’s much easier to keep track of 32 teams than over 100 with college football now.”

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on X.