BEST LOCAL CHARACTER
Sam Madonia Abraham Lincoln actually won “local character” this year, but he wouldn’t return our phone calls, so Sam Madonia agreed to take his place. The former Lincoln High School teacher of 30 years now entertains sports fans and morning listeners on Springfield’s WFMB 1450 AM. He attributes his “character” status to his name recognition – from 35 years in radio and from belonging to a family of longtime Springfield residents. Madonia jokes that he thought he was retiring when he stopped teaching. Still, he seems as busy as ever, setting up informational exhibits and school DUI displays for the Illinois Secretary of State over the past 14 years. Springfield, Madonia says, is an outstanding city. “It’s been called an overgrown small town, but it’s a great place,” he says. “It’s a really solid community of good people.”

BEST LOCAL CHARACTER (runner-up)
Dr. Doug Shevlin Though Dr. Doug Shevlin didn’t get the most votes for “local character,” the comments with his votes were pretty interesting. Readers commented on the Ben Franklin lookalike’s purported collection of satin suits and Latin Rumba records, guarded by a mythical, gun-toting little person named “Mr. Jimmy.” The truth is, unfortunately, less bizarre, but Shevlin is still a pretty interesting guy. An avid music enthusiast and philanthropist, the Chuck Taylor-wearing pathologist is apt to throw dinner parties with hilarious themes (Wurst Party Ever) and take whirlwind cross-country road trips with his friends – once even taking along a cardboard cutout of a co-conspirator who couldn’t go. Shevlin wants the world to know that “a nod is not the same as a wave.” Seems like good advice to us.

BEST LOCAL CHARACTER (runner-up)
Steve E. Unverzagt Realty Executives, 547-5500 The voting was so close for best local character that it’s worth introducing the runners-up – a cowboy-boot-wearing real estate agent that has been known to pose as the mayor of Springfield. Steve Unverzagt is a Camaro-driving, motorcycle-racing jack-of-all-trades, an eager philanthropist and one heck of a storyteller. He energetically recalls his 12,000-mile solo motorcycle ride to the Arctic Circle, on which he took not much more than a pistol (for the polar bears) and a satellite phone. He’s a Vietnam veteran, a former iron worker and a real maverick if ever there was one. He even raised a successful son (also Steve Unverzagt), who won two “best-of” awards as well this year. “I’ve looked into the abyss and decided I’m not ready to die,” Unverzagt says. “I’m a guy who wants to live, and I live every moment like it’s my last.”