Thorpe Schoenle

Thorpe Schoenle, a firefighter from Chicago, Illinois, was a contestant on the NBC game show "Deal or No Deal" where he won at the time, a record-setting $464,000 by taking a deal. As of the end of the first season he is the biggest winner on the show. His record was broken on September 18, 2006, when a contestant took a deal worth $675,000 (that record was subsequently broken the next day, and re-broken the day after).

In September 2007, he sought to have his daughter opt out of reading The Chocolate War in 7th grade. The school denied his daughter that right. He hired an attorney and the Chicago Board of Education found in his favor. [http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-oped1008byrneoct08,0,4323258.story]