Mark Kirkpatrick, shown at the ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä Gazette-Mail offices on Aug. 12, 2025, won HD Media's 2025 Hunt for the Helmet contest, sponsored by GoMart. In return for following clues published in the Gazette-Mail and finding the miniature WVU helmet (shown here), Kirkpatrick wins two tickets to each WVU home football game for this season. Kirkpatrick, a 1986 WVU graduate, found the helmet and certificate at Joplin Park in South ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä.
Mark Kirkpatrick, shown at the ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä Gazette-Mail offices on Aug. 12, 2025, won HD Media's 2025 Hunt for the Helmet contest, sponsored by GoMart. In return for following clues published in the Gazette-Mail and finding the miniature WVU helmet (shown here), Kirkpatrick wins two tickets to each WVU home football game for this season. Kirkpatrick, a 1986 WVU graduate, found the helmet and certificate at Joplin Park in South ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä.
Gazette-Mail
With his discovery on the first day of the competition, Kirkpatrick won HD Media's 2025 Hunt for the Helmet contest, sponsored by GoMart. In return for following clues for the annual contest published in the Gazette-Mail and finding a miniature WVU football helmet, Kirkpatrick won two tickets to each WVU home football game for this season.
"I was hoping for a few more days to enjoy the hunt," said Kirkpatrick, 61, of Mink Shoals.
Kirkpatrick, a 1986 WVU graduate, found the helmet and an authenticity certificate at Joplin Park in South ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä after reading the clue, "The speed limit is 60 on the interstate below," in the ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä Gazette-Mail on Thursday, the first day of the contest. Interstate 64 passes near the park.
"I walked around Joplin [Park] and I saw it under the little bridge," said Kirkpatrick, referring to a wooden structure in the northwest corner of the South ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä park.
He won the Hunt for the Helmet last year as well, finding the prize at the St. Albans boat launch at Roadside Park in St. Albans.
Kirkpatrick is retired from the information technology department at American Water Works, the parent company of West Virginia American Water. He said he's never been a season ticket holder for WVU football. He plans to attend a few of the six home games this year at Milam Puskar Stadium, and share the rest of the tickets with his family.
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