Local Hero Wins Grand Prize At Joe's Crab Shack Opening

Sometimes, good guys do finish first.

Joseph Oliver, 26, Riverhead resident and chief of the Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance Corps, will be eating like a king -- for the rest of his life -- after winning the grand prize at the Joe's Crab Shack opening on Route 58 in Riverhead on Thursday.

Oliver, a longtime Riverhead resident who owns two computer businesses and dedicates his free time as a volunteer for the Corps -- as well as being a husband to wife Tammy and dad to daughter Kayla, 2 -- is a busy man.

But not too busy to take time out and wait in line last week with scores of others who were hoping to be the first 100 inside Joe's Crab Shack after the ribbon cutting -- and win free crab for a year.

Oliver arrived at the eatery at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon with some friends and was 14th in line. They brought beach chairs and camped out for the duration.

Even then, Oliver, who began volunteering for the ambulance corps in high school, was dedicated to giving back. "I was on call that night for the ambulance," he said. "I kept getting calls and having to leave and come back."

Some on line, Oliver said, had been waiting since 2 p.m. Wednesday afternoon.

Trying to sleep on the line, Oliver said, wasn't entirely comfortable -- he sat up against the back of the building trying to grab some shut-eye.

But the sacrifice was worth the end result: Oliver filled out the grand prize raffle ticket during his dinner at Joe's Crab Shack.

On Friday, he was getting ready for work when the Joe's Crab Shack staffers came to his door. "I was completely shocked," he said. "Completely stunned."

As a free crab for life winner, Oliver can go to Joe's Crab Shack once a month and receive a free steampot of crab.

His wife Tammy, Oliver said, wasn't initially thrilled with his waiting on line all night. "She wasn't happy with me at all. She wanted me to be at home," Oliver said. "But she quickly got over it when I won."

The reaction from family and friends who've learned he won the grand prize has been tremendous, Oliver said -- he had over 1700 Facebook "notifications" after people saw the post.

As for Oliver, he's thrilled. With favorites on the menu including the crap dip and crab cake dinner, he planned to go back to Joe's for lunch on Monday -- and ate dinner there with his wife the night after his big win.

Oliver said some people thought the vote might have been swayed by his ambulance chief title -- but said he never divulged that info on his entry. The win, he said, was just pure good fortune -- and the first time Lady Luck smiled on him.

"I've never won anything before -- I never even won Bingo," Oliver said.