For lifelong New England sports fan Jon Carson, getting a chance to shake the hand of NBA Hall of Fame player Tommy Heinsohn was a unique opportunity.

But as memorable as that experience was, it was what the former Boston Celtics great had in his other hand that Carson was much more interested in.

Heinsohn was presenting the Greenbush resident with the keys to a new, $41,000 Toyota Tundra double cab pickup truck before the start of Wednesday’s game between the Celtics and Washington Wizards at the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston.

“It’s the nicest prize I’ve ever won by far,” said Carson, a 16-year veteran of the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Department. “I think the best thing I ever won before was a $75 scratch-off ticket and $40 from Megabucks.”

The Old Town native is the grand prize winner of the Take Home a Tundra raffle run by Fox Sports Net New England’s Sports Nuts program, an Internet-based fan loyalty rewards program modeled after airline or credit card customer programs.

Carson had seven of the 22,238 raffle tickets which were “purchased” via Sports Nuts members through redeeming their points from Jan. 17 to March 17, according to FSNNE.

Carson and his brother James drove down to the game in his 2000 Ford Explorer, met Heinsohn, got the truck, watched the game (their first-ever Celtics game at the Garden), then drove back – spending the night in Portland on the return trip.

“I got my temporary plates so I could just attach them and drive the truck back,” said Carson, who graduated from the University of Maine with an associate degree in criminal justice and two degrees from the police academy.

It may be the longest trip he takes in his truck since Carson figures he’ll be selling it shortly, but not before he takes some time to show it off.

“I’ll probably wind up selling it because I have to claim it as gambling winnings,” said the 37-year-old Carson. “I already checked with an accountant and the taxes on it will probably be around $10,000 to $12,000 in taxes plus excise and registration.”

Carson, a sergeant who has served as the community police supervisor for Orrington the last four years, signed on with the Sports Nuts program back in August shortly after breaking his foot while playing in a softball game.

“I wasn’t out of work, but I was only doing administrative stuff for 20 to 30 hours a week for two months, so I had a lot of down time,” said the former Old Town High School football, basketball and track and field athlete with a laugh.

After going online and registering, Carson logged on three or four times a week, answering trivia and poll questions to earn points which can be redeemed for merchandise, prizes, or raffle tickets.

Since the program’s launch last April, almost 10,000 members have registered. This is the biggest raffle prize to date.

“We’re the only regional sports network in the country with a loyalty rewards program and one of only three in the world,” said Skip Perham, FSNNE’s marketing and communications manager. “We’ve been very happy with the fan participation.”

Carson certainly couldn’t be much more happy.

Most valuable Mannix

Presque Isle native Jeff Mannix picked up an unexpected honor at the recent Lewiston MAINEiacs awards banquet. The University of Maine graduate, who is finishing up his first season as the radio voice and second as the television color analyst of the MAINEiacs, was presented the Bernard Just Trophy as the most valuable member of the MAINEiacs organization. Mannix has also been working part time for Bangor sports radio station WZON (620 AM) for the last 31/2 years. He does MAINEiacs games for Lewiston radio station WCNM (1240 AM) and TV broadcasts on Adelphia cable access channels as well as online via Eastlink Television at www.maineiacstv.com.

Andrew Neff can be reached at 990-8205, 1-800-310-8600 or at aneff@bangordailynews.net.