Something Alex Trebek was fond of saying throughout his long tenure on Jeopardy
was that the best players on the show tended to fall under three groups:
teachers, students, and lawyers. This is logical considering that all three of
those groups have to study a lot just to get to their jobs in the first place:
by comparison to passing the bar or getting your doctorate, winning five games
on Jeopardy might very well be child’s play.
For the overwhelming majority of
the Trebek run Jeopardy would air two week tournaments that highlighted
teenagers and college students. (Teachers
eventually got their own tournament in 2010 and both that tournament as well as
other teachers will be celebrated in a later article.) The winner of either of
these tournaments, in addition to the cash prize, would be an invitation to the
following season Tournament of Champions. For whatever reason in 2000 Jeopardy
stopped invited the winners of the Teen Tournament to participate in those
Tournament but winners of the College Championship were still invited and,
until the hiatus of the College Championship in Season 39 have been among the
greatest players not merely in Tournaments of Champions but beyond.
In a sense this was established with the inaugural Tournament of
Champions in 1989 when Tom Cubbage, then a senior from SMU in Texas not only
won the College Championship but less then six months later went on to win the
Tournament of Champions. He did so in convincing fashion, going into Game 1 of
the final ahead and locking up the Tournament before Final Jeopardy. No other
College Champion has ever won a Tournament of Champions since; it would be more
than two decades before a winner of any special Tournament managed to match
Tom’s accomplishment. (I’ll deal with that in a later article but any recent
fan of Jeopardy very well knows that it was another teacher.)
Tom Cubbage is one of two College Champions who has the most successful ‘post-season
record’ in Jeopardy history. The other is Pam Mueller who I’ve written about to
an extent in numerous columns over the last year, most recently in regard to
the Jeopardy Invitational.
As Pam herself mentioned while she was being interviewed by Ken (who has
played against her more than once) Pam seems to return to Jeopardy at five year
intervals. Representing Loyola (she was only a junior) she won the 2000 College
Championship, $50,000 (in 1989, the limit was $25,000) and the trophy. In the
2001 Tournament of Champions she won her quarter-final but lost her semi-final
match and won $5000.
Five years in the Ultimate Tournament of Champions she was the breakout
sensation getting all the way to the semi-finals and facing off against two of
the greatest Jeopardy players in history: Frank Spangenberg and Jerome Vered.
It was a tense two game affair which Jerome eventually won but Pam walked away
from that with $102,200 in earnings.
In 2014 she competed in the Battle of The Decades against what was an
even tougher field. She managed to defeat 1995 Tournament of Champions winner
Ryan Holznagel and 1997 Tournament of Champions winner Dan Melia to advance to
the quarterfinals. She competed in the quarterfinals against 1993 Tournament of
Champions winner Tom Nosek and 2004 Tournament of Champions winner Russ
Schumacher and went into Final Jeopardy ahead. She got Final Jeopardy wrong but
qualified in the semi-finals via wild card. In the semi-finals she faced off
against 2013 Tournament of Champions winner Colby Burnett and 2011 Tournament
of Champions winner Roger Craig in the most competitive semi-final game. Pam
had the toughest matchup of any finalist, facing off against six Tournament
of Champions winners.
Pam, Colby and Roger were among the eighteen players to compete in the
Jeopardy All-Star Games in 2019. Colby was a team captain and his first choice
for a teammate was none other than Pam. Pam helped drive Team Colby to the finals
where they were defeated by Team Brad (no surprise). She shared in a third
place prize of $100,000.
Tom, I should mention, was also invited to the Battle of the Decades and
had only a slightly easier time than Pam. In his quarterfinal game he had to
face off against Ken Jennings, then still a player and while he got in via a
wild card (Ken routed all comers) he then had to face off against Brad Rutter,
who trounced him in the competition. Both he and Pam won $25,000 for getting
that far. Tom had less luck in the Ultimate Tournament of Champions, losing to
Bob Harris in his only match.
Ever since I started watching the show regularly in 1992 I have followed
the College Championship with as much attention as regular play or any other
tournament. Over the years I’ve seen that some of the greatest Jeopardy players
of all time have been College Champions. And indeed in this year’s Invitational
Tournament viewers were reminded of this as they witnessed the return of
relatively recent winners such as Monica Thieu, Lilly Chin and Dhruv Gaur, all
of whom won during the 2010s and all of whom did very well in the Tournament of
Champions (and in Monica’s case, beyond)
With that in mind and with next year’s Invitational on the horizon I’d
like to use this opportunity to give a shout out to five previous College Champions
whose play in their tournaments and beyond have ranked them as among the greatest
in Jeopardy’s history. They are also among the biggest argument that the
College Championship should resume whether in regular play or prime time.
Phoebe Juel, 1993 College Champion, Grinnell
Phoebe was one of the first College Champion I saw play and was also one
of the very best at every level. She was a junior and first showed the
brilliance I’ve seen in years and decades to come when she utterly dominated
her opponents to runaway with Tournament and win $28,000 (the winner was
guaranteed at least $25,000 but if they won more in two games they kept the
cash)
Six months later she was competing in the Tournament of Champions and spent
the quarterfinals in a battle to the death with Ed Schiffer, who’d won more
money than any player in the 1992-1993 season. Ed won but Phoebe got a wild
card spot. In the semi-finals she had a significant lead going into Double
Jeopardy but Tom Nosek managed to have a lock in Double Jeopardy – which was
fortunate for Tom because Phoebe was the only player who had a correct response
in Final Jeopardy. Phoebe left with $5000.
In 2005 she like many of the other players below returned to the
Ultimate Tournament of Champions. Her play was literally flawless – she gave
sixteen correct responses and no incorrect ones. But she finished second to Steve
Berman and was unable to answer Final Jeopardy correctly. She went home with
$5000.
She was invited to compete in the Battle of the Decades: the 1980s (many
of the competitors were from the 1990s) She faced off against Frank Spangenberg
and Mark Lowenthal, the winner of the 1988 Tournament of Champions. Her play
was by far the best: she gave twenty correct responses, got both Daily Doubles
in Double Jeopardy right and went into Final Jeopardy ahead. Unfortunately, the
Final Jeopardy category was COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD and it was tough:
“Once a poor British protectorate, in 2012 this peninsular country
ranked as the world’s richest per capita.” Nobody was able to come up with the
correct response: Qatar (Phoebe guessed Singapore) Phoebe wagered the most by a
good margin and as a result she went home with another $5000.
One of my fondest memories of Phoebe came when she told Alex she used
some of her winnings to buy a samurai sword. And I always loved that during the
UTC when they showed clips of players in their original appearance Phoebe gave
something of an eyeroll that Alex picked up on: “I looked so young!” she said
to him. Alex assured her she still did. (She looked young in 2014 too.)
Shane Whitlock, 1996 College Champion, University of Arkansas
When Shane had his first appearance on Jeopardy I was on the verge of
going to college. He wasn’t much older than me at the time – he was a junior
and he played very much with the confidence of a veteran in the College Championship.
He ran away with the College Championship and won an impressive $32,800, and a
new Volvo. He had not yet begun to play.
In the 1996 Tournament of Champions he got into the semi-finals by wild
card and faced off against Mike Dupee, the eventual winner of the Tournament going ahead on correct responses on both Daily
Doubles in Double Jeopardy. However Final Jeopardy went very badly for him as
he was the only player to risk anything and he went home with $5000.
Almost a decade later he returned to the UTC and while he didn’t do as
well as Pam Mueller, it wasn’t for lack of trying. He nearly ran away with his
first round victory, managed to eke out a spot in the quarter-finals in a very
tough win and faced off against Frank Spangenberg in a battle in the
quarterfinals. A Daily Double in that game has lingered in my memory ever
since.
He had $5600 when he found the second Daily Double in ALSO A MUSICAL
INSTRUMENT, exactly half Frank’s total at the time. He bet it all:
“Greek muse whose name means ‘beautiful voice’
Shane paused: “Who…is…Calliope?
Alex: “Is that a guess?”
Shane: Yes.
Alex: You’re right.
Shane was actually ahead of Frank going into Final Jeopardy that day and
the question was incredibly difficult. Frank was the only one to guess
correctly and if you see online, he was stunned when it happened. Shane left
with $50,400.
In 2014 he was one of five potential slots for the fan favorite in The
1990s Battle of the Decades and he was the one chosen. When Johnny announced it
during his match, he mouthed ‘thank you’. He faced off against Robin Carroll
and Bob Harris in what was an incredibly tough match for all three players. Shane
at one point in Double Jeopardy was in first but lost all his money on a Daily
Double. He rebuilt and finished with $10,000 a comfortable lead but not quite
a runaway as Robin had $5600 and Bob had $6000. That not runaway match cost
him as Robin was the only player to come up with a correct response in Final
Jeopardy. He went home with $5000.
A favorite story of mine came during his quarterfinal in the UTC when he
told Alex that prior to his appearance he’d gone on a bachelor party with a
friend and ‘before he took the figurative plunge, they all took a literal one’
and when skydiving. However, he made it clear that still wasn’t as scary
as being in this tournament.
Vinita Kailasanath, 2001 College Champion, Stanford
Vinita was one of the last winners on Jeopardy to play before the dollar
figures were doubled (they did so a week after her victory here) A junior she
easily won her quarterfinal and semi-final matches, then narrowly emerged
victorious to win $50,000 and a Volvo.
However in the definition of life is what happens when you’re making
other plans, she was unable to participate in the 2003 Tournament of Champions.
The show invited her to participate in the 2004 Tournament which she accepted.
She managed a narrow victory in her quarter-final and went into Final jeopardy in
the semi-finals with a narrow lead.
Then came Final Jeopardy. The category was PULITZER-PRIZE WINNERS: 1 of
the 2 novels, both Southern, that won the Pulitzer for fiction and became Best
Picture Oscar Winners.” Her opponents both guessed one of the correct response:
“What is Gone with the Wind?” Her guess was The Yearling which
was nominated for Best Picture and was written by a Southerner but did not win
the prize. As a result she went home with $10,000 and Russ Schumacher went on
to the finals and eventually won.
Less than six months later she was back on the Jeopardy stage for the
UTC, facing off against Steve Robin and David Sampugnaro, two writers. Vinita
played brilliantly throughout but was in second going into Final Jeopardy.
The category was SINGERS: “This man who often criticized the government
was named for the president elected in 1912, his birth year.” Vinita wrote
down: “Who was Brian Wilson?” Wilson was the President elected in 1912 but the
singer in question was Woody Guthrie. No one was close to a correct response
but Vinita wagered the least and this time she got to the next round. She was
trounced in Round 2 by Brian Moore.
She was invited back to the Battle of the Decades in 2014 as part of the
2000s. Unfortunately in her first round she was up against Ken Jennings and I
don’t think I have to say anything else. Ken ran away with the game early and
Vinita went home with $5000.
Vinita mentioned to Alex in that last match that she still had the Volvo
she won in 2001 but that she called it ‘the Jeopardy mobile’. I doubt she still
has it but I can imagine she didn’t want to get rid of it.
Kyle Hale, 2002 College Champion, Texas A & M
Kyle was a senior at the 2002 College Championship and was dominant in both
his quarterfinal and semi-final matches and he led every moment from start to
finish in both games of the final. So good was he, in fact, that he exceeded
the $50,000 grand prize for the College Championship, the last player ever to
do so for any College Championship (it’s harder to do now that the limit is
$100,000) He played well in the 2003 Tournament of Champions but due to circumstances
beyond his control, he was eliminated in the quarter-finals.
Less than two years later, however, he was competing in the Ultimate
Tournament of Champions – one of the youngest competitors in the entire field.
He faced off against Pat Healy and Bernie Cullen, whose success on Jeopardy was
dwarfed by being one of the handful of contestants to win a grand prize during
the original run of Who Wants to Be A Millionaire.
Kyle was leading throughout the Jeopardy round and actually finished
Double Jeopardy in the lead before a judges reversal on a response given by
Bernie in Double Jeopardy put him in front. It came down to Final Jeopardy where
the category was HISTORICAL PLAYS.
“If I were to dress as a woman, they would think of me as a woman…What
would become of me?” is a line from this 1923 play.” No one knew the correct
response which was Shaw’s Saint Joan. (There is a famous line as related
by Alex was: “If I dress as a woman, they think of me as a woman. If I dress as
a soldier, they think of me as a soldier.” Being in second helped Kyle as he
wagered conservatively and ended up winning the match over Bernie. He was
eliminated in the next round but not before relating how he had actually gotten
a job when he told someone he was on Jeopardy and that ended up being enough to
get him hired. As Alex said: “The power of Jeopardy!
Erin McLean, November 2010, Boston University
Erin competed in what would be the second of two college championships
in 2010. A sophomore at the time she played very well throughout both her
quarterfinal and semi-final appearance. Much of her play in the final was
overwhelmed by the poor play of her competitor Hans Von Walter, who finished Double
Jeopardy of game 1 with the somewhat incredible score of -$6000. (He did better
in Game 2).
Erin managed to qualify for a wild card spot in the 2011 Tournament of
Champions. However she then faced off in the semi-finals against Tom Nissley winner
of eight games and over $230,000 in his original run, then highwater marks for
Jeopardy champions. Like Shane she would be among the five contestants voted on
for fan favorite but Tom Nissley once again beat her out. She landed the role
of alternate (the spot in case any of the fifteen competitors was unable to
actually compete) but hasn’t been back on Jeopardy since.
Erin has been involved in many game shows over the last decade, from Who
Wants to Be A Millionaire to 25 Words or Less? Indeed as of this
writing she was one of the initial competitors in Pop Culture Jeopardy with
Sam Spaulding and Hans Von Walter, the two students she defeated in the College
Championship. (Jeopardy players don’t hold grudges for very long.)
I think its worth wrapping up this article to let you know that Brad
Rutter related that he tried out for the College Championship when he was still
in class. According to him he passed the test but didn’t make it to the final
round “perhaps because I talked too much about my shot glass collection…I was
bitter for a while; I’m not going to lie but it all worked out in the end.” For the biggest money winner in game show
history, it certainly did.
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