In May 2002 not long before
Jeopardy would air its 4000th show Jeopardy would hold its first
every truly significant million dollar tournament. Appropriately enough it was
called the Million Dollar Masters. Set at Radio City Music Hall just months
after the attacks of 9/11, it was a special tournament in every way even if,
like myself, you didn't know as much about the history of Jeopardy.
The eventual winner, as Jeopardy
fan knows, was Brad Rutter beginning the long streak of almost two decades of
unparalleled success on Jeopardy which would make him the winningest player in
game show history, still with more money even than Ken Jennings.
We've now had two Jeopardy
Invitational Tournaments in which three of the participants, Robin Carroll,
Rachael Schwartz and Chuck Forrest were invited back. Brad Rutter participated
in this year's Masters. In previous entries involving potential invitees back
I've dealt with a few of them, the majority involving the Battle of the
Decades: The 1980s and the 1990s. One participant in that tournament India
Cooper tragically passed away several years ago.
The
that remain qualify under what should be considered postseason veterans.
And I do use the term 'veterans'. Five
of them have participated in at least this Tournament, the Ultimate
Tournament of Champions and the Battle of the Decades. Some of them have participated in even more
tournaments than that stretching all the way back to Super Jeopardy, the show's
first attempt to do a primetime tournament in the summer of 1990. It failed and
there was only one season: the show didn't try anything primetime again until after
the passing of Alex Trebek in 2020.
When I was first attempting to
determine who the 100 greatest Jeopardy players of all time were all of them
immediately made the cut and in none of those cases was a difficult choice.
Having seen them play in just those tournaments alone it didn't take an expert
to consider them among the greatest players in game show history. Most of them
were already among the list of all-time Jeopardy greats before the
Million Dollar Masters and in many cases, they would keep proving it well
after.
I've gone over some of them at
least once or twice before but I think it's worth going into more detail now
and for the purposes of this article I will keep it within the context of their
play in the postseason games I saw them play. They've already come back
multiple times I don't think we'd mind seeing them come back yet again, even
though I imagine some of them are approaching the age of the Sam Buttrey's of
the world. And considering how great he was, that's a better reason to bring
them back.
LESLIE FRATES
I just missed Leslie's original run
on Jeopardy during February of 1991 as I didn't start watching the show
regularly until December of that year. That meant I also missed her appearance
on that year's Tournament of Champions.
Both were pretty good by the
standards of 1990s Jeopardy. She won $56,099, won in her quarterfinal match and
was actually ahead going into Final Jeopardy of her semi-final game which was
so difficult it stumped the contestants and Jim Scott ended up moving on to the
finals which he would eventually win. I have, however, seen every game she's
played since in the postseason – and that actually started before the Million
Dollar Masters.
She was one of eight randomly
picked players to participate in the 10th anniversary Tournament
held immediately after the 1993 Tournament of Champions. In her semi-final
appearance she managed to get 34 correct responses (against six incorrect ones)
and runaway with the game. It was one of the most dominant performances I'd seen
to that point. In the two game final she faced off against Tom Nosek, who had
won the Tournament of Champions that year and Frank Spangenberg, who we'll be
discussing below. After the first game she was in a distant third with $100 to
Frank's $600 and Tom's $13,600.
Almost from the start the second
game was fight between Leslie and Frank. Leslie was superb again giving 24
correct responses and only 1 incorrect response. She finished Double Jeopardy
ahead with $13,000 to Frank's $8100 and Tom's $4000. But because of Final
Jeopardy (which I'll go over below) she ended up finishing in third and leaving
with $7500.
Invited back to the Million Dollar
Masters, she competed against Chuck Forrest and Eric Newhouse in what was one
of the greatest games in Jeopardy history I'd seen to that point in nearly a
decade of watching it. Leslie managed to give 20 correct responses and only one
incorrect response. Chuck gave 24 but got three incorrect. (I'll deal with Eric
below.) Leslie finished with $21,700 to Chuck's $16,000 and Eric's $10,000.
The Final Jeopardy category was
FAMOUS SHIPS. "In 1999 the wreck of this ship known for its historic 1912
rescue effort was discovered 120 miles off England." All three players
knew the vessel: "What is the Carpathia?" Leslie, however, risked the
least of them and finished with $22,000. That was more than sufficient to get a
wild card spot.
She faced off against Brad Rutter
and India Cooper in the semi-finals in what very well was a critical moment in
Jeopardy history. Brad put forth arguably his greatest performance in Jeopardy
to date: he gave 33 correct responses and swept three categories. Leslie could
only ring in 13 times. But one of them was the last Daily Double of the game. She
had $9400 to Brad's $17,600. She wagered $9000. There was huge applause from
the assembled for Leslie's taking this risk:
"Van Gogh & Kandinsky were
in this modern art 'show' named for the NYC military building where it was held
in 1913." Leslie said with joy: "What is the armory show?" She
took the lead away from Brad for the first time – and she would have it by a
hair, going into Final Jeopardy with $20,400 to Brad's $19,600 and India's
$3800.
The Final Jeopardy category was
PULITZER PRIZE WINNING-BOOKS. "One of its title studies is Senator Edmund
Ross' 1868 vote against convicting President Andrew Johnson." All three
players knew the book: Profiles in Courage.
India wagered nothing. Brad bet
everything he had. After Leslie's response was revealed she said: "Can I
change it?" She had bet nothing. Brad had won the finals and his date with
destiny was to follow. (I'll show you how that might have changed in the second
part of this article.) Leslie went home with $25,000.
For whatever reason Leslie was not
given a bye going into the Ultimate Tournament of Champions. (Seven of the
players who participated in the Masters did though not all of them were for
that reason.) Instead she played in the very first game in that tournament
against Michael Galvin, the first ever Teen Tournament winner and Eric
Terzuolo.
The Jeopardy round was an even
fight between Eric and Leslie. Leslie found both Daily Doubles in Double
Jeopardy. The first gave her $3500. She gambled and bet $6000 on the next one –
and this one killed me because I knew what it was at home.
The category was LITERARY CROSSWORD
CLUES 'S': "What Requiem for a Nun is to Sanctuary (6
letters) Leslie didn't know it was a sequel to the William Faulkner work
(don't ask how I did) and she dropped from the lead and finished in second
going into Final Jeopardy. She was the only player who didn't know the correct
answer to Final Jeopardy and left with $5000.
If you read my piece on Leszek
Pawlowicz in the Battle of the Decades you know she faced off against him and
Andrew Westney in another thrilling battle in which yet again she was the only
player to get Final Jeopardy wrong and left with another $5000.
Considering that Leslie was a
Spanish Teacher once listed in Who's Who Among America's Teacher (her
introduction one year) that she was always fun to watch and that she's around
Sam Buttrey's age, I think she should be invited back right now.
BOB HARRIS
Bob Harris is one of the great
Jeopardy players in history who's gotten a lot of mileage on being a truly
terrible Jeopardy player. To be fair his period of being a terrible player
occurred in his Tournament of Champions appearance and it was really bad.
But there were, as they say, extenuating circumstances.
Bob's original appearance in the
fall of 1997 was a solid one: $58,000 and two Camaros. Less then three months
later he was in the 1998 Tournament of Champions – and as he recounted in
numerous publications, he was suffering from a horrible case of the flu. So bad
that in his quarterfinal appearance he finished with $1600 at the end of Double
Jeopardy. But he got Final Jeopardy correct and finished with $3200. Even he
was shocked that was enough for a wild card spot. But he managed to earn his
spot in finals with a brilliant semi-final game.
Then he ended up[ against Dan Melia
and Kim Worth in the finals. After Final Jeopardy in Game 1, he had no money.
He spent much of Double Jeopardy in Game 2 in the red and only got out of the
hole on the last clue of the round and he started to play to the audience:
"Thank you!" Dan ended up beating him but he didn't hold a grudge:
many years later as an online minister he presided over Dan's wedding. Bob was
probably surprised to get the $10,000; after how he played, he no doubt didn't
think he deserved that.
Bob was a comedian and radio
commentator and after his appearance his show became syndicated as a result,
which he attributed to Jeopardy. He still didn't expect to be invited back to
the Million Dollar Masters, which is understandable. That said in his quarterfinal
against Rachael Schwartz and Frank Spangenberg he played like a Master -- though so did his three opponents. Bob
gave 21 correct responses in which he revealed his knowledge of LATIN AMERICAN
HISTORY, AFRICAN CAPITALS and how to spell Warren Harding's middle name. He
finished with $15,800 to Frank's $19,200 and Rachel $10,100.
The Final Jeopardy category was
ESPIONAGE: "He was born in India; his father worked for the British
Government & he was nicknamed for a Kipling character." Rachel and Bob
knew this referred to Kim Philby. Frank – well, I'll get to that. Bob's wager
of $4200 was enough to get him to the semi-finals.
In the first semi-final he ran into
Eric Newhouse who he would later say he had never seen anyone that quick on the
signaling device. His highpoint came halfway through Double Jeopardy when he
had $6400 to Eric's $18,700 and he found the first Daily Double in SHAKESPEARE.
Bob: "I get to say this in
front of 6000 people. Let's make it a true Daily Double!"
There was mass applause and he
bowed to the assembled.
"He has the nerve to woo a
widow beside her father-in-law's coffin, but she marries him anyway." He
shouted: "Who is Richard III?"
There were more cheers. He could
never quite close the gap but he stopped Eric from running away with it. He
more than earned the $25,000 he got for that appearance.
By the time of the Jeopardy
Ultimate Tournament of Champions not just for his play but his personality. His
first appearance was relatively early in the first round and he faced off
against Frank Epstein and Tom Cubbage. He was in second at the end of the
Jeopardy round, went back and forth with Tom for the lead in a match with a lot
of triple stumpers, a whopping ten of them in Double Jeopardy. Bob pulled
ahead of Tom on one of the last clues of the round and Tom couldn't close the
gap. Still it was close: Bob led with $12,200 to Tom's $11,600 and Frank was in
last with $7600.
The Final Jeopardy category was
SHAKESPEAREAN ROYALTY. "Kings Edward IV & Edward V, the future
Henry VII & the corpse of Henry VI appear in the play named for him." Now
if you remember that Daily Double you might figure out that the play was
Richard III and indeed all three contestants did know it. Bob, however, bet
everything he had and won $24,400.
Bob then appeared in the fourth
match of Round 2 against Bruce Borchardt and Michael Daunt, who I referred to
in my articles on the Ultimate Tournament of Champions. The Jeopardy round was
a close one between all three players but in Double Jeopardy it very quickly
became a back and forth between Michael and Bob. Bob would retake the lead
after a near sweep of the category 1970s POP MUSIC and finish with $17,200 to
Michael's $16,000 and Bruce's $8400.
The Final Jeopardy category was
INVENTED WORDS. "In works by Lewis Carroll, this word means "four in
the afternoon; the time when you begin broiling things for dinner." Both
Bruce and Michael knew the word was: "What is brillig?" Bob then
recited almost two whole stanzas of Jabberwocky before saying: "And
I wrote down teatime." It wasn't his most humiliating performance in a
Jeopardy tournament but it had to have been excruciating for him personally. He
had to go home with another $10,000 while Michael advanced to the
quarterfinals.
Over the next several years Bob
published several books, including what is considered one of the quintessential
books about Jeopardy by a contestant Prisoner of Trebekestan." (The
book would itself be a correct response to a clue on Jeopardy.) It's
publication was no doubt a reason Bob was invited back to participate in
the Battle of the Decades: The 1990s but only he would tell you it was the only
reason he came back.
Bob faced off against Robin Carroll
and Shane Whitlock in what was the most painful game for all three players.
None of them were at their best: all of them started in the red at one point in
the Jeopardy round and none had strong moments. Bob gave 14 correct responses
and 4 incorrect ones but that was relatively strong compared to Shane's 16
correct ones and 3 incorrect ones (including a Daily Double that cost him
everything) and Robin's 14 correct responses and six incorrect ones.
As always Bob demonstrated his
ability for performance, cheering himself when he got out of the red and
applauding the writers when they gave a clue that stumped the three of them and
saying: "Nice! Nice!" At that point in his career, he could afford to
be generous.
By the end of Double Jeopardy Shane
was in the lead with $10,000 to Bob's $6000 and Robin's $5600. The Final
Jeopardy category was 4-LETTER WORDS. Alex said: "That sounds easy. Or is
it?" As with everything else in the game – and indeed the Tournament
overall – it was anything but.
New research says this word that
has become ubiquitous dates back to young men also called 'macaronis'.
Robin was the only one to figure it
out: "What is 'dude?" As Alex said: "From Yankee Doodle, got
shortened to 'doodle', got shortened to dude."
I'll let Alex set the scene:
Alex: Bob you stared and stared and
stared and you're still staring.
Bob: "It's happened before.
His response was revealed:
"What is Stud?"
(After the laughter diminished)
Alex: "Wishful thinking, are
we?"
Bob's defense was almost worth a correct
response. "It's a kind of dude!"
It cost him everything he had.
Shane couldn't come up with anything at all and Robin managed to win and move
on to the quarterfinals. Bob left with $5000 and us laughing.
On top of everything else Bob's
abilities both as a contestant and an entertainer made me consider him as a
possible host for Jeopardy when Alex Trebek passed away and Ken Jennings
was reluctant to first take to job. Considering the two never had occasion to
play against each other I'd like to see the two meet for that reason as well.
ERIC NEWHOUSE
Eric was the original Jeopardy
wunderkind. When he was a junior he won the 1989 Teen Tournament, winning
$28,100 for his troubles. In that year's Tournament of Champions he managed to
advance to the semi-finals in an easy win and was actually ahead going into
Final Jeopardy of his semi-final appearance. But in a tough final that no one
got right, he ended up losing to Rich Lerner who would go on to lose to Tom
Cubbage.
Eric's next appearance was a little
more than six months later on Super Jeopardy. In a set up that involved four
players competing against each other In a quarterfinal match. He played
superbly and ended up in second place trailing only Richard Perez-Pena, a five
game winner from 1987.
The Final Jeopardy category was
EXPLORERS. "When he died in 1957, he was buried with full military honors
at Arlington National Cemetery." Eric was the only player to know the
correct response: "Who is Admiral Byrd?" He advanced to the first
semi-final match against two finalists from the 1987 Tournament of Champions,
Eugene Finerman and Bob Verini.
The Jeopardy round was a back and
forth battle for the lead between Eric and Bob but in Double Jeopardy a Daily
Double went against Eric and he fell into third place. Bob went on to win the
semi-final and Eric went home with $10,000.
Nearly eight years later Eric
returned to Jeopardy in yet another unprecedented tournament: The Teen Reunion
Tournament. Similar to the High School Reunion Tournament of 2023, Bringing
back participants from the 1987, 1988 and 1989 Teen Tournaments Eric was the
only invitee who had actually won the Teen Tournament he had participated in.
In an awkward format he ended up playing in a one-game winner take all final
against Chris Capozzola, a semi-finalist in the 1988 Teen Tournament and David
Javerbaum, the runner-up in that very tournament to winner Michael Block.
The match was even all the way
through and Eric only went into the lead when he found the last Daily Double
just a few clues before time ran out. Still it came down to Final Jeopardy.
The category was THE SUPREME COURT.
"At the time of his 1902 nomination to the Supreme Court, he was Chief
Justice of Massachusetts." (The tournament was filmed in Boston.) Eric was
the only player who knew the correct justice: "Who is Oliver Wendell
Holmes?" That clue made him $50,000 richer.
By the time of the Million Dollar
Masters Eric had won $93,100, second only to Tom Cubbage of the most money won
by any winner of a special tournament (Teen, College, Seniors) in postseason
play. That was no doubt a major reason that Eric was the only previous winner
of a special tournament selected to play in the Million Dollar Masters. He more
than lived up to it. I've talked a bit about Eric's play in the two previous
entries so now I'll go into more detail.
Eric knew playing against Chuck and
Leslie in the quarterfinal how tough he had. Indeed before selecting his first
clue in Double Jeopardy he addressed his third place finish by saying:
"Yeah, I'm still here!" He knew he'd been lucky to get the wild card
spot but no one – certainly not me – expecting him to give such a 'Powerhouse
Performance' For much of the Jeopardy round he was the only player with any
money at all. By the end of it he had $11,100 to Bob's $2000 and Leslie's zero.
He gave 31 correct responses and only three incorrect responses, one of which
was a Daily Double in Double Jeopardy that cost him just $2000. He finished
with $25,500 and huge applause. He didn't sweep any categories but he got four
out of five in three and in Double Jeopardy, five of the six $2000 clues. For
all that he still didn't have a runaway going into Final Jeopardy with $25,500
to Bob's $14,800 and Leslie's $2800.
The Final Jeopardy category was IN
THE DICTIONARY and it was more literal than usual. "In his dictionary,
Samuel Johnson self-effacingly defined this job title in part as 'a harmless
drudge'" Eric knew it was: "What is a lexicographer?" and ended
up going on to the finals. To top it off, he did so on his 29th
birthday.
I'll go into somewhat more detail
on the two game final in a later entry but Eric was going up against two
Tournament of Champions winners: Brad Rutter and his rival from Super Jeopardy
Bob Verini. In Game 1, he struggled hard against Brad and Bob most of the way.
He was only able to give 12 correct responses and three incorrect responses and
couldn't find a Daily Double. At the end of Double Jeopardy he had $7600 to
Bob's $10,600 and Brad's $15,800. No one could get Final Jeopardy correct and
Eric, out of necessity, wagered the most. At the end of Game 1 he had no money
to Bob's $6800 and Brad's $11,800.
In the Jeopardy round he did what
he needed to do, particularly when he got to the Daily Double first. He bet the
$2200 he had in GULFS. "This gulf, also called the Gulf of Bac Bo, had a
1964 congressional resolution named for it." He knew it was the Gulf of
Tonkin and doubled his score. He finished the round with a narrow lead: $7200
to Brad's $5600 and Bob's $2800.
What happened in Double Jeopardy
will be described later but basically Bob got hot and Eric cooled off. He only
gave six correct responses and got one wrong. He finished with $12,800 to
Eric's $13,600 and Bob's $400. (I'll explain that in Bob's entry.)
The Final Jeopardy category was
VICE PRESIDENTS. "He was the only vice president to be elected to, and
serve, 2 full terms as president." All three players knew the correct
response: "Who is Jefferson?" Brad won, and Eric finished in second
with $100,000.
Understandably Eric was given in a
bye into the second round of the Ultimate Tournament of Champions because of
that second place finish. And like many of those players who received byes he
struggled against two players – in this case Steve Berman and Shane Whitlock –
who already had one win under their belts. He was in a distant but not
impossible third with $3800 to Shane's $5600 and Steve's $7400 at the end of
the Jeopardy round. He had moved up to $8200 when he found the first Daily
Double in ABBR. He bet $4000.
"4-letter abbreviation for the
agency that investigates all the USA's civil aviation accidents."
Eric thought and guessed:
"What is the NTSA?" It's actually the National Transportation Safety Board,
so it would be NTSB." After that and an even bigger failure on the
next Daily Double he dropped to zero and he was lucky to finish Double Jeopardy
with $400. He gave 17 correct response but six incorrect responses and that was
the real difference. The fact that he got Final Jeopardy wrong didn't matter
and he left with $25,000.
Eric was one just two participants
in the Million Dollar Masters who didn't participate in the Battle of The
Decades and its unclear if he was deliberately omitted or declined the
invitation. Of the eight people on this he is by far the youngest: 52 as of
this writing. I'd like to see if he's still a powerhouse.
FRANK SPANGENBERG
Until this tournament if people had
said who the greatest Jeopardy player of all time was, Frank would have been at
the top of the list. It may seem hard for those in the post Ken Jennings era to
fathom but for the first twenty years of Jeopardy Frank Spangenberg was Ken.
Not an exaggeration. In January of 1990, he set the all-time record for most
money won in five games, $102,597. In fact he was good that they actually
changed the rules. Back then, the most a player could win was $75,000 and
whatever went over went to charity. When Frank won that much money – and he
also set the one day record by winning $30,600 on his final day – they decided
to change the rules the next year and you could keep whatever you won. Ken
Jennings owes him a huge debt for that. That five day record I should add stood
from January 1990 until April 2003, by which point the dollar figures had been
doubled. (I'll get to who broke in a later entry.)
Six months later Frank appeared on
Super Jeopardy and was leading going into Final Jeopardy, losing to Eugene
Finerman. Less than six months after that, he appeared in the 1990 Tournament
of Champions. He won his quarterfinal match and in the semifinals he was
trounced by Larry McKnight and Erik Larsen. Larry went on to the semi-finals;
Frank went home with $5000. So far the postseason had not been kind to Frank.
Redemption came in the 10th
Anniversary Tournament. In a dominant semifinal match against Lionel Goldbart
and Robert Slaven, he moved on to face Tom Nosek and Leslie Frates in a two
game final.
In the Jeopardy round of Game 1
Frank was magnificent and had $4400 to Tom's $800 and Leslie's $200. But in
Double Jeopardy Tom and Leslie made a remarkable recovery and Frank had $7800
to each of their $6800 at the end of Double Jeopardy. Tom was the only one to
get Final Jeopardy correct and as a result had a big lead: $13,600 to Frank's
$600 and Leslie's $100. I dealt with the second game in Leslie's entry so now
I'll deal with Final Jeopardy.
The category was WOMEN PLAYWRIGHTS.
"1 of 3 women who won the Pulitzer prize for Drama in the 1980s."
Frank was the only player who knew one of them: "Who is Wendy Wasserstein
(for The Heidi Chronicles). The other two were Beth Henley for Crimes
of the Heart and Marsha Norman for 'night, Mother'. Frank would win $41,800 and as Alex put it
back then, bragging rights for the best player in Jeopardy history. And even
after other players such as Robin Carroll surpassed him in terms of money won,
Frank still had a good reason to hold the title going into the Million Dollar
Masters.
No one questioned Frank's presence
at the Million Dollar Masters; the fact that he was a lieutenant in the NYPD
helped make give him a home field advantage of sorts in the first quarterfinal
against Bob Harris and Rachel Schwartz.
The Jeopardy round was close: Bob
finished with $7000, Rachel with $6000, and Frank had an impressive $4800. In
Double Jeopardy he and Bob divided up most of the correct responses in the
round pretty evenly. Late in Double Jeopardy he had an impressive $22,800.
However he then got the last two clues in NEW YORK TIMES ARTS AND LEISURE wrong
and Rachel got them right. This led to a $3600 swing and Frank finished the
round with $19,200 to Bob's $15,800 and Rachel's $10,100.
I mentioned Final Jeopardy in Bob's
entry. Frank gave the only incorrect response: "Who is John Le
Carre?" (If you know Le Carre's background, there's a certain
appropriateness to this response. Frank was playing to win and lost $12,401.
His hope for a wild card spot was over by the end of the third quarterfinal and
he went home with $10,000 and by the end of the tournament Brad Rutter was now
the official biggest money winner in history.
Almost three years later to the day
Frank returned to Jeopardy given a bye into the second round of the Ultimate
Tournament of Champions – and came very close to a face-off with Ken Jennings.
His first appearance was in one of
the last games of Round 2 and by the end of the Jeopardy round he had a lead of
Paul Gutowski and Bev Schwartzberg that he never relinquished. He ran away with
the game at the end of the round and would win $25,800, the fourth highest
total won by any Round 2 winner. Only Dan Melia, Jerome Vered and Phil Yellman
won more during that round.
Frank faced off against Shane
Whitlock and Grace Veach, both of whom I wrote about in my series on the
Ultimate Tournament of Champions. Frank was in the lead at the end of the
Jeopardy round and he and Shane went back and forth for the lead throughout Double
Jeopardy with Shane pulling ahead in the final stages. At the end of it he had
$18,400 to Frank's $17,200 and Grace's $10,000.
The Final Jeopardy category was
FAMOUS PAIRS: "Now meaning nearly identical, these 2 names were applied to
rivals Handel and Bononcini in a 1720s British verse." Frank, as Alex
said, wrote down his response quickly: "What are Tweedledee and
Tweedledum?" (He reversed the usual order.) He wagered almost everything
and had $34,399. Shane wrote down: "What are Tit and Tat?" and an
astonished Frank moved on to the semi-finals to eventually face Jerome Vered
and Pam Mueller.
In the Jeopardy round of Game 1
Frank struggled and finished with $2800 to Jerome's $5400 and Pam's $6600. In
Double Jeopardy one of the categories was revealed to be NICKNAMES OF NEW YORK
CITIES and you could hear Frank laugh at that and the joy when he picked the
clue. He wasn't laughing as hard after the $800 clue:
"The Summer Vacationland &
Winter Wonderland." Frank had no idea it was Lake Placid. Slightly
humbled, he picked the $1200 clue in that category where the first Daily Double
was. He wagered $2000:
"The Nickel City." It
took him a long time before he said: "What is Buffalo?" After that
Alex actually said: "I fear you guys might be trying to overcomplicate
this category."
Frank then got the $1600 clue
correct. "The Crystal City (Corning) and the $2000 clue correct. "The
Birthplace of the Union." "Albany." This put Frank in the lead
with $8400. Unfortunately for him that was the highpoint of the game for him,
he finished with $6800 to Pam's $14,200 and Jerome's $19,600. He got Final
Jeopardy right to move into second place with $13,500 to Jerome's $23,100 and
ahead of Pam's $10,000 but he had some ground to make up at the end of Game 1.
In the Jeopardy round of Game 2 he
managed to finish the round in the lead with $6200 to Pam's $5200 and Jerome's
$4200. In Double Jeopardy he was doing well in the category NAME THAT DICTATOR
(even Alex laughed reading it for the first time) and found the first Daily
Double in the $1600 clue there: "Indonesia 1945-1967" Frank knew it
was Sukarno, not Suharto and added $4000 to his total. Pam would tie him late
in Double Jeopardy but Frank would never not have a portion of the lead
throughout Double Jeopardy and finished with $18,000 to Pam's $16,800 and
Jerome's $7800.
But as I wrote in an earlier
article luck was on the side of Jerome in the Final Jeopardy of Game 2. Frank
couldn't even come up with a response in Final Jeopardy and he lost the most of
the three players. He would finish in second place and win another $30,000. His
final total for his time on Jeopardy was $105,199 – the most that anybody who
didn't make to the finals won in that tournament.
By this point it would have been
stranger if Frank hadn't been invited to the Battle of the Decades: The
1980s. I've mentioned his match in regard to Phoebe Juel and Mark Lowenthal
several months ago so I'll review by saying that Frank started slowly in the
Jeopardy round, finishing at $2400. He played superbly in Double Jeopardy, not
giving a single wrong answer during that round. The category he did best in was
2-LETTER SPELLING in Double Jeopardy, though each time he had to remember to
spell the clue. (So did everybody, for that matter.) The $2000 clue:
Scrabble players looove this
basaltic lava." "What
is A-A?" (And we do.) He finished in second place with $14,000 to Phoebe's
$17,100 and Mark's $10,400. All three players got Final Jeopardy incorrect but Mark bet the least. As a result he moved
on to the quarterfinals and Frank left with $5000.
Frank's influence on Jeopardy
continues to this day in the influence he had on other contestants. One such
player was Cindy Stowell, who mentioned him as an associate prior to her six
game run in 2016. (Tragically Cindy was suffering from Stage IV cancer and had
been given a prognosis she had months to live.) He's always been one of the
most distinctive looking players with a handlebar mustache that would not be
out of place on a nineteenth century policeman. Personally I'd love to see him
back.
To prevent this post from getting
any longer, I'll divide it into two parts. The conclusion will deal with the
other four competitors in the Masters.
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