BABU SRINIVASAN
Eight months before the Million
Dollar Masters the 2001 Tournament of Champions took place. It was significant
for two reasons: it was the last one played before the dollar figures were
doubled and Brad Rutter would win it officially beginning his two decade streak
as Jeopardy's most successful player. What's frequently forgotten is that at
the time Brad was in the middle of
Jeopardy players in terms of winnings in that year's rosters with $55,102.
I'd long since given up trying to
predict who would win a Tournament of Champions but I know I didn't give Brad
much thought to getting to the finals. A player I was rooting and thought had a
better chance was Babu Srinivasan. That May Babu had won $75,100, the second
highest total of any player in the 2001 Tournament of Champions. I didn't think
he'd win but I figured he make it to the finals no problem. But in the
quarterfinals Brad dominated and won his match easily while Babu struggled the
entire game and was lucky to qualify via wild card.
Playing in the semi-finals against
Tad Carithers and Ryan Moore, Babu finished the Jeopardy round in third but
managed to pull ahead late in the round thanks to a near-sweep in the category
SERGEI EISENTSTEIN CINEMA. (Tournament of Champions, ladies and gentlemen.) But
when he got the penultimate clue of the round incorrect he fell behind with
$10,200 to Tad's $10,300. And that very well might have changed Jeopardy
history.
The Final Jeopardy category was
HISTORIC GEOGRAPHY. "Upon this nation's independence in 1903, it was
'moved' from one continent to another." Both Babu and Tad knew the correct
country: "What is Panama?" Had
Babu been in the lead he would have moved on to the finals. Instead he went
home with $5000 and Tad would end up facing – and losing – to Brad in the
Finals.
Babu got a chance for redemption
when he was invited to the Million Dollar Masters along with Brad. But in his
quarterfinal match against India Cooper and Robin Carroll, luck was against him
from the start. He spent much of the first half of the Jeopardy round in the
read and was in third with $400 at the end of it. He played much better in
Double Jeopardy but India dominated most of the game and when she responded
correctly on the Daily Double on the final clue, she had a runaway game with
$18,200 to Robin's $8800 and Babu's $6000. At that point Babu had no chance to
advance: even if he wagered everything and responded correctly his score would
still not be high enough for a wild card spot. That made the Final Jeopardy
followed more painful in a way,
The category was THE OSCARS.
"The 2 Best Picture nominees for 1983 that featured astronaut
characters." Babu was the only player who knew the correct response,
(Humble brag, so did I.) "What are The Right Stuff & Terms
of Endearment?' He did wager everything but it made no difference. India
moved on to the quarterfinals and Babu went home with $10,000.
Babu next appeared in the Ultimate
Tournament of Champions; in fact he appeared in the third game played against
Arthur Philips and Melissa Seal. He led the game from beginning to end,
finishing with $17,200 to Arthur's $12,800. Melissa trailed with $3000. The
Final Jeopardy that followed was among the most heartbreaking for all involved
I've ever witnessed.
The category was 1930s MOVIES.
"This film that originally hit the big screen in 1930 was re-released soon
after the German invasion of Poland." The correct response was: "What
is All Quiet on the Western Front?"
The rules of Jeopardy are very specific; you have to get the title of
works exactly right or be ruled incorrect.
Arthur wrote down: "What is All
Quiet on Western Front?" He was ruled incorrect. He lost $4000, which
left him with $8800. Babu wrote down: "What is All's Quiet on the
Western Front?" He lost $8500, leaving him with $8700. Arthur actually
said: "I'm so sorry Babu as he advanced to the next round and Babu went
home with $5000.
Babu was invited to participate in
the Battle of the Decades: The 1990s and his two opponents were also Million
Dollar Masters veterans Rachel Schwartz and Eddie Timanus. While it was close
in the Jeopardy round, Babu started going backwards in Double Jeopardy and was
actually in the red for a while. He finished with $2000 to Rachel's $10,500 and
Eddie's $14,400. I'll deal with Final Jeopardy in the next entry; suffice to
say Babu couldn't get it right and lost everything he had. Yet again he went
home in the first round with another $5000.
In addition to everything else Babu
is notable for being one of the first major persons of color to have a
successful track record on Jeopardy of any kind, paving the way for later
Tournament of Champions winners as Vijay Balse and Yogesh Raut. I think its
well past time for him to return.
EDDIE TIMANUS
In October of 1999 Eddie Timanus
made the best kind of history. He won five games and $69,700 far and away the
most money won by any player in the roster of the 2000 Tournament of Champions.
Indeed it was the most money won by any player since Dan Melia had won $75,600
back in September of 1997. I am now contractually obligated to tell you that
Eddie Timanus is totally blind. The only accommodation Jeopardy made for him in
his original run was to, at the start of each round, had him a list of the
names of the categories in Braille. In future tournaments they would make an
adjustment so that after a clue was read a soft sound would be heard notifying
him that it was safe to ring in. As Alex repeatedly reminded us: "Other
than that, he doesn't need any help."
Eddie's original run was one of the
most astounding in Jeopardy history but even with him being the biggest money
winner that year I had my doubts he could make it to the finals. He didn't but
it wasn't for lack of effort on his part. In his quarterfinal he pretty much
led from start to finish against Janet Wong and Jack Archey. None of them got
Final Jeopardy right and Eddie moved on to the semi-finals against Teen
Tournament Winner Chacko George and Jeremy Bate who'd won $55,000 that
February.
Eddie took the lead in the Jeopardy
round after running the category UN SECRETARIES-GENERAL (always a tough
category to do well in). Late in Double Jeopardy he was in a back and forth
fight for the lead with Jeremy and got to the last Daily Double in the category
MIDDLE NAMES with $6100 to Jeremy's $7000. He bet $2900:
"1960s Defense Secretary
Strange." He struggled before guessing: "Who is Dean Acheson?"
Honestly I'm not sure how I knew it was Robert McNamara and he dropped into
third. He was still in contention with $4200 to the $7200 Jeremy finished with,
while Chacko was in second with $4500.
The Final Jeopardy category was
WORLD LEADERS. "Early in the 20th century, he took one of many
pseudonyms, Nguyen Al Quoc, or 'Nguyen the Patriot." Eddie knew the
correct answer: "Who is Ho Chi Minh?" But so did Jeremy and he went
on to the finals. Eddie went home with $5000.
It was perfectly logical that Eddie
was invited back to the Million Dollar Masters and he played against Leslie
Shannon and Bob Verini in the fourth quarterfinal game. Eddie's biggest problem
in this game was that Bob Verini never relinquished the lead and never gave his
opponents much of a chance. When Eddie found the last Daily Double late in
Double Jeopardy in MUSIC APPRECIATION, he had $6400 to Bob's $16,600. He had no
choice but to "Make it true, Alex."
The other problem was this was one
of the toughest Daily Doubles in the entire tournament. "The name of this
small harpsichord may come from the Latin for 'rod' or the Latin for 'maiden'.
Eddie struggled before guessing: "What is a clavichord?" Alex then
told him: "No the Latin for maiden is virgo and upon hearing that
Eddie knew it was a virginal." (I've never heard of that term.) By that
point Bob would run away with the game and it was a moral victory for Eddie
that he was still competing in Final Jeopardy with $800. I'll deal with Final
Jeopardy in Bob's entry; for now I'll just say even Eddie knew he had gotten it
wrong and he left with $10,000 and a round of applause. He took it in good
spirits as Alex told him: "You can use that for your honeymoon,
Eddie." (He got married not long after that.)
Eddie did much better in each
subsequent Jeopardy appearance. Coming back to compete against Jean Grewe and
Jonathan Groff, Eddie struggled in the early goings of the Jeopardy round
finishing with $2400 to Jean's $4800 and Jonathan's $8400. He went up and down
a bit in Double Jeopardy but he finished with $9600 to Jean's $12,000 and
Jonathan's $18,000.
The Final Jeopardy category had to
do with THE 2004 U.S. ELECTIONS. "This woman received the third-highest
vote total of any candidate for all of the November 2004 elections." Eddie
knew it was: "Who is Barbara Boxer?" (Alex reminded us: "She ran
for the U.S. Senate and got over 6 million votes.") Jean didn't know it
but Jonathan did and he would move on to the next round while Eddie went home
with another $5000.
As I mentioned in the previous
entry Eddie competed against Babu Srinivasan and Rachel Schwartz in the Battle
of the Decades: The 1990s. In an curious coincidence not only had all three
players participated in the Battle of the Decades, all had been eliminated in
the first round. Furthermore all had lost their appearance in the Ultimate
Tournament of Champions. Someone was going to win today and for the entire
Jeopardy and Double Jeopardy rounds it looked like it would be Eddie who
finished with $14,400 to Rachel's $10,600 and Babu's $2000.
The Final Jeopardy category was
PRESIDENTS and it was a tough one. "He is the only 19th century
president to serve 2 complete terms with the same vice president." I knew
the correct President and it's far from obvious: James Monroe.
Babu guessed Grant. He lost
everything he had. Rachael guessed Cleveland. She lost $2600. Eddie guessed
Andrew Jackson – the closest chronologically – and it cost him $6700. He was
left with $7700 to Rachael's $7900 and by a margin of $200, she moved on to the
quarterfinals and he left with another $5000.
Considering the success other
players with different kinds of disabilities such as Ray Lalonde and Troy Meyer
have had in recent years, I think it's well past time to bring Eddie back. As
Alex point out he showed: "A disability need not be a handicap to your
success." And he did it with panache and humor.
BOB VERINI
I'll be honest the first time I saw
the Million Dollar Masters Bob was one of only two participants I knew nothing
about in advance and didn't think someone who'd won the Tournament of Champions
in 1987 would be as big a threat as he was. Of course back then, I didn't
really know Jeopardy like I do today.
In June of 1987 Bob won $46,802 in
five games - pretty close to the norm
for a five game winner in the early years of Jeopardy and well into the 1990s. He
won both his quarterfinal and semi-final match easily and then faced off
against Eugene Finerman and Dave Traini (both of whom he'd see again sooner
then you'd think) to win the Tournament of Champions that year.
A little more than three days later
he appeared in the first quarterfinal match of Super Jeopardy and managed to
run away with it by a comfortable margin. As I said he then played in the first
semi-final game against Eric Newhouse and his old rival from the Tournament of
Champions finals Eugene Finerman.
In the Jeopardy round he went back
and forth with Eric for the lead but took over in Double Jeopardy when he bet
everything on a Daily Double that had to do with MUSICAL THEATRE. He had a
commanding lead and responded correctly on Final Jeopardy. "In area, it's
the second largest country on the second-largest continent; both begin with the
letter 'A'. All three players knew the correct country: "What is
Algeria?" Bob then had to wait the rest of the summer to play in the
finals which was a one-game affair.
In the final he faced off against
his other opponents from the 1987 TOC Finals Dave Traini but the bigger threat
was a four day champion from 1988 who had $54,989 but had lost his quarterfinal
match. He and Bob went back and forth for the lead but Bruce responded
correctly on both Daily Doubles and went into Final Jeopardy with 28, 200
points to Bob's $16,900. (Dave went into the read in Double Jeopardy and never
came out.)
The Final Jeopardy that determined
it was THE 20TH CENTURY. "He was vice president of the U.S for
just 82 days before becoming President." Bob misread the clue and wrote
down: "Who is Tyler?" Bruce knew it was Harry Truman and won the
grand prize. Bruce would never be invited back to Jeopardy after this win and
would die of COVID Iin September of 2024 at 77, a footnote in Jeopardy history.
In the quarterfinal against Eddie
Timanus and Leslie Shannon Bob led pretty much from start to finish. He ran
away with the game so watching I also got a sense of what Alex said in the
interview about Bob having 'a little bit of show biz to him'. This became clear
during two clues that nobody responded correctly to:
MOVE BY CHARACTER FOR $1200
"In a 1959 film, Altair, Aldebaran, Antares and Rigel. (total legs 16).
After Alex revealed "Those were the famous four white stallions in Ben-Hur."
Bob: That's right!
Huge laughter.
POETIC LICENSE FOR $400:
"Britannica suggests that the out-of-wedlock children fathered by this
'Good Gray Poet' were imaginary. After it was revealed to be Walt Whitman, Bob:
"I'll bet they were imaginary." (Laughter again)
Bob ran away with the game with
$21,000 and Final Jeopardy was an exercise as Alex put it. But he still went
through with it. The category was U.S. CITIES:
"Founded in 1758, it's named
for a British prime minister who was a noted defender of the American
colonists." Bob knew it was Pittsburgh for William Pitt. He moved on to
the semi-finals.
He faced off against Chuck Forest
and Claudia Perry. Bob did not get off to a good start in the Jeopardy round,
at one point he was at -$1600. But he bore down and got out of the hole to
finish in second with $2400 to Claudia's $1400 and Chuck's $3800.
Bob didn't get a lot of clues right
in Double Jeopardy but critically he didn't get any wrong and when Claudia
erred on the second Daily Double late in the round, he moved into the lead
which he held onto. When he responded correctly in Final Jeopardy he initially
showed a poker face but when he emerged the winner he all but danced around the
stage to Alex. He would face off against Eric and Brad 'two men in their
twenties' in a two game final.
In Game 1 Bob stayed close to Brad
in the first half of Double Jeopardy but after Brad got rolling in the category
GRAMMAR SCHOOL, Brad put up an
insurmountable lead. Bob finished in second with $10,400 to Brad's $15,800 and
Eric's $7600.
The Final Jeopardy clue was one of
the toughest I'd seen on the show to that point. The category was WORD
HISTORIES. "In old philosophy this 12-letter word referred to a fifth
substance, superior to earth, air, fire or water." None of the three
champions knew what it was: Bob and Eric both wrote down: "What is
phlogiston?" (an old term before oxygen was discovered and it was wrong.
The correct word was quintessence. Bob lost $3600, leaving him in second with
$6800 to Brad's $11,800. Eric had nothing.
It's clear the final game of the
Million Dollar Masters was the most significant game in Jeopardy history to
that point in time and ironically for Brad Rutter his victory had less to do
with his play and more to do with Bob's. Because during the lion's share of
Double Jeopardy everything was going Bob's way. He nearly swept the category
CIRCUS & CARNIVAL CINEMA to take the lead away of Eric and had gotten four
of five $2000 clues correct when he found the first Daily Double in THEY'VE
BEEN BENCHED. He had $15,200 to Eric's $12,000 and Brad's $8800. He bet $5200:
"He resigned from the Supreme
Court in 1916 to run for president and was reappointed in 1930 as chief
justice."
I still vividly remember the moment
more than 20 years later. Bob said instantly: "Who is William Howard
Taft?" The audience began to applaud and then Alex said: "No. Who is
Charles Evans Hughes?" (I knew this
at home but couldn't profit from it.) Bob dropped to $10,000 and into second
place. He took it pretty well saying: "Hey…I'm surprised too."
Brad then moved ahead for the first
time in the game and was at $12,400 to Eric's $12,000 and Bob had gotten up to
$10,400 when he found the other Daily Double in 4-SYLLABLE WORDS. Bob then
threw up his arms and said:
"I came to play. I'm going
home with more money then I started with. All of it."
At the time, I thought he was an
idiot. These days, it's basically a given in any Jeopardy Masters no matter
what the circumstances.
This adjective referring to a
reversal of common sense comes from the Latin for 'before behind'.
Bob thought for a long moment and
said: "I don't know." It was preposterous." Nevertheless the
assembled throng of 5000 people gave Bob an immense ovation for his gutsy move
that he later said was 'high cotton'. As I said, he took it in good grace and
felt fine going home with $50,000.
Like Eric Bob got a bye into the
second round of the UTC by virtue of his finish in the Masters. Also like Eric he
struggled immensely against John Cuthbertson and Tad Carithers, each of whom
had the benefit of a win under their belts already. He was actually in the red
early in Double Jeopardy before he managed to slightly turn things around
halfway through the round. He was as high as $7400 before he started sliding
and finished with $3000 by the end of the round. With Tad and John within $100
of each other in the lead, he still had a chance if the two of them knocked
each other out in Final Jeopardy. That didn't happen and Bob went home with
$25,000.
He did far better when he
participated in the Battle of the Decades against Jerome Vered and Tom Cubbage.
He essentially led the game every moment from the beginning of the Jeopardy
round until the end of Double Jeopardy and in that round, he got to relive a key
moment when he found the first Daily Double in 1980s BOOKS:
Alex: You could say 'Let's make
it a true Daily Double.
Bob: Yes, I could, you rascal but I won't.
After the laughter had subsided, he
wagered $3000
Drug-fueled debauchery in New York
City takes up much of this Jay McInerney debut novel.
After correctly responding:
"What is Bright Lights, Big City?
Alex: Listen to the applause –
5000 people.
Bob: Yeah, a bit nicer outcome for
me, though…than then."
Bob actually slowed down and
finished Double Jeopardy with $14,000 to Tom's $13,000 and Jerome's $8400. Unfortunately
for him, he was the only one who did not have a correct response in
Final Jeopardy that day. Tom went on to the quarterfinals. Bob went home with
$5000.
Bob isn't a teacher the way so many
other great Jeopardy champions have been but he's pretty close. He's now the
academic director for a test preparation company in Los Angeles, which he's
been working for at least since the Masters when he was listed in part as 'a
test prep teacher'. Throw in the fact he actually dates back to the dawn of another
major game show – he was a finalist for the grand prize in The $50,000 Pyramid
– and there are many reasons to have Bob back
KATE WAITS
Compared to the majority of people
in this article Kate's track record isn't quite as impressive but she has appeared
in more variations of Jeopardy then you'd think and for a longer period.
Her original run in November of
1987 consisted of 4 wins that netted her $49,804. Because that last win was
just before the 1987 Tournament of Champions, she had to wait two weeks to come
back to see if she would become a five time champion. It's possible she lost a
step because she would lose in her fifth appearance to Michael Compton.
Then she had to wait almost an
entire year before she could appear in the 1988 Tournament of Champions. She
faced off against two tough players: Richard Perez-Pena and Bruce Naegeli. The
latter had won $64,200, at that point the second highest total any Jeopardy
player ever won. He almost ran away with the game but all three players managed
to advance to the semi-finals: Bruce winning outright, Richard and Kate via
high scores.
Kate ended up facing Michael Rankins
and Mark Lowenthal in the first semi-final match. Mark got off to a huge lead
in the Jeopardy round. Kate managed to make up a lot of ground early in Double
Jeopardy. She was at $4100 when she found the first Daily Double in 'A' IN
LITERATURE. She bet everything:
Set in the forest of Arden, this
comedy has more songs than any other Shakespeare play." The first words out of Kate's mouth
were: "What is All's Well that Ends Well?" The second she
finished, she wished she could have taken it back; she'd just remembered it was
As You Like It. She was down to zero. That should have been it for her.
Except it wasn't. Both Mark and
Michael struggled a lot in this game. Mark gave sixteen correct responses but
gave six incorrect ones. Michael gave ten correct responses and also gave six
incorrect responses. And at the end of Double Jeopardy Michael was in the lead
with $3000 to Mark's $2200 and Kate's $1200. Victory was not out of reach.
The Final Jeopardy category was THE
CIVIL WAR. "The bloodiest single day of fighting in the Civil War took
place in this state." Kate wrote down: "What is Pennsylvania?"
but she wagered nothing. Mark wrote down the correct state: "What is
Maryland?" (the battle of Antietam) and doubled his score. Michael thought
it was Pennsylvania to and Mark advanced to the finals. Kate went home with
$5000.
A little more than two years later,
she appeared in the second quarterfinal of Super Jeopardy against Frank
Spangenberg, Eugene Finerman and Brian Wangsgard. This match was closer then
many of the others and while Kate was in last place with 7900 points, she was
in contention with Brian at 9200, Eugene at 13,000 and Frank at 17,500.
The Final Jeopardy category was
U.S. PRESIDENTS. "The most ex-presidents, 5, were alive when he was inaugurated;
all had served one term or less." Eugene was the only one who knew it was
Lincoln (Kate thought it was Reagan) Eugene went on and Kate went home with another
$5000.
Kate originally lived in Albany, so
that may have been one of the reasons she was among those invited back to the
Masters in 2002 (four of those invited were either current or former residents
of New York State) In her match against Brad Rutter and Claudia Perry, Kate's
problem was she peaked too soon. She found the Daily Double early in the
Jeopardy round in MY FAVORITE FILMS and with $1400 she said: "Ah that
classic line let's make it a true Daily Double:
When you rent this 1970 biopic,
watch for Tim Considine as the soldier who gets slapped. Kate said: "I was watching it
just the other night; What is Patton?" and she went up to $2800.
But that was her high point she
finished the round with $3800 and only got two correct answers and two
incorrect answers in Double Jeopardy. As a result she was in a distant third with
$4200 to Brad's $17,800 and Claudia's $12,400. She responded incorrectly on
Final Jeopardy, lost everything and gained the dubious distinction of being the
first player eliminated from the Masters with $10,000.
Because she had only won four games
she was ineligible for the Ultimate Tournament of Champions and understandably
the show extended an invitation to Mark Lowenthal, the player who went on to
the win the 1988 Tournament of Champions instead of Kate. But she did make
another appearance on Jeopardy one year later, appearing on Sports Jeopardy in
February of 2015. (I have no record of how she did.)
Furthermore she has a reputation
for charity. She would give half of her winnings to help start a shelter for
battered women in Albany and she is (or was) a Professor in Woman's Studies at
the University of Tulsa. She was a bright star from the early days of Jeopardy
and I believe we should see some of those back while we still can.
One last note: five of these eight
players were or are educators. In addition to Kate and Bob, Babu is a history
professor in Houston, Leslie Frates was a former Spanish teacher and Frank Spangenberg
taught several classes at John Jay on route to getting a Master's in Public
Administration. And Eric Newhouse has worked as a director of technical
assistance for Alzheimer's – which as he says was a glamorous way of saying he
hits people up for money for research into fighting that dread disease. They
are class acts all the way and they deserve celebration for that as well as
their considerable accomplishment for decades of great play on what would
become the Alex Trebek Stage.
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