This is Jeopardy: Stories from the Teachers Tournament, Part 1

 

 

If you grew up watching Jeopardy you got used to hearing Alex Trebek say who made up the best group of Jeopardy champions: teachers, students and lawyers. The facts certainly bear it out: I long gave up counting how many Jeopardy champions in my lifetime were one of the three.

In one of the great acts of appreciation to those underpaid, much stressed works in May  2011 Jeopardy staged its official Teachers Tournament. There was in the material very little that was different among the average Jeopardy game but all of the participants were teachers, whether elementary school, middle school or high school. There was no difference in format either from tournaments for College or Teen Tournaments: the winner would receive $100,000 and get to participate in the next Tournament of Champions.

The Tournament lasted until the end of the decade when both Covid and the passing of Alex Trebek brought an end to it as well as all other special tournaments. (The Professors Tournament won by the legendary Sam Buttrey was for college professors.) There hasn't been a demand to bring it back and considering that educators were still playing 'real' Jeopardy during this period, there's no motivation to do so. Still it was always enjoyable to watch, showed a vast array of knowledge and produced some truly magnificent champions.

The most successful by far was Colby Burnett who won both the 2012 Teachers Tournament and the 2013 Tournament of Champions. I've written about him extensively in previous articles and he's returned to the show just this past year to participate in the first Jeopardy Invitational Tournament – where he lost to Sam Buttrey. So in the spirit of fall and going back to school, it's worth paying note to the winners of these Teachers Tournaments and the marks they made in Jeopardy beyond that. None were quite as successful as Colby but that didn't mean they weren't at the top of the class.

 

Class of 2011

Charles Temple, a High School English Teacher from Ocracoke, North Carolina

 

Charles made his debut on the fourth game of the inaugural Teacher's Tournament May 5^th. He didn't make a good first impression in the Jeopardy round, struggling against third grade teacher Sally Umbach who led throughout the entire round. Frankly he was lucky to be in second place with $2800 to her $6100 at the end of it.

Then in Double Jeopardy starting with the second clue of the round. He was in the lead with $9200 when he found the Daily Double in EPONYMS: "To abstain from buying or doing trade with, in honor of an Irish landlord against whom such tactics were used." He knew it was Boycott and moved up to $11,600. He finished Double Jeopardy with $22,800, more than three times his nearest opponent, moving on to the semi-finals easily.

His semi-final match was slightly tougher as he spent the Jeopardy round in a battle to the death with two fellow high school teachers, Kathy Casavant and Matt Polazzo but they struggled in Double Jeopardy and he didn't make a single mistake. Still Kathy had $12,000 to his $21,800 going into Final Jeopardy.

The decisive category was 20^th CENTURY NOVELS. "A Girl from a Different World' & 'Train to the Urals' are chapters from this 1957 work. In this case it helped to be an English Teacher because he knew it was Doctor Zhivago. He moved on to the finals against another high school English Teacher Larry DeMoss and a high school Latin Teacher Lori Kissell.

Game of the final was a cutthroat affair as all three players were at the top of their game. At the end of Double Jeopardy of Game 1, Charles was in second place with $12,800 ahead of Larry at $11,000, trailing Lori who had $14,300. The Final Jeopardy category was AFI LIFE ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS.

"They're the only father and son to receive the AFI's Life Achievement Award – dad in 1991, son in 2009." Both Charles and Lori knew the correct pair: Kirk and Michael Douglas. (Larry thought it was the Reiners. Lori went even bigger than Charles in betting and at the end of Game 1, Lori was ahead with $26,300 to Charles's $18,800. Larry not that far out of range with $7000.

Charles managed to move ahead early in the Jeopardy round when he found the Daily Double in, appropriately, FAMOUS EDUCATORS. Already leading he bet $2000:

This high school teacher was involved in a little trial in Dayton, Tennessee in July 1925. " He knew it was Scopes" and built a lead he never relinquished. He gave 25 correct responses and responded correctly on all three Daily Doubles. And as a result he had $24,500 to Larry's $7000 and Lori's $4600, officially locking up the Tournament.

It's a good thing Final Jeopardy didn't matter because it was as tough as any one would see in a Tournament of Japan. The category was MONARCHS. "In March 2011 he gave his first televised speech in 22 years on the throne, saying he hoped things would get better." I had no idea what monarch he was referring to and neither did Charles. He wrote down: "Who is Abdullah? (of Jordan). Larry had the right idea: "Who is the Emperor of Japan?" But they couldn't except that. It referred to Akihito who was addressing the nation over the nuclear disaster at Fukushima Daiichi. (It had occurred in March of 2011, not long after the show would have been filmed. It only cost him $125 and he became the first winner of a Teachers Tournament.

Charles appeared in the first quarterfinal of the 2011 Tournament of Champions. Unfortunately one of his fellow quarterfinalists was Tom Nissley. At that point in Jeopardy history Tom was third on the all-time money list with $235, 405, trailing only David Madden and Ken Jennings on the Jeopardy leaderboard. (Ah the early 2010s.) Back then in order to beat Tom you had to be perfect and he had to have a bad day. And in Charles's case, he sadly was inadequate to task: giving 15 correct answers but eight incorrect answers. He was lucky to be around for Final Jeopardy with $400 and it says something for how things had gone that before reading his response in Final Jeopardy Alex said gently:  "Not a good day in school for you today."

A correct response in Final Jeopardy could have given redemption but that was not to be the case, though to be fair, it was a tricky one. The category was WORLD CITIES: "A member of the Hanseatic League, this city with a 4-letter name was once known as the 'Paris of the Baltic'. Charles wrote down: "What is Oslo?" Tom knew it was: "What is Riga?" The road came to an end early for the first winner of a Teachers Tournament.

 

 

CLASS OF 2012

PATRICK QUINN,  a high school German Teacher from Chesterfield, Missouri.

There were actually two Teachers Tournaments in 2012. One took place in February in Season 28 and another took place in November in what was Season 29. This might have had to do with sweeps month more than anything else.

Patrick appeared in the first quarterfinal match of February 2012 competing against Elissa Hoffman, a high school biology, anatomy and physiology teacher from Appleton, Wisconsin and John Botti, who taught high school history and English in Bethesda, Maryland. He would only take the lead from John at the end of the Jeopardy round, $6800 to $5800 and while he had an early chance to put the game out of reach in Double Jeopardy when he found the first Daily Double in ROCK DOCUMENTARIES:

"Title of Roger Waters' 1990 concert documentary filmed in Berlin." Patrick added one word too many: ""What is Behind The Wall when it was just The Wall. He dropped to $5800. He recovered and finished Double Jeopardy in second with $11,600 to John's $13,400. Elissa was third with $8200.

The Final Jeopardy category was U.S. STATES. "This third smallest state in area is home to the USA's third-oldest college."  Both Elissa and Patrick knew the correct state: "What is Connecticut?"  Alex told us: "You've got Rhode Island, Delaware, then Connecticut and you have Harvard, William & Mary and Yale." John wrote down: "What is New Hampshire?" (no doubt thinking of Dartmouth and as a result Patrick became an automatic semifinalist.

Patrick then appeared in the last semi-final game against Catherine Whitten, a high school history teacher from Piano, Texas and Mary Ann Stanley who taught chemistry and physical science in Statesboro, Georgia. It was a close game throughout and once again Patrick finished Double Jeopardy in second place with $11,800 to Mary Ann's $13,800 and Catherine's $6200.

The Final Jeopardy category was LITERARY BIOGRAPHIES. "Quoting a famous line of his, a 2011 biography of this man was title And So It Goes." Apparently none of these teachers had read Slaughterhouse Five because none of them came up with Kurt Vonnegut (Patrick thought it was Dickens.) However Patrick wagered the least of the three and that left him the last man standing. The two day final would be (as Alex put it) 'an all guy affair. Patrick would be up against Brooks Humphrey, a high school social studies teacher from Omaha and Justin Hofstetter, a sixth and seventh grade language arts and social studies teacher from Kansas City.

Game 1 was close one from the start with Justin leading in the Jeopardy round and Patrick coming from behind to take the lead on the last clue of Double Jeopardy. Justin had played the better game compared to Patrick: he gave 29 correct responses to Patrick's 12. However Patrick only gave one incorrect answer to Justin's 4 while Brooks stayed close all the way through. Patrick led with $11,600 to Justin's $11,200 while Brooks had $8800.

The Final Jeopardy category was U.S. MEMORIALS. It was tricky. "No day shall erase you from the memory of time' from Virgil's Aeneid, is inscribed on a wall in this memorial." As a native New York I'm somewhat embarrassed to say I didn't know it was the 9/11 memorial, so I can judge the three teachers for not knowing it either. Brooks lost $3000, Justin $6401 and Patrick lost $6011. (Talk about odd numbers. As a result it was still anyone's game. Brooks had $5800, Patrick $5589 and Justin $4799.

Game 2 was just as close as Game 1. Patrick played slightly better finishing with 16 correct responses and three incorrect ones. But once again Justin was dominant with 21 correct answers  - but six incorrect ones. Justin finished Double Jeopardy with $11,400 to Brooks's $8600 and Patrick's $8400.

Final Jeopardy dealt with THE 1960S. "On nominating this man in 1967, LBJ said: "It is the right thing to do, the right time to do it, the right man & the right place." Patrick was the only player to come up with a correct answer: "Who was Thurgood Marshall?"  Patrick wagered $8311, giving him $15,711 and putting him at $22,300 even. It was more than enough as Patrick won the February 2012 Teachers Tournament.

Patrick appeared in the last quarterfinal match of the 2013 Tournament of Champions. The lineup for this tournament was tough but Patrick wasn't facing the best players in it: Ashok Poozhikunnel, who won four games and $69,002 and Dave Leach, who won six games and $98,054.

The Jeopardy round started well for Patrick  as he managed to find the Daily Double and finished the round with a narrow lead: $4600 to Ashok's $4200 and Dave's $3200. Then in Double Jeopardy he got the $1600 and $2000 clues incorrect in BRIDE'S OF SHAKESPEARE and combined with the superb play of his fellow quarterfinalists couldn't catch up. He still had $5000 and a chance for a wild card or even a win if the two of them knocked each other out.

The Final Jeopardy category was one that would baffle all the most dedicated trivia buffs: THE 7 NEW WONDERS OF THE WORLD. It certainly baffled me though it didn't quite baffle Patrick. "On the new list chosen in 2007, this wonder designed by Heitor da Silva Costa is the only statue." Patrick had the right idea: "What is the Christ in Rio De Janeiro?" but that wasn't acceptable. Dave knew it was called Christ the Redeemer and he moved on. Patrick went home with $5000 – leaving Colby Burnett for future glory.

 

CLASS OF 2013

John Pearson, 4^th grade math teacher from Richardson, Texas

 

John managed to get further for other reasons than almost anyone else on this list so far for reasons that escaped me at the time. That being said it was clear he had a certain amount of game in his original appearance.

In his quarterfinal appearance against Maryanne Lewell, a high school history teacher from Canada and Becky Giardina, a 7^th grade social studies teacher from Martinez, Georgia John got off to a very fast start and the Jeopardy round and never relinquished his lead. He managed to narrowly runaway with the game by the end of Double Jeopardy but both his opponents had high enough scores for wild card spots. That would be critical in the finals.

In his semi-final game however, it was a different story. He managed to get to an early lead against Katie Moriarty and Timothy Shuker-Haines but he didn't play particularly well. While he answered 20 questions correctly he gave six incorrect responses. Fortunately neither of his opponents were much better and at the end of Double Jeopardy he had a narrow lead of $8700 to Timothy's $8400 and Katie's $4800.

The Final Jeopardy category was BUILDINGS and I have to say this was one of those occasions when I was very disappointed in these educators. This was particularly true for Timothy, who was a history teacher and who I thought would know better.

"Charles Evans Hughes laid the cornerstone for this building on October 13^th 1932 & got to work in it for about six years." No one was close to it with John writing down: "What is The Empire State Building?" Him I could slightly forgive but Timothy, seriously? You didn't know who the Chief Justices were? You had know either that Charles Evans Hughes worked in the Supreme Court Building for six years. (Editorial over.) Any way John won because he was the only player who didn't bet everything he had and was the last man standing. He would face his fellow quarterfinalist Becky Giardina and Mary Beth Hammerstrom, a high social studies teacher in the finals.

Redemption came in the finals though it didn't look like it would during much of Game 1. Mary Beth took the lead at the end of the Jeopardy round and maintained it throughout Double Jeopardy. At the end she had $16,000 to John's $8600 and Becky's $5000.

The Final Jeopardy category was U.S. PRESIDENTS and it was tricky. "The second man to become President who was never elected to the job, he twice ran for the position unsuccessfully."

Becky wrote down: "Who is Andrew Johnson?" which was incorrect. It cost her everything. John wrote down Andrew Johnson, crossed it out and at the last minute wrote down Filmore. That was correct. (He tried to get nominated in his own right by the Whigs in 1852 and ran as a third party candidate in 1856.) John wagered $6600. Mary Beth wrote down Chester Arthur and lost $5000. At the end of Game 1 John led with $15,200 to Mary Beth's $11,000.

In Game 2 John got a narrow lead at the end of the Jeopardy round. Early in Double Jeopardy he ran the category LITERARY OPENINGS on a run of eight correct responses. Only getting the Daily Double incorrect immediately afterwards stopped him from running away with the game early and despite the best efforts of Mary Beth to close the distance John had locked up the Tournament by the end of Double Jeopardy. For that reason we'll never know if he knew the correct response. What no doubt put him on the radar of so many people beyond Jeopardy was that he wrote down: "What is I love you Drew?" (his wife)

By a quirk of timing John ended up appearing on the 2014 Tournament of Champions almost  a year to the day after his first appearance on the show in what was the first quarterfinal match. By coincidence one of his competitors was Ben Ingram, who had won eight games and would go on to win the Tournament of Champions, along with Rebecca Rider who'd won five games and an impressive $101,600.  This didn't do much to unsettle John as he gave Ben a hell of a run.

He was competitive through much of the Jeopardy round though he struggled in Double Jeopardy. He went from $2000 to zero on one incorrect response, then got it back on another $2000 clue, then found the first Daily Double in THEY TURNED BY BOOK INTO A MOVIE. However he misunderstood the clue with Apocalypse Now when he said: "Who is Kubrick?" when they were looking for Joseph Conrad. He dropped to zero, then got the $2000 back when he remember Leon Uris wrote Exodus. His run of four correct responses in THE NEW YORK TIMES: POLITICS kept Ben honest As John finished with $8400 to Ben's $16,100. Rebecca had $6600.

Then came Final Jeopardy. The category was STATE HOLIDAYS: "This is the only state that honors a former U.S. Secretary of State with his own legal holiday." John was the only player who didn't know it was Alaska (Seward's Folly) He wrote down: "What is Maine and it cost him everything he had. He left with $5000.

John has not yet returned to Jeopardy but he did come close. Along with Lily Chin he was one of two alternates for the 2019 All-Star Game. I suspect his presence, along with Lilly's, had as much to do with their response in Final Jeopardy that went viral as their play in the Tournament. (Lilly famously wrote down when clinching her victory: "Who is the spiciest memelord?") However all the competitors were present for the tournament and John missed his chance to compete in the All-Stars – where he potentially would have faced off against the next person on this list.

 

CLASS OF 2015

Jennifer Giles

Third Grade English Teacher from Longmont, Colorado

 

Of all the players in this series Jennifer is the only one who already appeared in a Jeopardy postseason tournament where she got the chance to play against – and compete alongside – some of the greatest players in Jeopardy history. But one thing at a time.

Jennifer's first appearance on Jeopardy was on February 5^th 2015 in Game 4 of that year's Teachers Tournament. Her opponents were Mary Bayer, a middle and high school drama teacher from Hoffman Estates, Illinois and Chris Grinvalds, a high school history teacher and coach from Bennington, Nebraska. From the start of the Jeopardy round Jennifer was at the top of her game and she managed to pull ahead for good when she got hot late in Double Jeopardy and her opponents made critical mistakes. When she responded with the last correct response in SAINTS GO MARCHING IN for $2000, she went to $18,400 and locked up a semi-final spot. She didn't have to take Final Jeopardy seriously but she did.

The category was LISTS. "Efforts to save historic treasures threatened by the creation of the Aswan High Dam led UNESCO to create this list." Jennifer was the only player who knew the correct response: "What is the World Heritage sites (list)

Her semi-final appearance against Eric Hack, a high school Latin Teacher from Virginia and Kate La Riviere-Gagner a fifth and sixth grade from Starksboro, Vermont followed a similar pattern. Jennifer took an early lead in the Jeopardy round, held it through Double Jeopardy and managed to lock up the game by the end of it. Once again, she was also the only player to come up with a correct response in Final Jeopardy.

The category was BROADWAY MUSICALS. "Winner of a Tony for Best Musical, it culminates with an induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of fame." Jennifer was the only one who knew it was Jersey Boys and had her second consecutive runaway victory. The Finals against Cathy Farrel, a high school science teacher from Wyandotte, Michigan and Adam Elkana-Hale, a middle school math teacher from St. Louis, would be anything but.

In the Jeopardy round of Game Jennifer finished it a distant third with $3200 to Cathy's $4800 and Adam's $9800. Jennifer gained ground early in Double Jeopardy and was helped when Adam got a Daily Double incorrect It was a tight game all the way through. Jennifer moved into second place with $13,400, $200 behind Cathy, $400 ahead of Adam.

Final Jeopardy for Game 1 dealt with WORLD GEOGRAPHY. "Not in the 10 longest, this 1560 mile river in a fertile basin flows by 29 cities of over 100,000 people." Adam started out by writing: "What is The Jordan?", crossed it out and couldn't finish his response before time ran out. He lost $10,000. Jennifer wrote down the Danube, crossed it out and then wrote in the correct river: "What is the Ganges?" She add $9000 to her total. Cathy also wrote down the Ganges and added $5000. At the end of Game 1, Jennifer was in the lead with $22,400 to Cathy's $18,600 and Adam's $3000.

In Game 2 the Jeopardy round was much closer but Jennifer took the lead at the end of it with $5200 to Adam's $4400 and Cathy's $1800. She maintained that lead throughout Double Jeopardy finishing with $14,400 to Adam's $10,400 and Cathy's $9600. It came down to Final Jeopardy and it was one of the toughest ones I've ever heard.

The category was HISTORIC NAMES ON THE MAP. "Nothing is known of his early life in England before 1600 or the end of his life in North America after June 22,  1611." Now unless you live in New York – and honestly, even if you do – you probably wouldn't know that this clue refers to Henry Hudson. As Alex told is. "It was on the man's third voyage to North America. He was set adrift by mutineers. No one knows where he died." So its not only forgivable but understandable none of these teachers (none of whom taught history) would have come up with the name. (Jennifer wrote down: "Who is Walter Raleigh?")

As is the case, it came down to wagers Cathy bet everything she had. Adam bet $10,000 and Jennifer bet $8000.  Jennifer's two day total was $28,800 and that was more than enough to win.

That November Jennifer absolutely could not have had worse luck when it came to who she came up against as a quarterfinalist. It was Matt Jacksno who just two months earlier had marked his place in Jeopardy history with 13 wins and $411, 612, at that time both fourth all time in terms of games won and money won. Her other challenger was no slouch either: John Schultz who'd won five games and $104,500.

Jennifer was fortunate not only to survive that game but to do as well as she did: at the end of Double Jeopardy she was in third place but a more than respectable third with $10,400 to John's $17,800 and Matt's $24,900. Jennifer wasn't out of the running but she knew her best chance was probably a wild card spot.

The category was ABBREVIATIONS. "Its meaning as an individual product dates to 1966; its meaning as conforming to orthodox opinion dates to 1986."  None of the three players came close to a correct response. This isn't a brag because I have no idea how I figured out the abbreviation was PC (personal computer, politically correct) Jennifer bet and lost $6600, leaving her with $3800. The viewer at home already knew that would not nearly be enough for a wild card spot and she was going home with $5000.

Full disclosure: when it was announced that Jennifer Giles was going to be one of the 18 players asked back for the Jeopardy All-Star Games in 2018 I was baffled.  I had my issues with more than a few of the players invited back as All-Stars but Jennifer was the most difficult one for me to justify. I would have preferred one of the alternates Lilly Chin in her place had I known she'd been asked.  And when it came to drafting players as teammates Jennifer ended up being the last picked, ending up on Buzzy Cohen's team by default (he'd drawn the first choice and had selected Alex Jacob the winner of the 2015 Tournament of Champions.) I had no idea how she'd do in what was a completely new format.

A brief review of that format is necessary to explain how Jennifer did. To start there were two matches, each of which were two game total point affairs. The Team with the highest total at the end of the second game automatically would move on to the finals but the three highest scorers among non-winners would face off in a wild card game to determine the third and last Team.

 Before each game the teams would decide which player would go out for each round.  In the first match Team Buzzy faced off against Team Colby and Team Brad.  Jennifer was selected to play Final Jeopardy of the first game.

 

At the end of Double Jeopardy Team Brad had $29,800 to Team Buzzy's $26,200. Team Colby was in a distant third with $6400. The Final Jeopardy category was AFRICAN GEOGRAPHY.  Buzzy told Jennifer to 'have some fun out there' and to bet nothing. She did that, writing down: "I love you mom". Pam Mueller for Team Colby gave the incorrect response and lost everything and David Madden for Team Brad gave the correct response and added $20,000 to their total.

In the Jeopardy round of Game 2 Jennifer went out for the Jeopardy round, David went for Team Brad and Alan Lin went out for Team Colby. The only thing Jennifer did wrong, from the perspective of her Team, was she found the Daily Double way too early in STATE FACTS. It was on the third clue of the round and she bet the $1400 she had: "In 1999, in a nod to this facility named for a President, Brevard County Florida added 321 as an area code." Jennifer knew it was Cape Kennedy and doubled her score to $2800. After that Alan and David started to ring in repeated and the round was close. At the end of it Team Colby was in the lead with $5000 to Team Buzzy's $4000 and Team Brad's $3800. Jennifer had done her part.

Team Buzzy ended up qualifying for the Wild Card Spot against Team Colby and Team Austin. The Jeopardy and Double Jeopardy round were nailbiters all the way through and at the end Team Colby led with $19,600 to Team Buzzy's $17,200 and Team Austin's $15,600.

Jennifer went out for Final Jeopardy against Alan Lin for Team Colby and Leonard Cooper for Team Austin.  Unfortunately all three players found themselves against what was by far the most difficult Final Jeopardy in the entire All-Star Games.  The category was BRITISH LITERATURE:

A chapter of 'The Jungle Book' has this double-talk title, echoing the opening line of a Brit's poem some 100 years prior.

Jennifer was the only player to even manage to hazard a guess: "What is King King?"  The correct response, as Alex told us, referred to William Blake's poem "The Tyger". And the line – the chapter was 'Tiger! Tiger!"

Everybody bet very big in Final Jeopardy but Jennifer's team lost everything. Still considering Team Colby led with $7600 and Team Austin had $5200, a comeback was possible.

In Game 2 Jennifer faced off against Alan and Leonard again this time in the Jeopardy round. Much of the round was a dogfight between Leonard and Alan and Jennifer couldn't even ring in with a correct response until the thirteenth clue. In large part because Leonard responded incorrectly on the Daily Double Jennifer managed to finish the round in second place with $2200 to Alan's $6000 and Leonard's $2100. She had given her team a chance – which for reasons I won't go into here was lost by the end of Double Jeopardy. Team Colby went on to go on to the Wild Card and Jennifer would share in $75,000 split three ways.

Jennifer is more due a return than the three previous contestants because as of this writing she is one of only three participants in the All-Star Games who has not been invited back in a Jeopardy Invitational Tournament so far.  (The other two are Buzzy Cohen and Julia Collins.)

 

This is as good a time to end this part of the article because it would be nearly two years before the next Tournament of Champions occurred and by that time there had been two separate Teachers Tournaments. In the conclusion I will deal with the four remaining winners of the Jeopardy Teachers Tournaments and how they did in the postseason.