Who is the greatest "Jeopardy!" player of all time?
Over a 74-game winning streak in 75 episodes, we watched Ken Jennings -- the 30-year-old Salt Lake City software engineer -- dismantle his competition on the famed trivia game show, "Jeopardy!" On Tuesday, Jennings' consecutive streak ended on the "Final Jeopardy!" answer: "Most of this firm's 70,000 seasonal white-collar employees work only four months a year."
Jennings incorrectly asked, "What is FedEx?" and minus his wager, he fell to $8,799; real estate agent Nancy Zerg correctly responded, "What is H&R Block?" to finish with $14,401.
Though Zerg now sits atop the "Jeopardy!" throne, Jennings is in our hearts and minds. The man was a machine on the show. He won over $2.5 million, his average daily winnings were $33,636 and his one-day total of $75,000 will likely never be surpassed.
Jennings was born in Edmonds, Wash., but grew up in Seoul, South Korea, where he lived for 11 years. Then, he moved to Singapore for four years, where his father worked for an international law firm and then as Asia Pacific division counsel of Oracle Corporation. Overseas, Jennings was first exposed to "Jeopardy!" on the Armed Forces Radio and Television Services.
Jennings' responses were somewhat heroic to those who watched him every day. I must admit, I've always enjoyed watching "Jeopardy!" but it wasn't until Jennings came along that I waited for the 4:30 p.m. time slot to fill my life with joy.
Not only did he win, he won easily. Often the game would be over before "Final Jeopardy!" so Jennings would spice up the show by calculating a wager that would amount to an even, nicely rounded total.
As an engineer, you expected him to dominate the scientific and mathematical categories, but he also controlled pop culture, sports and hodge-podge categories.
His quirky antics and modest attitude were almost as captivating as his wealth of trivia knowledge. Each day Jennings wrote his name in a different way, with styles ranging from simple block letters to artistic dots. As Jennings became more comfortable atop his throne, he loosened up and entered the homes of many Americans on a daily basis using polite gestures and awkward attempts at comedy.
Jennings also brought "Jeopardy!" out of a slight lull and increased ratings 22 percent over his run. He put life back into the long-running game show. Host Alex Trebec's hair even got a few shades darker.
Jennings provided a playmate for Trebec, and witty and playful banter between the two enlightened the atmosphere.
Jennings looked up to past "Jeopardy!" champions such as Myron Meyer and Brian Weikle, but he was always hesitant to break records and respectful of the game's history. Jennings didn't carry the attitude of most professional athletes and stayed grounded in his run at greatness.
He also inked endorsement deals due to his appeal. H&R Block, Microsoft and Encarta have all approached Jennings for endorsements. Seeing that taxes could cut up to $1.045 million into his grand total of $2,522,700, Jennings may well need the money.
Some may argue that Jennings is not the greatest champion of all time because only through the change of rules that allowed players to participate for more than five consecutive days was he able to amass such an amazing total, but even past champions could not have endured as Jennings did.
For us nerds, he isn't just a game show player; he is one of the "Greatest Champions of All Time" for $200.
Ty Thompson is a journalism sophomore. Buzz him at tyler.w.thompson@asu.edu.
