Alex Trebek had dark hair when he took the Jeopardy! stage for the first time. Trebek was in his mid-40s then, tasked with leading the rebooted game show into a new decade.
Over the years, his dark hair grayed. Trebek’s trademark mustache, which he shaved on a whim in 2001, became an American institution just like the show Trebek hosted.
After announcing his stage IV pancreatic cancer diagnosis last March, Trebek continued hosting the show. Despite the pain and fatigue of cancer treatment, Trebek’s performance never faltered, his acumen never waned, his abilities seemingly unaffected by cancer or its treatment.
Alex Trebek was a constant. Through 36 years and more than 8,000 episodes, Trebek was omnipresent. Only one episode of Jeopardy!, a 1997 April Fool’s edition hosted by Pat Sajak, aired without Trebek behind the lectern.
Trebek’s cancer diagnosis made something we all knew — that, one day, Alex Trebek would no longer be the host of Jeopardy! — very, very real. Reality socked us in the gut Sunday morning when Trebek, 80, passed away due to complications from pancreatic cancer.
Not content with the havoc its wreaked through 10 months, 2020 added to its resume as the heavyweight champion of worst years ever by taking Trebek away from his family, his friends, and the legions of Jeopardy! fans who grew up and grew old with the legendary host.
I was a city kid until age 11, when my mother and step-father moved me out of the city and into the middle of nowhere. There were no houses within half a mile, a very jarring experience for someone who had lived his entire life a stone’s throw away from many of his friends. The isolation was incredibly difficult. I struggled. Badly.
So I turned to television. What else could an 11-year-old do in 1996? There were countless channels on the satellite TV service my mother and step-father had ordered, but it was a quiz show on one of our local channels that caught my attention.
My mom would regularly comment on the speed — and accuracy — of my answers. She told me I needed to try out for the show once I was old enough. I wasn’t sure if I would be fast enough to hang with the titans of trivia I saw on my television.
I found a chance to test myself a couple years later. High schools across the nation have various names for their trivia competitions, but good ol’ Wittenberg-Birnamwood High called it Quiz Bowl. I made the team freshman and sophomore year, captained the “B team” my junior year and led the “A team” as a senior. (I would have made it to the “A team” sooner, but the captain was a year older than me … and absolutely brilliant.)
Quiz Bowl scratched the itch Jeopardy! created. In reality, we were a bunch of teenagers with a ticket out of class, so we did our fair share of screwing around. But WBHS was known for having a good Quiz Bowl team and we didn’t disappoint.
High school graduation may have separated me from “active competition” but it only drew me closer to Jeopardy!. I found it on my local television once again and provided questions to Alex Trebek’s answers from a dorm room at UW-Green Bay.
Thanks to jobs and other obligations at the end of my time in college, it became harder to watch Jeopardy! on a regular basis. But I always caught it when I could. As my 20s faded into my 30s, Jeopardy! helped me bond with some of the most important people in my life.
And now, in my mid-30s, Jeopardy! is a mainstay. I often start dinner around 5:30 so I can sit down with my food in time for Jeopardy! at 6:00.
That is precisely what I did tonight. Dinner was leftovers from the weekend so I had plenty of time to settle in for what was sure to be the most emotional episode of Jeopardy! I’ve ever watched.
Jeopardy! producer Mike Richards opened the show with a statement about Trebek’s passing. He closed with, “This … is Jeopardy” as the camera panned out to reveal the show’s full set. The set lights dimmed in memory of the Jeopardy! community’s loss and my eyes welled up.
And then … that familiar music hit. Alex Trebek came onto the stage. I felt a sense of familiarity, of comfort, of excitement for the game that was about to begin. For a moment, reality disappeared and Trebek was still with us.
And that is how it will be for the next seven weeks. As Richards said at the top of tonight’s show, Trebek’s remaining episodes will air as taped, just as Trebek wished. There are 34 more chances to hear Johnny Gilbert welcome Trebek to the stage, 34 more Final Jeopardy! clues, 34 more times Trebek will ask us to join the Jeopardy! team again tomorrow.
Trebek’s time as the captain of the good ship Jeopardy! comes to a close Christmas Day. That episode will conclude with a farewell message Trebek taped prior to his death. Get ready to spend Christmas night ugly crying.
Alex Trebek was family and millions, including me, will mourn his loss accordingly. There will never be another like him.
I wish you could join us again tomorrow, Alex. So long, and rest easy.
