Jeopardy! champion Russ Schumacher pays tribute to Alex Trebek

Alex Trebek has been a part of my life for literally as long as I can remember, and the heartbreaking news of his death has brought back a flood of memories.

I started watching Jeopardy! as a young kid, and couldn’t wait to get home from school each day to see that day’s answers and questions. I tried out for the show and got the call in 2003 (17 years ago!) while I was a graduate student here at CSU. I still remember being in the studio for the first time, and as another former contestant, Brandon Blackwell, put it, “Ask any contestant – we’ll tell you it wasn’t being under the lights, walking onto the set, or getting in front of the cameras. The moment being on Jeopardy! finally hits you is when you see Alex Trebek in the flesh for the first time. Truly larger than life.”

Jeopardy! went on to pay for an engagement ring, a wedding, and a down payment on a house over the next few years, but I figured that was the end of it. (In the meantime, I had finished my Ph.D., moved away, and then moved back to Fort Collins again to work at CSU.) Then the “Battle of the Decades” tournament came around in 2014, and I got to see Alex and the crew again. And more importantly, to share the experience with a whole new set of friends and family, including our (at the time, very young) son.

Read the full Source article, “Jeopardy! champion Russ Schumacher’s tribute to Alex Trebek.”