Jeoparlore!: Remembering Burns Cameron and Other Notable Players of the Art Fleming Era
The former Jeopardy! champion and Super Jeopardy! contestant has recently passed away at 84 years of age. We're coalescing with his history on the iconic game show.
The Earliest Jeopardy! Legacies
When we think of Jeopardy! legends nowadays, we often think of the players with the best accolades. Perhaps the most cited example is Ken Jennings, the current co-host and holder of the longest streak and cash earnings in regular play, along with his two greatest rivals, Brad Rutter (highest-earning winner of all time) and James Holzhauer (one-day record holder). When we think of the earliest greats, we often think back to the early seasons of the Trebek era with players like Chuck Forrest, Jerry Frankel, or Bob Verini, the first three Tournament of Champions winners. Some players who often go under the radar, on the other hand, played in an entirely different era way before the revival of the show.
On March 30th, 1964, the very first ever episode of Jeopardy! aired on daytime NBC under the hosting of Art Fleming, 20 years before the syndicated Alex Trebek era came into fruition. The game was effectively the same as it is now, with two rounds featuring 6 categories with 5 clues per category, for a total of 30 clues each round, and one final round with one clue to determine the champion. However, the clue values in the first round ranged from $10 to $50 ($20 to $100 in the second round), which is 1/20th of the amount that they are now.
Over the course of approximately 20 months, the first two Tournament of Champions events had aired, with 9 players fulfilling each event. The first ever TOC, held in 1964, was won by Terry Thompson, a 5-day winner of $5,080 (which translates to $101,600 in current values). She is presumed to have won $3,510 more in her TOC, according to a Jboard post in a thread created by 2010 1-time champion Robert K. Schmidt.
Her next TOC-winning successor was Babs McClellan (deceased on February 26th, 2003 at age 74), who won 5 games and $5,250 in her run ($105,000 in current values) followed by $3,970 in the 1965 TOC. She also appeared on Jeopardy! again 26 years later in the Trebek era as a participant in the 1991 Seniors Tournament, a now defunct special tournament, where she finished in the semifinals to earn another $5,000. Two months following McClellan’s TOC victory, a new winner emerged who would go on to define this era of the show’s history.
A Champion of the Third Degree
On December 13th, 1965, Burns Cameron (born December 11th, 1938) stormed onto the show and swept his entire week of games through December 17th, smashing the assumed previous 5-day record of $6,000 held by 1964 TOC contestant John Murphy, with a total of $7,070, which translates to $141,400 in current values. His highest-earning total in these games was $2,750 in a single day, which amounts to $55,000 in current values.
He was subsequently invited to participate in the 1966 Tournament of Champions, held 10 months later, with his first appearance being his semifinal match on October 19th, 1966 against Bob Bovard and Fran Winnick. While he’s known to have won this match, it’s unknown how much money he earned in the game, and the two-day finals (total point affair) are also not publicly listed.
It is known that he ended up being the third person to win the Tournament of Champions that year, and that he took home $4,040 overall for an all-time total of $11,110, a record that is believed to have stood for the rest of the Fleming era’s entirety. Three years later, his 5-day record of $7,070 was broken twice, the first person being Elliot Shteir (September 25th, 1921-October 4th, 2000) who earned $8,230 ($164,600 now) in 1969, followed by Jane Gschwend with $8,250 ($165,000 now) in the same year.
Champions of Charity
The TOC held in 1969 was unique in that it featured an expanded format of 18 players, rather than 9. Shteir and Gschwend, the two biggest winners in regular play that year, both won their quarterfinal matches, though Gschwend was promptly eliminated in the semifinals and Shteir went on to the finals to finish in second place to winner and future game show producer Jay Wolpert (January 29th, 1942-January 3rd, 2022). Elliot Shteir would then reappear in the Trebek era during the 1995 Seniors Tournament (first of two held that year), where he placed second again to earn $10,000.
A few years later, on February 21st, 1972, Burns Cameron, Elliot Shteir, and Jane Gschwend reappeared on the 2,000th episode of the Fleming era to play for charity, as they were the three most notable players to date. Before the game began, they had the privilege of meeting with 2000 Year Old Man actor Mel Brooks, who appeared in character on screen to congratulate the three players.
The three top players of this era then went on to play a full game, earning a combined $2,120 for charity. Gschwend, the lone TOC non-finalist, had the most money, earning $1,000 compared to $700 for Cameron and $420 for Shteir. The Fleming era continued onward after this game until January 3rd, 1975, followed by a short revival of the show that aired for five months from October 2nd, 1978 to March 2nd, 1979.
According to another Jboard post, referencing an archived post from the original Sony Pictures message boards, Alex Trebek appeared once as a Celebrity Jeopardy! contestant in 1974, and a player under the name of William Tyman set a new 5-day record of $8,500, equating to $170,000 in current values, on February 4th of that same year. I was not able to verify this information on my own.
Burns Cameron’s Final Jeopardy! Appearance
In 1990, Burns Cameron was invited to a special primetime event called Super Jeopardy! to compete for a grand prize of $250,000. He was the lone representative of the Art Fleming era in a field of 36 players. He played the 5th quarterfinal game of the tournament against three other top players in Rich Lerner, Bruce Seymour, and Liz Caccese, the only Jeopardy! tournament to date that has featured 4 podiums.
The match was hotly and closely contested between the players, with the first place (Seymour) and third place (Caccese) players only being within 1,700 points of each other. Cameron was in second place before Final Jeopardy! and went on to answer the final clue in Literature correctly, betting it all. Bruce Seymour, however, was also correct and wound up winning the match by one point, eventually going on to win the top prize of $250,000. Burns Cameron took home $5,000 for finishing in the quarterfinals, finishing with overall career winnings of $16,110.
On Sunday, June 18th, Burns Cameron’s death was announced by his son Andrew and is reported to have passed away on June 12th. He was 84 years old and is often referred to as the best player of the Fleming era. The news surrounding his passing was the main inspiration for writing this article. He will be sorely missed but strongly remembered in the Jeopardy! community for however long the show continues to air.