Throwback Thursday: Jason Block Loses to Mark Eckard in Heartbreaking Defeat (2001); Ken Jennings Wins His 5th Game (2004)
Analyzing Jason Block's 5th and final game on Jeopardy!; Also, revisiting Ken Jennings's 5th game.
A Season of Seasoned Players
Long before the highly regarded lineup for the 2022 Tournament of Champions was a special TOC qualifying period filled with several worthy contestants who won multiple games. Before the J! Archive was introduced to the internet, before the 5-day limit was lifted, and even before the dollar amounts were doubled, there was a season of players so strong that many multi-day winners had to be displaced. Let’s rewind back to the aftermath following the conclusion of the 2000 Tournament of Champions, held in May that year, where Robin Carroll had won the first place prize over finalists Jeremy Bate and Steve Fried, becoming the second woman to win the TOC after Rachael Schwartz in 1994.
On June 7th, 2000, Jason Parker won his first game, followed by a second win the next day, exactly 23 years ago today. He went on to win two more games, with his fourth game worth $28,000 ($56,000 in current values) being the fourth-highest one-day total at the time. Despite the incredible momentum that was building throughout his run, he lost his 5th game as a result of missing all three Daily Doubles, along with the Final Jeopardy! clue, thus ending his streak at 4 wins and $59,800 ($119,600 in current values). Succeeding the conclusion of this game, then-host Alex Trebek remarked that “we might see [him] in the Tournament of Champions — we’ll just have to see what happens over the year.” And boy, did a lot happen over that year.
Before the end of season 16, Doug Lach (5x, $85,400) and Tad Carithers (5x, $60,400) became the first automatic qualifiers for the 2001 Tournament of Champions following their 5th individual wins. As season 17 began, we were immediately dwarfed with two more automatic qualifiers in a row within the first month; Michelle Clum (5x, $50,200) and Andrew Garen (5x, $56,100). Merely a month later, we were introduced to an obscure champion who went by the name of “Brad Rutter,” who won 5 games and $55,102. I don’t think he ever did anything related to Jeopardy! again following this run, but here’s a picture of him so you can remember what he looks like:
Once Brad’s benchmark 5-day streak was over, the 2000 College Championship aired shortly afterwards, which was won by Pam Mueller on November 21st. Over the course of the next six months, we had a great deal of 5-time winners and 4-time winners. The effect of the extended qualifying period from the usual year-long gap in between each Tournament of Champions grew more apparent, as the extra six months allowed for the roster to fill up at a much more brisk rate than usual.
By early June, there were already 12 players that automatically qualified for the 2001 TOC, with Jason Parker’s position then being at #13, despite Alex Trebek claiming that we might see him in the TOC that year. Along with Jason’s 4-day run, there were four other 4-time winners who evolved within that time period, with two of them (Mark Stacy and Sid Moore, Jr.) being out of the running due to being below 15th place for the qualifying period.
Meet Jason Block
Beginning the week of June 4th, there was a contestant named Jason Block who began his streak that Monday with a modest $4,000 win after running away with the game against champion Katie Sunseri and challenger Susan Canavello. After a hard-fought win in his second game, he ran away with his third and fourth games, looking well-positioned for a TOC spot at #14 with 4 wins and $36,701. He just needed a 5th win to get that guaranteed spot.
The final game of the week took place on Friday, June 8th, 2001, 22 years ago today. Jason was set and ready to go for his 5th win, facing off against challengers Scott Wetzel and Mark Eckard. A lot was at stake for Jason in this game, for a 5th win would grant him the 13th automatic bid for the 2001 TOC. He already had enough in his total earnings to surpass Richard Kolostian and Raj Choudhary, the latter of whom was knocked to #16 in the standings following Jason’s 4th victory.
Despite Jason’s rate of success by this point, it was pretty evenly matched between him and Mark at first, with Mark holding down the slight advantage after the first round with $3,700, compared to $3,000 for Jason. Scott was well-positioned with $1,900 as well. The Double Jeopardy! round, however, was a very favorable board to Mark throughout most of it, with him picking up $4,000 before finding the first Daily Double in the round, four clues before the round was over. By this point, the scoreboard was $7,700 for Mark, $4,800 for Jason, and $2,500 for Scott. Mark wagered $1,200 and answered correctly, bringing him up to $8,900.
With only three clues left in one category, as well as another Daily Double still being hidden on the board, Mark still had command before picking the $600 clue, which was answered correctly by Scott to bring his score up to $3,100. With two clues left, he picked the $800 clue… and it was not the other Daily Double. With this one clue determining who gets to play the Daily Double, it was imperative that one of the three players got it correct. In perfect convenience for Jason and giving himself the chance to sneak that 5th win, he rang in with the correct answer, meaning that he would be the one playing the Daily Double.
With his score at $5,600, compared to $3,100 for Scott and $8,900 for Mark, he bet $3,300 in hopes for a tie that forces Mark to go all-in during the final round. Of course, if he answered incorrectly it would give Mark the runaway he needed for a guaranteed victory. In a suspenseful reading of the final clue of the round from Alex, Jason quickly answered the clue correctly, catapulting him to the same score as Mark to the tune of thunderous audience applause. He was fighting for his 5th win by that point, as he had run into another TOC-level player that day.
The Final Jeopardy! clue was about Health & Medicine, and the clue was: “The USA's leading chronic illness in children, it causes 10 million missed school days & 1 in 6 of all pediatric emergency visits.” The correct answer was asthma, which was answered correctly by Scott for an additional $842 ($3,942), as well as Mark who bet the farm to bring his total up to $17,800. The only way Jason could win was a correct response and an all-in bet.
What’s notable about this particular era that differs from modern rules is that tiebreakers weren’t a thing in regular play, not until 2015. Even if Jason answers correctly and bets it all, both him and Mark win the $17,800, Jason retires as a 5-day champion and is guaranteed a spot in the 2001 TOC, and Mark would get to come back the following episode.
Jason bet everything he had, doing what he needed to do in order to tie Mark for that 5th win. His Final Jeopardy! response was… what is chicken pox? Groans were quickly exerted from the audience as his total dropped to $0, but then it quickly shifted to applause for Mark as he had won the game with $17,800. With this result, Jason stayed on the TOC leaderboard at #14 but was not guaranteed a spot at that point.
Immediately following Jason’s run, Mark went on a deep run himself, as he accumulated $55,500 in just 4 days, well surpassing Jason’s 4-day total and putting Jason at #15, right on the bubble of the TOC field at the time. In Mark’s 5th game, he did not pull off a runaway like he was able to do in the three games following his win against Jason.
With a score of $9,000 vs. $7,000 from his nearest opponent, Tom Daily, a lot was riding on this final clue. It didn’t phase Mark though, as he answered correctly to win with $14,100 for a 5-day total of $69,600, the third-highest earning total of the qualifying season. With all of this in mind, it shows even more how pivotal Jason’s last game 22 years ago was, as a correct response would have opened up the possibility of rematching against Mark.
Jason Block’s place on the board didn’t last much longer, as Lan Djang and Kevin Keach became the next two players of the qualifying season to win 5 games, putting both him and Jason Parker out of contention that year, arguably the most anti-Jason era in the show’s history. Alan Bailey and Mark Dawson were the last two players of the qualifying period to win 5 games, but were demoted to alternates for the 2001 TOC, for the limit of 15 players had already been reached. Both players appeared in the 2003 TOC, in which Mark Dawson ended up winning.
To close out this section, I wanted to take a moment to remember Mark Eckard specifically here, as he passed away on October 2nd, 2017. His final appearance on Jeopardy! was the 2005 Ultimate Tournament of Champions, and his all-time earnings amounted to $110,200 (183rd overall as of June 8th, 2023, 22 years after his first appearance).
Three Years Later On this Day…
On June 8th, 2004, current Jeopardy! co-host Ken Jennings played his milestone 5th game, entering the game with $126,201 in total earnings. After a big win in his first game of $37,201, which was almost lost on a Final Jeopardy! technicality, Ken had began going on a tear, earning three runaways in a row and adding $89,000 to his earnings. He was already pretty well-positioned for the 2004 Tournament of Champions, and could lose his 5th game and still probably qualify. It’s worth noting that the 5-day limit had been lifted for exactly 9 months by this point.
It was a pretty hard-fought match at first between him and challengers Corey Halgren and Paula Filson, as the three players ended the first round within very close range of each other: Ken at $6,600, Corey at $6,000, and Paula at $5,400. The second round was much more one-sided for Ken, however, as he picked up $1,800 on the first Daily Double and dominated most of the clues, grabbing another $24,000. Despite this impressive display of knowledge, Paula managed to grab the last Daily Double, wagering $8,500 and answering correctly in order to get within range of Ken’s score before Final Jeopardy!
It’s clear that Paula has to go for broke in order to beat Ken here, just as she had to do on the last Daily Double, and she did indeed wager all of her $17,500. If she was correct, Ken also had to be correct. Ken was not correct. On the other hand, no one else was correct either and thus Ken dropped $2,601 to win with $29,799 for a 5-day total of $156,000. With the 5-day limit lifted, Ken obviously got to keep going. For how long, you wonder? I don’t know, it’s not like I actually watch this show. Anyway, Sean Ryan and Tom Walsh only got to 6 wins and 7 wins respectively, so I can’t imagine Ken did much better. Perhaps I’ll have an answer next Thursday. Stay tuned!
Other Events That Occurred Today
2022 - Eric Ahasic wins his third game, after unseating 16-time champion Ryan Long.
2016 - Hunter Appler wins his first game before qualifying for the 2017 TOC.
2007 - Susan Mitchell wins her second game with $599 before qualifying for the TOC in the same year.
1992 - Richard Kaplan wins his third game before qualifying for the 1992 TOC.
1988 - Michael Rankins wins his fourth game before qualifying for the 1988 TOC.
1987 - Jonathan Fellows wins his first game of four, before qualifying for the 1987 TOC.