Throwback Thursday: Jerry Harvey, The Final Pre-Jennings Champion, Wins His Second Game (2004)
The calm before the storm that was Ken Jennings.
The First Game I Ever Watched
This entry is going to be a lot more personal than usual, because this particular game has a special significance to me. I didn’t know much at 7 years old, but I did know that May 31st is my older sibling’s birthday. They were 13 at the time and just turned 32 yesterday. I can’t recall much about this time period, but I know it must have been the end of the school year for me and I also know that we were at my now deceased grandmother’s house. I’m not really sure how I ended up in the living room by myself, but I was flipping through the channels trying to find something to watch.
Coming through my TV speakers was the jazzy Jeopardy! theme that ran from 2001 to 2008. This immediately encapsulated my autistic attention, and I stayed on the channel as they introduced the three contestants: Sue McClung, a project manager from Boston on the right, Toby Guebert, a community college instructor from Claremont, and returning champion Jerry Harvey, a freelance educator from California, Missouri. Yeah, apparently there’s a city named California. Anyway, hearing about a returning champion must have kept my curiosity as Alex Trebek walked out to the stage.
The Gameplay
After introducing the six categories, Alex told Jerry to select a clue. Alex read the first clue in Disney Film Characters for $200: “She unknowingly takes a bite out of a poisoned apple.” Now, I was seven so I had no idea what the hell Alex was talking about, but Sue rang in and asked Alex, “who is Snow White?” in which I responded being like, “…the girl with the seven dwarfs?” Alex addressed her saying “yes.” …what? She was asking you something… what do you mean yes? She then selected the next clue about Pinocchio, in which Jerry answered correctly.
I think for a while I was just waiting for Alex to answer the player’s questions with some kind of detailed response, because at a certain point I felt like I had more questions than anyone but no idea how to ask them or what to ask. It hadn’t dwelled on me that Alex was already providing the players the answers and the players had to respond by asking the question which corresponds with the answer.
By the 8th clue of the round, Toby had found the first Daily Double. I remember the clue showing up next to his head and him pondering the answer a bit before answering correctly. Then the audience was clapping. I had no idea what was going on, really, but I couldn’t help but feel intrigued.
On the 24th clue of the round, Jerry was the first player to answer something incorrectly… and when I heard the “no” from Alex, I slowly started to catch on, I think, as Toby rebounded on that question. So if the host says “no,” you can’t pick another clue.
I couldn’t really keep up with the numbers at the time, for those four-figure and five-figure numbers were still a bit foreign to my elementary brain. But I saw them move every time Alex said yes or no, and I could infer that yes meant more money and no meant losing money. At the end of the round, Toby and Jerry were tied. It was easy to tell they had the same amount of money.
In the second round, Sue and Toby found the Daily Doubles and capitalized both times as they were both right on their individual clues. Not that it made any sense to me at the time… but that’s what happened. Despite the good gameplay from Sue and Toby, Jerry was in command most of the way and went into Final Jeopardy! with a $1,600 lead over Toby. I must have missed this, but there was one clue that they both negged on worth $1,600 that was thrown out. Didn’t really register at the time, but you can’t really blame me.
In the final round, all three players were correct and Jerry added $15,801 to win with $34,801, compared to $20,400 for Toby and $15,000 for Sue. It was a really well-played game and a pretty good game to introduce me to. Jerry Harvey was now a 2-time champion with $70,002. I had a fun time watching, but I put off watching more for a little while just because I wasn’t familiar enough with the show yet. I was also a kid and spending time with my family a lot during that time, so the show didn’t hit my radar until a week later.
The Symbolism
Famously, this is the last game before Ken Jennings makes his first appearance, but I and everyone else had no idea what was coming, not even the show’s biggest fans in 2004. Jerry Harvey was fresh off of defeating 2004 Tournament of Champions semifinalist Anne Boyd on May 31st and had just won his second game here. With $70,002 in winnings, Jerry looked well-poised to go on a run by this point… but of course, Ken Jennings was his opponent the next day, as well as another tough challenger in Julia Lazarus. There’s a small chance I may have seen this game? I can’t remember for sure, but I do know that June 1st, 2004 was the first one I saw.
So this game on June 1st, 2004 symbolizes the finality of what was “normal Jeopardy!” While the 5-day limit was lifted at the beginning of the season, I don’t think anything could have prepared us for Ken’s run the next day. I think a lot of people thought that Jerry had potential to win at least one more game, and I certainly thought he was a solid player from what I saw and could understand.
Impact On My Viewing
It must be a coincidence that I viewed such a penultimate game as my first episode. I do think I eventually would have gotten into Jeopardy! anyway, but I don’t think I could have chosen a more pivotal time to get into the show than this one. It must have been a calling to me, like a warm-up game before the Jeopardy! gods told me “you think that game was good? Well, wait until you get into these next six months…” As it stands, this is a very good game that became the catalyst for the cultural zeitgeist that Jeopardy! would begin to become the very next day.
Other Jeopardy! Events On This Day in History
2022 - Ryan Long wins his 14th game, becoming the 10th player to do so in history.
2021 - Mayim Bialik hosts her second ever Jeopardy! game in a series of rotating guest hosts.
2015 - Dan Feitel wins his 5th game, solidifying his spot in the 2015 Tournament of Champions.
2009 - Justin Bernbach loses his 8th game, ending his streak and solidifying him as the top seed for the 2010 Tournament of Champions.
2005 - David Rozenson wins his 2nd game, before qualifying for the 2006 Tournament of Champions.
1998 - Lara Robillard wins her 5th game, retiring undefeated at the time and qualifying for the 1999 Tournament of Champions.
1987 - Eugene Finerman wins his 1st game, before qualifying for the 1987 Tournament of Champions.