My very first tryout for the game show Jeopardy! took place in the fall of 1993 in Omaha, Nebraska -- the designated tryout venue for the Midwest United States for the 1994 Jeopardy! college championship. I was heralded by my dormmates as a lock to get on the show (they even threw a mid-hall party for me), and yet I didn't pass the qualifying test -- the only time in my life when I took the test and did not pass. But I did meet one person in Omaha -- in fact, I sat next to her during the test -- who did pass the test and qualified for the championship tournament and advanced to the final: a student from Michigan Tech named Keri Ellis.

Keri lost in the final to a student from Brigham Young University named Jeff Stewart. Jeff won the college championship tournament, qualified for the 1994 tournament of champions, advanced to that tournament's two-game-cumulative final, finished with a score of $0 after game one, then roared back in game two and wound up missing first place by a single dollar. (Sidebar: At the time, BYU was a hotbed of quiz activity -- my former teammate Darren played in that year's College Bowl championship, qualifying for the final but not playing in it because it was held on a Sunday and BYU didn't play on Sundays. Plus, there was another chap who played for BYU at this time by the name of Ken Jennings.)

I first met Jeff when I myself played on the collegiate quiz circuit. We met at Penn Bowl, and I recognized Jeff on sight when Jeff was now playing for Princeton. We played against each other a handful of times the next four years, most notably at the 1995 Cornell tournament when my team defeated Jeff's team in round-robin play and we both qualified for the playoffs. He and I developed something of a rapport; I was honored when Jeff told me once that he chose me as his rotisserie quizbowl player. We kept in touch and followed each other on Facebook over the years.

In 2022, Jeff announced that he was diagnosed with not one but two cancers. He scrambled to write and self-publish a book intended for his now seven children and really for the rest of the world, published in under a year. I bought a copy of a book from Jeff, who graciously mailed me a copy and autographed it (a photograph of the autograph is at the top of this page). He continued to chronicle his struggle against his cancers on social media -- a struggle he ultimately lost. On August 14, 2025, Jeff Stewart died.

When I first saw Jeff on television, I counted myself lucky that I knew someone who lost to Jeff and I though that would be as close I as I would ever get to quizzing excellence. I thought it was audacious of me to think I would ever get to meet Jeff, never mind get to know him and play games that rewarded the love of learning we both shared. And yet, that's exactly what happened. I count myself fortunate that I got to meet and play with and know Jeff, and I count it as a tragedy that he left us too soon.

Jeff Stewart, presenté!

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Next: Summer of '95