Professor to make debut on ‘Jeopardy’
MONTEREY >> It’s 7 p.m. and Sam Buttrey has just turned on the television as a familiar tune filters through his speakers. Standing straight up, he turns his full attention to the screen of clues with a pseudo buzzer — really the spring-loaded gizmo that holds toilet paper rolls — under his thumb and at the ready.
For the past few months, this has been the typical weeknight for the Naval Postgraduate School associate professor as he prepared for his “Jeopardy” debut in the quiz show’s first-ever Professor’s Tournament, which is set to air starting Monday, Dec. 6 and continue through next week.
Having grown up on “Jeopardy” jargon, and an avid watcher of the program to this day, the experience realized an aspiration Buttrey has long hoped would go beyond his living room.
“It was just a bunch of smart people having the time of their lives,” he said, reminiscing on his appearance that was taped back in October. “I’m just really grateful I got a chance to be there.”
Buttrey remembers watching “Jeopardy” as a kid at his grandmother’s house, where he and his brothers would often visit back in the ‘60s. First enamored with Art Fleming’s black-and-white iteration of the 57-year-old show and pretty much every version since, Buttrey described walking onto the set he has spent years picturing at home as nothing short of “wild.”
Even the news that he would appear on the program proved to be a surreal experience for the NPS professors of 25 years.
“It felt like a dream,” he said. “(My wife and I) were on vacation in Puerto Vallarta when we got the call, and we just couldn’t believe it.”
Sam Buttrey and his wife, Elinda Hardy, were quick to jump to disbelief, as both had applied to compete on “Jeopardy” — coming close but not close enough — on several occasions. This time, however, circumstances seemed to be in Buttrey’s favor.
In a typical year, the process for applying to Jeopardy takes place in two stages: an online test to qualify followed by an in-person meeting at a local hotel to screen for potential contes
tants’ telegenic qualities, Buttrey explained. With COVID-19 precautions in place, the process, though similar, happened primarily on Zoom, where telegenic qualities were tested 9 to 12 virtual applicants at a time.
During his callback, Buttrey let it slip that he was a professor at NPS. Not long after, he received an invitation to be one of 15 professors featured in the “Jeopardy” Professors Tournament, a three-round affair pitting educators from institutions across the country against one another.
Apart from the chance to compete, the invitation from “Jeopardy” also covered travel and hotel expenses, perks usual contestants aren’t offered. Buttrey explained everyday participants must pay their own way to play, but being a part of the Professor’s Tournament allotted some extra attention.
Each professor competing in next week’s tournament will even go home with a base prize of $5,000 rather than the customary $1,000 granted to anyone who makes it on air.
But Buttrey said he would have played for free. Describing the experience as not only bonding between him and other professors, but also eye-opening to topics he hadn’t really taken an interest in before preparing for the wide range of clues on “Jeopardy,” Buttrey left feeling lucky.
“You get to enjoy something that’s unlike anything else,” he said. “It’s a once-ina-lifetime opportunity.”
Buttrey’s quarterfinal appearance on the “Jeopardy” Professors Tournament will air Wednesday, Dec. 8.