Jeopardy with Champion Brad Rutter and Cubberly School in Long Beach!!

Perhaps you watched the great "Jeopardy Challenge" on Channel 7 a few weeks back. If so, you saw Brad Rutter, the all-time money winner in the history of game shows battle 74-game winner, Ken Jennings and Watson, the IBM supercomputer. Well, Watson had his way with the 2 intellectual giants, making the match Rutter's first Jeopardy defeat ever, although he still hasn't lost to a member of his own species.

On Thursday, March 3rd, Brad came to Long Beach where he assumed the role of Alex Trebek, hosting Cubberley School's 10thAnnual Jeopardy Tournament. For 9 years Cubberley had a unique Student/Teacher/Parent format. This year, however, it was all students with 6th/7th/8th-grade brackets made up of 18 students in each bracket. All Cubberley 6-8th graders took a 40-question, fill-the-blanks Jeopardy Qualifier to make the field of 54 student players.

The grade-level Championship Games were hosted by the tournament producer, Jim Birge, the creator of Jeopardy Tournaments (see jeopardytournaments.com). Birge has brought other notable Jeopardy Champions to Long Beach for hosting duties including Nancy Zerg, the Ventura real estate woman who broke Jennings' streak, and stand-up comedian Bob Harris, author of "Prisoner of Trebekistan". Bob, by the way, hosted Rogers' 2010 Jeopardy Championships which I was very proud to sponsor.

But Thursday, it was all about the Cubberley students. In the 6th-Grade Championship Game Michael Baker walked away with victory over venerable opponents, Samuel Lucero and Rebekah Pulido. The 7th-Grade Championship Game was a real battle, however, as Danny Walker and Mick Lantow ended up in a tie, putting Kyle Ornelas out of reach. A new Jeopardy board appeared on screen, and each player was given the opportunity to select 2 clues from any category. Again they tied. So both got a 3rd and 4th clue, and still they remained tied until Walker finally won it on the 5th "extra inning" clue.

Mara Koval outlasted Nick Gregor and Art Porter for the 8th-Grade Championship, which set up the Rutter-hosted School Championship. In this unique scholarly competition, 6th-grader Baker, 7th-grader Walker, and 8th-grader Koval went toe-to-toe for the title. When the intellectual dust had settled, Mara Koval became the 10th Jeopardy School Champion in Cubberley's distinctive history.

Championship after championship, the Cubberley students, teachers, staff and parents were entertained by the sights and sounds of Jeopardy in a true celebration of learning. In fact, other dignitaries in attendance were Long Beach Community Activist, Justin Rudd, Gary Paugh, the inventor of the amazing Classroom Jeopardy game, and former Cubberley principal, Michael Navia, who along with Birge put together this tournament that has lasted a decade.

My hat is off to ALL participants, and I'd like to send a heartfelt "congratulations!" to Mara Koval, Danny Walker, and Michael Baker, who, like Brad Rutter and Watson, are now true Jeopardy Champions.

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