April 17, 2008 12:59 pm
—
By MICHELLE MILLER
Staff Writer
If ‘Jeopardy’ host Alex Trebek
were to ask, ``Who will appear on
the national broadcast of Jeopardy
this Friday night, the correct answer
would be, ``Who is National
Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
Library researcher and Cherry
Valley resident Gabriel Schechter?’’
The broadcast featuring Schechter
will be aired at 7:30 p.m. Friday
night on WKTV, the local NBC affiliate.
Schechter said trying to become
a contestant on ‘Jeopardy’ has been
a life-long quest for him and he feels
great about finally getting the opportunity.
He said his mother was a
contestant on the 1964 Art Fleming
version of ‘Jeopardy’ — the first
year of the show’s existence.
``She ran up against the first
five-time champion and finished in
second place,’’ said Schechter. ``It
has taken me 44 years to get redemption
for that.’’
Schechter said he remembers
going with his mother to Rockefeller
Center as a kid to watch the taping
of the show, and ever since has
strived to become a contestant himself.
Schechter, who has been employed
at the museum since 2002,
cannot reveal many details of the
actual taping until the show airs,
but can recap on how he became a
contestant.
Schechter said he tried to get on
the show a couple of times in the
early 90’s when he lived within
walking distance of Los Angeles—
before there were online tests.
Schechter said he started taking
the online test two years ago, and
after taking one in the beginning of
2006 was invited for an audition in
May of the same year in New York
City at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.
There were about 25 people
competing for a spot on the show,
according to Schechter. Schechter
said he spent the afternoon (about
5 hours) taking another written
test, being interviewed and playing
a practice game.
Schechter said the tryouts in
Los Angeles helped him work out
some kinks before the actual taping.
``During the practice game I only
buzzed in when I knew the answer,’’
said Schechter. ``However, I
discovered being quickest with the
buzzer is the key to the game.’’
Schechter said most of the people
who are selected to try out for
the show are incredibly smart and
know most of the answers to the
questions, so it was imperatives to
be the first one to buzz in.
After the audition, Schechter
was told he’d be in the contestant
pool for up to a year and a half, and
if he qualified for the show, he
would be notified by phone. Late
last year, Schechter received that
phone call exactly one and a half
years from the date of his audition,
according to Schechter.
``I had almost given up,’’ said
Schechter.
Schechter was scheduled to
head to Los Angeles to tape the
show on December 12, but there
was a speed bump that slowed
down Schechter’s journey.
The show’s host, Trebek, suffered
a mild heart attack and
Schechter’s shot at fame was
postponed.
Schechter said the same
group of people he auditioned
with were also scheduled to
go to Los Angeles the same
day, but were less fortunate
and got all the way there before
finding out the bad news.
Schechter said, ``I was lucky
and happened to have a late
flight.’’
Schechter said he found
out in January that he would
tape in early February, so he
had two extra months to prepare.
Schechter said he studied
from an almanac, memorized
random lists and crammed
as much information into his
brain as he could before the
taping of the show. My wife
thought I was Rainman, said
Schechter.
Although Schechter
crammed, he said being a
constant viewer of the show
helped him best prepare for
the competition. He said seeing
what others do in certain
situations and learning from
their mistakes was vital to
becoming a contestant.
Once on the show, only
one question that I studied
for came up, said Schechter.
However, Schechter said he
does not regret all the hard
work because that one question
can be the difference in
the game.
Schechter almost did not
make it to Los Angeles in
time for the taping.
Schetchter stopped for gas in
Sharon Springs on his way to
the airport in Albany, and
his two-year-old car would
not start after re-fueling. He
said a faulty computer chip
disabled his vehicle and a
frantic call to a co-worker
who was headed to Albany
later in the day for school resulted
in just making it to
the gate in time.
The bad luck did not stop
there. Schechter said once
arrived at the airport, he was
told his flight was delayed by
several hours, which would
have resulted in missing the
connecting flight to Los Angeles
if not for some help
from the airlines.
``I finally walked into my
hotel room at 10 minutes to
midnight and I had to be on
the set for taping at 8 a.m.,’’
said Schechter. ``I did not
sleep a whole lot, and it
wasn’t a relaxing trip to say
the least.’’
When Schechter showed
up to tape the next morning,
he learned the first episode
to tape would air on April 14,
his 57th birthday, and that
baseball history would be a
featured category in Double
Jeopardy. Schechter was not
chosen for the first taping
however. He was chosen for
taping five — to air April 18.
Schechter, who is originally
form New Jersey and
who has lived most of his life
in the west, said being a researcher
at the Hall of Fame
was beneficial to becoming a
contestant on Jeopardy. He
also said he has a master’s
degree in English and felt
most confident with questions
dealing with literature
and categories involving
words.
Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.
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