Iowa State University Alumni Association| online edition | fall 2006

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MAJOR WAGER

After winning $59,403 on Jeopardy! in April, Milwaukee researcher Michael Falk (meteorology ’01, M.S. ’04) says he barely snuck into the show’s recent Tournament of Champions.

But when you’re good, you’re good. No matter where you fall in the pecking order.

Last spring, Falk wowed trivia buffs everywhere when he was the only contestant to recognize a quote from “The Divine Comedy” in Final Jeopardy!, winning the Tournament of Champions and a $300,000-plus game show fortune.

“I made good grades [in middle school],” says Falk, a lifelong game show devotee who became serious about Jeopardy! as a teen. “I thought I knew a lot…actually, I thought I knew everything there was to know in the universe.” Apparently, he says, he didn’t. His bid to qualify for the show’s teen tournament in 1993 failed.

But a passion for trivia followed Falk to Iowa State. A meteorology student and singer, Falk fell in love with ISU’s Quiz Bowl, a Jeopardy!-like trivia organization that competed in tournaments across the country.

The ability to seek out facts and commit them to memory, he says, became an important part of his success in Quiz Bowl. He soaked up knowledge during his college days and has remained a huge Jeopardy! fan ever since. And last year he realized he still had the bug: This time, Falk tried out for Jeopardy! and passed with flying colors.

Falk admits the old adage is true about the game show being easier to play at home than in person.

“I found out in March 2005 that I was going to get the chance to try out for the show. I taped in March 2006, so I had a year to prepare. I spent a year watching every game at home with my clicky pen [a substitute for ringing in on the show], trying to get the hang of it.”

“Getting the hang of it,” Falk says, includes remembering to phrase each response in the form of a question and knowing how to ring in correctly.

But coming up with the correct response is still the foundation of the show, and Falk says he owes some of his success to ISU. Physics 221 and Political Science 251 came in handy, he says. So did reading the New York Times, making flash cards, studying geography, and reading, reading, reading. There are also a lot of things you just know, he says. Falk’s fellow ISU alum, George Washington Carver, was the subject of one of his correct responses in the Tournament of Champions. “My ISU alum friends were very proud of that,” he said. “I couldn’t get that one wrong.”

Falk says his big win on Jeopardy! has been great, but he wouldn’t say it’s changed his life. He and his wife will buy a house, and Falk says it will be nice to never have to worry about mortgage payments. But he says he’ll keep riding his bike to work at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He’ll keep spending time at his church and listening to music and surfing the Web. And he’ll keep soaking up knowledge, because it isn’t just about winning a game show.

“To me, learning is interesting,” he says.

And sometimes it pays to know a thing or two.

About the Writer | Kate Bruns is the associate editor of VISIONS magazine.

Put yourself in Jeopardy!
Below are some of the answers Michael Falk questioned correctly during his appearance in
the Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions. How many can you answer correctly?

1. “Civil War Generals” for $1000: Nicknamed “Fighting Joe,” he replaced Ambrose Burnside as commander of the Army of the Potomac in 1863.

2. “Health Matters” for $800: Pray for a good anesthetic when having this procedure in which the nerve and pulp of a tooth are removed.

3. “Architecture” for $2000: The Kennedy Library was designed by this world-famous architect who gave it a soaring glass-enclosed pavilion.

4. “The Da Vinci Code” for $1600: Bishop Aringarosa heads this Catholic prelature that spreads the message of “God’s work.”

5. “Continental Breakfast” for $1600: Called Frustuck and petit-dejeuner in this country, breakfast might be rosti potatoes and the native muesli.

Scroll down for answers.

1. Who is Joe Hooker?
2. What is a root canal?
3. Who is I.M. Pei?
4. What is Opus Dei?
5. What is Switzerland?