The "I Could See It Coming!" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Saturday, November 23 and the daily edition of the LNP had it on the top left of page A2.  Headline read "Rutter returns for 'Greatest Show.'  The "Rutter" in this headline would be a former student at the school where I taught for 34 years, Manheim Township High School in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Brad had his locker right outside my classroom when he was a student at MTHS and I got to see him on a daily basis.  He was a member of the "Quiz Bowl" team which was sponsored by a good friend and fellow teacher, Anne Clouser.  Her entire team of students loved her and she in turn returned that love, but as tough love which led her team to yearly wins in the county. Brad graduated from Manheim Township in 1995 and, as the newspaper article proclaimed, dazzled the "Jeopardy!" world in 2000 winning five straight nights of competition.  

Brad Rutter when he returned to Lancaster to help with
a benefit to raise money for the Manheim Twp. Public Library.

For those of you who may not know what Jeopardy! is, it is a classic game show...with a twist.  The answers are given first, and the contestants must supply the questions.  And, the answers aren't easy...at least for me.  At the time in history when Brad competed, you could only win five times before you were "retired" from the show.  Perhaps with the rules of today's show, he could have gone on forever, but we will never know.  After winning about $55,000 he was retired.  Well, he is going to compete in "The Greatest of All Time" competition that will pit Brad against Ken Jennings, who won 74 straight nights and recent champion James James Holzhauer who seemed to know everything about everything.  

Alex Trebeck, host of "Jeopardy!"

Brad won an all-time top amount of $4.7 million which includes his many "champion" tourna- ments he has returned to compete in over the years.  Brad has never been defeated by a human, but did lose, along with Jennings, to the IBM computer "Watson."  Ken Jennings is no slouch either, winning a total of $3.5 million during his 74 games as well as other tournaments on the show.  

Brad competing against the Quiz Bowl Team from the
Manheim Township High School at the MT Library.

As far as James goes, well he was very impressive during his time on the show.  He earned $2.7 million, surprising audiences with his high stakes betting on the daily doubles which are part of the daily games.  Host Alex Trebek will do the honors once again as the host of the show that will see the three highest all-time winners battle it out.   Will being away from the show for some time hurt or help Brad?  We will find out beginning on Tuesday, January 7 at 8:00 p.m. when the champs battle it out.  The game continues night after night until one contestant wins three matches and claims the $1 million prize.  The two others will each get $250,000.  Not bad for having a mind like a human computer.  Go Brad, Go!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.