…no, not Superman, but still a hero and legend to Jeopardy! fans: David Madden. What about him? He, like Stephen Weingarten, Ryan Chaffee, and Vijay Balse before him, has graciously agreed to be interviewed for this blog. This is what I do every time I think about it, which has been constantly!:
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Madden, who at $432,400 is second only to Ken Jennings in regular-season winnings, and at 19 games has won more of them consecutively than anyone else except for Ken, had his original run in late summer of 2005, when he was studying in Germany for a Master’s Degree in International Relations.
Madden certainly has not been resting on his laurels since his Jeopardy! triumph. As you may recall in a “champion update” that aired on Jeopardy! in 2009, Madden hiked from New Brunswick, Canada, to Florida to raise money for the Fisher House, an organization that houses injured veterans for free near military hospitals. Notably, President Obama donated a portion of his Nobel Peace Prize winnings to that organization!
More recently, Madden founded the National History Bee and Bowl and has worked tirelessly on their growth across the United States. (The Bee is for individuals and the Bowl is for teams.) Last fall, Madden posted on the Jeopardy! message boards about the national championships, which will take place in Washington, D.C. on April 16th and 17th. He’s making it an unofficial Jeopardy! reunion for former champs. (Fans can attend, too!) I notice that Bob Harris and Dave Belote are on the board of advisors, so I suspect that they will be there. And as you can read in the thread, recent heavy-hitter Roger Craig expressed an interest in attending. No matter what, this event is sure to be to-die-for, and you know I’m gonna be there. I would not miss this!
Furthermore, according to the National History Bowl site, Madden is a soon-to-be-published art historian and professional genealogist.