No trivial pursuit: Lifetime of knowledge pays off for Chickaloon’s Jeopardy! champion

This story was produced by Matt Tunseth for Mat-Su Sentinel and the Anchorage Press.

What you need to know: 

• Ron Clarke, a 70-year-old trivia buff from Chickaloon, defeated three-time champion Greg Monson in a rare "Jeopardy!" tiebreaker, taking home $18,200 on the Oct. 13 episode.
• Clarke credits his success to a lifetime of varied experiences, including stints as a wildlife biologist, commercial fisherman, public radio DJ and political aide. A lifelong fan of the show, he first auditioned in 1989 before finally realizing his dream decades later.
• Clarke brought his trademark humor and Alaska pride to the show, sporting a pin depicting Binky the polar bear and ending his run with a playful Monty Python reference.
• Short on time but need the local news scoop? Get free weekly news in your inbox for Mat-Su, from Mat-Su.

Jerry Garcia, the Kids in the Hall and Binky the polar bear.

If you answered, “What are some of the eclectic pop culture references that might come up during a conversation with trivia wizard Ron Clarke?” you are correct.

Clarke, a 70-year-old Renaissance man from Chickaloon, has worn many hats over the decades: wildlife biologist, commercial fisherman, public radio DJ, gubernatorial aide, dad, Deadhead.

This month, he added “Jeopardy! champion” to the list.

“It was really kind of a haze,” Clarke said in a mid-October interview at the Sutton Public Library — where he watched himself win the iconic TV game show on tape delay at a watch party with a dozen popcorn-eating supporters.

Clarke drew national attention after a thrilling victory that saw him defeat Greg Monson, who’d won the three previous episodes. Clad in a suit jacket adorned with a Binky pin on the lapel, Clarke correctly named Condoleezza Rice as George W. Bush’s national security adviser to best Monson in a rare Final Jeopardy! tiebreaker — collecting $18,200 as champion of the show that broadcast Oct. 13.

The big win thrilled those who gathered at the small public library, where Clarke is a regular visitor and supporter.

“I love how that ended. That was really fun,” said Sutton librarian Juli Busby.

Heading into the Final Jeopardy! portion of Clarke’s winning episode, he was in second place with $9,100 — exactly half of Monson’s total. That left the defending champ in a tight spot: Monson could risk nothing and finish no worse than tied with Clarke, or he could risk $1 (or more), go for the win and possibly lose with a wrong answer. 

Monson played it safe and risked nothing.

The category was “1980s Music” — right in Clarke’s wheelhouse. He risked it all. 

The clue: “A posted sign told the artists to ‘check your egos at the door’ before the recording of this 1985 single.”

Both Monson and Clarke came up with the correct response: “What is ‘We Are the World’?”

That set up what Clarke said was just the seventh tiebreaker in the more than five years that host Ken Jennings has been the face of the show.

The win was the fulfillment of a lifelong dream for Clarke, who grew up watching Jeopardy! when it was hosted by Art Fleming in the 1960s. 

Clarke first tried to get on the show in 1989, during Alex Trebek’s tenure.

Back then, the process was decidedly old-school. Clarke said applicants had to find clues printed in the Anchorage Daily News, cut them out, write down their answers and mail them in.

He made it to auditions through the cut-answer-mail application process but didn’t make the show.

This time around, the application and audition phase was decidedly 21st Century. Clarke submitted an application and took a 50-question online test. Then he waited.

“It was like 10 days later, they called and said, ‘How'd you like to come be on the show?’” he said.

Once at tryouts, Clarke went through another round of auditions against other prospective contestants, an experience that proved to be more collaborative than competitive. He said all of them — a potpourri of people from around the country — pulled for each other throughout the event.

“There was, like, this instant camaraderie amongst this group of contestants, and I thought, you know, this isn't the reality island where you're stabbing the other guy in the back. It was like the complete polar opposite of that,” Clarke said.

Or polar bear opposite, perhaps. Once he made it to the studio, Clarke said he was determined to bring a touch of Alaska to the airwaves. During taping, he wore a silver pin depicting Binky — an Alaska Zoo polar bear that once attacked an Australian tourist who got too close to its cage.

“It's kind of a little silent shout-out to Alaskans who have been here long enough to know Binky,” he said. “The Binkster makes national TV.”

Getting to meet Jennings, the former champion who holds the record for 74 straight wins, was a particular highlight. Clarke described him as warm, friendly and possessing a “twinkle” in his eye. That was especially apparent when Clarke referenced the famous “crushing your head” bit from the Kids in the Hall. Jennings didn’t miss a beat.

“I said, ‘So tell me, would it be poor form if I were to lean over and crush the defending champion's head?’” Clarke recalled. “And he turns to me and goes, ‘I'm crushing your head. I'm crushing your head.’”

Jennings also autographed a couple of books for Clarke, who donated them to the Sutton Public Library for a fundraising auction.

And actually winning was just icing on the cake. During his trip to Los Angeles, Clarke got to spend time with his daughter, sister and cousin, meet up with old friends and enjoy the unique camaraderie shared by prospective Jeopardy! contestants.

“I wouldn't say Jeopardy! was secondary, but if it hadn't happened, it would have been okay,” he said. “ I'm having such a great time with my family. And all these new friends.”

Clarke’s breadth of knowledge comes from a lifetime of varied pursuits. An avid music fan, he was in the audience at Anchorage’s West High School in 1980 when the Grateful Dead performed their only Alaska shows.

“It was like somebody had taken a cookie cutter and took a little chunk of San Rafael and just dropped it in the parking lot,” he recalled. “You know, all these hippies and they're selling stuff. You could get a contact buzz just breathing in the open air.”

He’s also dabbled in falconry and politics and worked as a morning DJ on public radio. That mix of experiences adds up to a solid grasp of trivia.

“Knowing different stuff definitely helps,” he said.

Clarke’s run of good fortune ended one game after his tiebreaker win when he failed to correctly answer the Final Jeopardy! clue and was dethroned by challenger Kim Kalnocki. But even his departure from the show came with a side of whimsy.

Going into the final round, Clarke was trailing Kalnocki and Wesley Yiin by more than $10,000. So he figured his only chance was to wager zero and hope his competitors would “eat each other alive,” he said.

Clue: A replica of it was built for a 1912 exhibition in Earl's Court, 85 years before another opened on the other side of the river.

Correct response: “What is ‘the Globe Theatre?’”

Kalnocki got it right. Yiin incorrectly guessed Big Ben.

Clarke’s response? “What is ‘my hovercraft is full of eels?’”

The line is a reference to the 1970 Monty Python “Dirty Hungarian Phrasebook” sketch, he said after the show aired.

“I thought, ‘Let’s have some fun,’” Clarke recalled, saying the response drew a laugh from the host.“Jennings recognized it right away.”

Though his Jeopardy! run ended there, Clarke said he’ll never forget his 60 minutes of fame. In a modern world often filled with divisiveness and conflict, he prefers to look on the bright side of life.

“What a great little island of logic and science holding forth in a positive environment.”

Matt Tunseth is a freelance writer and trivia enthusiast from Southcentral Alaska. Write to him at matthew.tunseth@gmail.com.