Opinion: A Jeopardy! winner and the triumph of the human spirit

Texas for $400.

What is Mad Men for $200?

Sports No-Nos for $1,000.

Or how about this “Jeopardy!” clue:

What is the heartbreaking, bittersweet, magnificent triumph of the human spirit for $103,803?

It is to be found in something so ordinary, like soft-spoken Cindy Stowell ringing in repeatedly on “Jeopardy!,” answering clue after clue.

Except the one person who was not watching was Cindy.

Stowell, a science content developer from Austin, died December 5, a week before her shows started to air, from Stage IV colon cancer. Before her audition for “Jeopardy!”, she emailed Maggie Speak, a “Jeopardy!” contestant producer.

“Do you have any idea how long it typically takes between an in-person interview, and the taping date?” Cindy wrote, according to the “Jeopardy!” web site. “I ask because I just found out that I don’t have too much longer to live. The doctor’s best guess is about 6 months.”

I won five games on “Jeopardy!” in 2010, when I was a staff reporter at the Chicago Sun-Times. The newsroom management sprung for pizza, and everyone tuned in to watch. Like Cindy, appearing on the show was the fulfillment of an odd little dream I had carried since I was a kid. Being there in the newsroom to watch with friends was among the highlights.

Playing “Jeopardy!” was one of the most exhilarating, intense experiences I’ve ever had. You fly to Los Angeles, wake up early to catch a “Jeopardy!” shuttle from the hotel, play several practice rounds and then tape, if you’re lucky, up to five shows in one day. Cindy’s boyfriend said she played on painkillers, with a fever. To watch her you would never know. She just looks like she is having a great time.

Cindy won six games, finally defeated only on Wednesday, and I’m not surprised. Maggie Speak and the other contestant coordinators wouldn’t put anyone on there out of sympathy. They are producing television and they want a good game. Cindy gave that, and so much more. She racked up more than $103,803, which she had pledged to the non-profit Cancer Research Institute.

Winning money on the show is great, but the camaraderie among those who play the game is better. I’m still in regular contact with the group I played with during the 2011 Tournament of Champions, a two-week “Jeopardy!” competition pitting the top-scoring players against each other (Cindy would have qualified for the upcoming tournament). There’s a Chicago “Jeopardy!” players group that meets for bar trivia, and a Women of Jeopardy group. Cindy was also in Learned League, an invite-only online trivia competition played by many former “Jeopardy!” players, including Ken Jennings.

Now, members of all these “Jeopardy!” groups are participating in a viral “Cindy Stowell Challenge” where they are donating money, in Cindy’s honor, to the Cancer Research Institute, a non-profit dedicated to using the immune system to conquer cancer. Some former contestants are donating $100 per game, others are donating $1 for every clue they get right, $2 for every Daily Double and then doubling the amount if they get Final Jeopardy correct.

As of Wednesday, more than $7,000 had been donated to the Cancer Research Institute, her charity of choice, in her honor.

“Her determination, luck, and generosity are so inspiring,” said Brian Brewer, Cancer Research Institute spokesman. “Our staff has been cheering her amazing performance. We believe, as Cindy, did that research is the only way to get to cures for all cancers. We will ensure that her winnings will support the most promising cancer immunotherapy research.”

Cancer is dark, among the darkest parts of life. No one’s life is not touched at some point by the disease, and the holidays bring out the memories of those who didn’t make it, more than any other time of the year.

Little did we guess that during this holiday season, one of the brightest lights would come from “Jeopardy!”

Kara Spak is a 5-time “Jeopardy!” champion who lives in Chicago’s Lincoln Square neighborhood. Her fee for writing this column will be donated to the Cancer Research Institute in Cindy Stowell’s memory.

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