Amazing Stories of Cleveland Game Show Contestants – Gerry Nemeth & Contestants

 
 
 
 

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Story topic this week…

Amazing Stories of Cleveland Game Show Contestants
We’ve all seen them: Jeopardy!, Wheel of Fortune, The Price is Right, Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, and so many more game shows over the years. With Jeopardy! being in the recent spotlight with the passing of the legendary host, Alex Trebek, we look back to this game and what it’s brought to people around the world. Our storyteller, Gerry Nemeth, has not had the chance to play Jeopardy! but has gotten the chance to see the actual set in California – which is pretty cool! His love and passion for game shows has landed him a job being a college professor at Tri-C and Baldwin Wallace University teaching about the history of TV game shows. Matt Kish joins us as a Cleveland native Jeopardy champion from 2014, along with Kevin O’Neill who’s episode aired in 2000. Although he didn’t win, we went on to also be a part of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? in 2001 and won $125,000! We are also joined by Troy A. Clark who owns an impeccable collection of gameshow tapings going all the way back to Legends of the Hidden Temple!
 

Gerry Nemeth Bio

Gerry S Nemeth has been a big fan of the TV game show genre since the Art Fleming Jeopardy days. Since his initials (GSN) are identical to the TV cable channel Game Show Network (GSN) you could say that he was destined to be heavily involved with TV game shows. He teaches college classes on TV game show history at Cuyahoga Community College and Baldwin Wallace University. He has hosted, participated in, and won numerous trivia contests in the Cleveland area. He has seen the Jeopardy studio in California, watched Jeopardy tapings, and has served as a judge on the local high school quiz show Academic Challenge. He has seen numerous concerts and Cleveland Stories events at the Music Box and is very excited to finally be on the stage!
 

Troy A. Clark Bio

Troy A. Clark, Ph.D. is currently an assistant professor and the department chair of mathematics at Ursuline College. Besides his love for math, he was born with a love and appreciation for game shows. A small childhood collection of 20 episodes of Nickelodeon’s Legends of the Hidden Temple turned into over 15,000 episodes of various game shows from the 1940s to today in the span of nearly 30 years. Over the years, he developed a detailed knowledge of the history of the genre through online forums, tape trading and even getting the chance to email/talk to contestants and the personalities themselves. He has been invited numerous times as a guest lecturer for the TV Game Show Fun course at Tri-C, and Baldwin Wallace University. He is always excited to talk about game shows, the history, the personalities and its obscurities. He is looking forward to sharing his knowledge with all of you!
 

Matt Kish Bio

Matt Kish is a history teacher at North Royalton High School. He was a Jeopardy champion in 2014, defeating the woman who defeated 11-time champion Arthur Chu. Matt has been the advisor/coach for the North Royalton Academic Challenge team for about 15 years. Matt and his family live in Brunswick.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Kevin O’Neill Bio

Kevin O’Neill moved to Cleveland in 1981 and his father spent his evenings watching Cavaliers basketball, Indians baseball and Jeopardy! on the television. It was a nice way to spend some time after dinner with dad. In 1999, his brother-in-law Bill mailed a postcard to play on Jeopardy! and filled one out for Kevin on a whim. Kevin’s name was pulled for testing (his brother wasn’t) and mhis episode aired in 2000. While he didn’t win, other contestants were talking about a new show Who Wants to be a Millionaire and it sounded intriguing to him. January of 2001 saw Kevin in New York with Regis Philbin when the program was airing several nights a week and amongst the top rated prime time shows. He walked away with $125,000 and a lifetime of readymade dinner conversation.
 
 
The goal of the Cleveland Stories Dinner Party is to bring to life some of the fun, interesting stories about Cleveland’s past – from sports, to rock ‘n roll, to Millionaire’s Row, — the series will focus on tidbits from Cleveland’s past that will really thrill the audience. The Music Box is presenting this series in partnership with the Western Reserve Historical Society’s new Cleveland History Center. We think the Cleveland History Center is one of the most important museums in Cleveland. An unknown gem that Clevelanders should know more about, and support. It is the only museum in Cleveland dedicated to preserving and documenting the history of Cleveland. The Cleveland History Center includes two mansions, the Crawford Auto Aviation Museum, Chisholm Halle Costume Wing, Research Library, Kidzibits Hands-On Gallery, rotating exhibitions, and the Euclid Beach Park Grand Carousel.
 

See all Cleveland Stories dates here.