TOC Players Who Have Died

This is where all of the games are discussed.

Moderators: alietr, trainman, econgator, dhkendall

bpmod
Rank
Posts: 5424
Joined: Fri Jul 01, 2011 12:26 pm
Location: Hamilton Ontario

Re: TOC Players Who Have Died

Post by bpmod »

ahirbhairav wrote:If they asked you to contribute to a suicide prevention coalition, obviously he committed suicide.
I wouldn't say it is obvious. The person might have been an avid anti-suicide advocate and it is his wishes (rather than those of the loved ones left behind) that people support the cause. There could also be other reasons.

Brian
...but the senator, while insisting he was not intoxicated, could not explain his nudity.

If I had 50 cents for every math question I got right, I'd have $6.30 by now.
User avatar
MarkBarrett
Watches Jeopardy! Way Too Much
Posts: 16471
Joined: Fri Jul 01, 2011 10:37 am
Location: San Francisco

Re: TOC Players Who Have Died

Post by MarkBarrett »

jeopardyfan87 wrote:Seeing the 1992 Tournament of Champions is one of the tournaments I have always been extremely interested in watching in its entirety....of which I haven't as of yet (all I've seen is the two-game finals); I google the names of the participants to see if I can find more information about them.

One participant from that tournament who I was trying to find out more information about, Kirk Ditzler, I searched for him only to discover he passed away of cancer back in August of 1998.
bamaman here is the post that first mentioned Ditzler's death.
legendneverdies
Watches Jeopardy! Way Too Much
Posts: 1605
Joined: Tue Jul 05, 2011 10:52 pm

Re: TOC Players Who Have Died

Post by legendneverdies »

Don't see that it was ever posted here, but 2006 TofCer/5 timer Bob Mesko died on November 16, 2012 at age 49 after a battle with cancer, as per a web search. He returned to the show because of a poorly worded DD that likely cost him the game, and then came back later to win two more games and make the 2006 TofC.
User avatar
MarkBarrett
Watches Jeopardy! Way Too Much
Posts: 16471
Joined: Fri Jul 01, 2011 10:37 am
Location: San Francisco

Re: TOC Players Who Have Died

Post by MarkBarrett »

legendneverdies wrote:Don't see that it was ever posted here, but 2006 TofCer/5 timer Bob Mesko died on November 16, 2012 at age 49 after a battle with cancer, as per a web search. He returned to the show because of a poorly worded DD that likely cost him the game, and then came back later to win two more games and make the 2006 TofC.
How sad. I had no idea. I received an e-mail from one of the archivists that George Soule died in 2011.
User avatar
StevenH
Not J! Contestant Material
Posts: 2524
Joined: Fri Jul 01, 2011 6:24 pm
Location: Atlanta, Georgia

Re: TOC Players Who Have Died

Post by StevenH »

That's too bad about George Soule and Bob Mesko. May they rest in peace.
ahirbhairav

Re: TOC Players Who Have Died

Post by ahirbhairav »

Bad bad bad about both. Condolences to their families.

That's also quite bad about George, he was the only living Senior Tournament champion remaining as far as I remember at that time...
WooWho?
Jeopardy! Almost-Champion
Posts: 366
Joined: Wed Oct 03, 2012 1:20 am

Re: TOC Players Who Have Died

Post by WooWho? »

^Ouida Rellstab (Seniors Champ 1989) is still with us, as far as I'm aware. Her husband passed away three years ago but her husband's obituary listed her as one of his survivors. She, incidentally, was one of my substitute teachers around the time I got on the show, and she gave me a lot of helpful tips before I went on.
アタックチャンス!
Austin Powers
Watches Jeopardy! Way Too Much
Posts: 1783
Joined: Tue Nov 15, 2011 8:09 pm

Re: TOC Players Who Have Died

Post by Austin Powers »

I remember that episode where Mesko got screwed. RIP
User avatar
Rex Kramer
Jeopardy! TOCer
Posts: 1338
Joined: Fri Jul 01, 2011 6:08 am

Re: TOC Players Who Have Died

Post by Rex Kramer »

legendneverdies wrote:Don't see that it was ever posted here, but 2006 TofCer/5 timer Bob Mesko died on November 16, 2012 at age 49 after a battle with cancer, as per a web search. He returned to the show because of a poorly worded DD that likely cost him the game, and then came back later to win two more games and make the 2006 TofC.
Jeepers, he was young, and I thought he was even younger. He was one of the most self-possessed of the contestants in that ToC. RIP

Rex
User avatar
cheezguyty
Watches Jeopardy! Way Too Much
Posts: 1231
Joined: Fri Jul 01, 2011 10:19 am
Location: Louisville, KY

Re: TOC Players Who Have Died

Post by cheezguyty »

Thanks to the Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions Yearbook we can add these names to the list:

Peggy Kennedy
Chris Shea
Bruce Cox
Bart Thomas
Jim Vercolen
kingskip
Loyal Jeopardista
Posts: 169
Joined: Thu Aug 04, 2011 10:24 am

Re: TOC Players Who Have Died

Post by kingskip »

cheezguyty wrote:Thanks to the Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions Yearbook we can add these names to the list:

Peggy Kennedy
Chris Shea
Bruce Cox
Bart Thomas
Jim Vercolen
I wonder where they got information that all these people died. I researched some and the only one I could find proof of was Peggy Kennedy from the Seniors Tournament of 1988. I could understand Bart Thomas may have died as well because he was in the Seniors Tournament of 1994 although I found no proof of it. The others I am highly unsure of. I found no indication anywhere of the others dying. In fact, I think they may have the wrong Chris Shea, because there indeed was a Chris Shea that died in 2010 and he was an actor, most known for doing the original voice of Linus on A Charlie Brown Christmas, and this is obviously not the contestant.
seaborgium
Undefeated in Reruns
Posts: 8941
Joined: Fri Jul 01, 2011 9:31 am

Re: TOC Players Who Have Died

Post by seaborgium »

kingskip wrote:
cheezguyty wrote:Thanks to the Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions Yearbook we can add these names to the list:

Peggy Kennedy
Chris Shea
Bruce Cox
Bart Thomas
Jim Vercolen
I wonder where they got information that all these people died. I researched some and the only one I could find proof of was Peggy Kennedy from the Seniors Tournament of 1988. I could understand Bart Thomas may have died as well because he was in the Seniors Tournament of 1994 although I found no proof of it. The others I am highly unsure of. I found no indication anywhere of the others dying. In fact, I think they may have the wrong Chris Shea, because there indeed was a Chris Shea that died in 2010 and he was an actor, most known for doing the original voice of Linus on A Charlie Brown Christmas, and this is obviously not the contestant.
If only Jeopardy got Social Security numbers from its contestants...
User avatar
Budphrey
Jeopardy! Champion
Posts: 720
Joined: Sun Jul 03, 2011 5:29 pm

Re: TOC Players Who Have Died

Post by Budphrey »

legendneverdies wrote:Don't see that it was ever posted here, but 2006 TofCer/5 timer Bob Mesko died on November 16, 2012 at age 49 after a battle with cancer, as per a web search. He returned to the show because of a poorly worded DD that likely cost him the game, and then came back later to win two more games and make the 2006 TofC.
I just found out about his passing, to my shock, in browsing the ToC Yearbook on the official Jeopardy! site. He was a quiet but gracious guy. Rest in peace.

Edited to add: For those interested, an obituary I found online indicates he got married a year after the 2006 tournament, and the couple had a daughter a year after that.
Last edited by Budphrey on Mon Sep 30, 2013 9:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Poo-tee-weet? So it goes.
User avatar
dhkendall
Pursuing the Dream
Posts: 8789
Joined: Fri Jul 01, 2011 11:49 am
Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba
Contact:

Re: TOC Players Who Have Died

Post by dhkendall »

seaborgium wrote: If only Jeopardy got Social Security numbers from its contestants...
"I'm pretty sure they don't." - Jeff Kirby
"Jeopardy! is two parts luck and one part luck" - Me

"The way to win on Jeopardy is to be a rabidly curious, information-omnivorous person your entire life." - Ken Jennings

Follow my progress game by game since 2012
User avatar
MarkBarrett
Watches Jeopardy! Way Too Much
Posts: 16471
Joined: Fri Jul 01, 2011 10:37 am
Location: San Francisco

Re: TOC Players Who Have Died

Post by MarkBarrett »

I've updated the list on the first page and it was an embarrassing pleasure to remove Zeke Sevilla since he had an update in the yearbook.
bpmod
Rank
Posts: 5424
Joined: Fri Jul 01, 2011 12:26 pm
Location: Hamilton Ontario

Re: TOC Players Who Have Died

Post by bpmod »

MarkBarrett wrote:I've updated the list on the first page and it was an embarrassing pleasure to remove Zeke Sevilla since he had an update in the yearbook.
Reports of his death were greatly exaggerated?

Brian
...but the senator, while insisting he was not intoxicated, could not explain his nudity.

If I had 50 cents for every math question I got right, I'd have $6.30 by now.
seaborgium
Undefeated in Reruns
Posts: 8941
Joined: Fri Jul 01, 2011 9:31 am

Re: TOC Players Who Have Died

Post by seaborgium »

I think the ones whose deaths we learned about via jeopardy.com and don't know anything more about could have the blurb "Reported as deceased in jeopardy.com's Tournament of Champions Yearbook" added to their J! Archive player pages.

Strangely, they don't say anything about Jay Rosenberg.
ahirbhairav

Re: TOC Players Who Have Died

Post by ahirbhairav »

Looks like it's the same Leonard Schmidt, Seniors Champ '92. If I got the right obit, he lived a long life till the age of 96. May he rest in peace. http://www.death-record.com/l/110780600 ... -J-Schmidt
seaborgium
Undefeated in Reruns
Posts: 8941
Joined: Fri Jul 01, 2011 9:31 am

Re: TOC Players Who Have Died

Post by seaborgium »

Someone 96 in 2003 would have been 85 for the 1992 ToC. In the ToC pictures, he looks early 70s at the oldest. You've got to find more than the same name and state to make these proclamations.
User avatar
cheezguyty
Watches Jeopardy! Way Too Much
Posts: 1231
Joined: Fri Jul 01, 2011 10:19 am
Location: Louisville, KY

Re: TOC Players Who Have Died

Post by cheezguyty »

ahirbhairav wrote:Looks like it's the same Leonard Schmidt, Seniors Champ '92. If I got the right obit, he lived a long life till the age of 96. May he rest in peace. http://www.death-record.com/l/110780600 ... -J-Schmidt
That's not the right Leonard Schmidt. The one who was a former Jeopardy contestant passed away in 1994, less than 18 months after appearing in the Tournament of Champions.

Evidence:
Spoiler
In this post seaborgium said:
"I was able to dig up a scan of the Jewish Chronicle of Pittsburgh from 1977 that has a picture of a Dr. Leonard J. Schmidt, an optometrist, and his face clearly matches up with the picture from 1992.
Here is the text of the April 14, 1994 edition of that paper with the news of Dr. Schmidt's passing. According to his SSDI record, Leonard was 67.
Post Reply