One of Jeopardy ’s Most Beloved Traditions Vanished. I Spent Months Talking to the People Whose Lives It Changed. Then I Got Some News.

It wasn’t the witty clues. It wasn’t the big streaks, the pop-culture crossovers, or the gutsy wagers.

It was the Teen Tournament, the high school student showdown that Trebek loved with a fatherly devotion. “I started it four years ago, and it’s kind of like my baby,” the late host told a reporter in 1990.

After Jeopardy! announced its inaugural teen competition, in which 15 kids would face off for a grand prize of $25,000, hotel ballrooms filled around the country. In Cleveland, Trebek‍—‌“handsome as a matinee idol in the Rock Hudson mold and sporting a white satin Cleveland Browns jacket,” per the Plain Dealer at the time—turned up at an audition of 200 teenagers, where he talked up his theory of what set Jeopardy! apart from other game shows. “I think Jeopardy! has contributed to the idea that it’s OK to be bright,” he said. “And here’s a quote—I’m pontificating again— Jeopardy! reinforces the learning ethic in this country.”

In the Teen Tournament’s first years, would-be contestants were given a 100-point written test at auditions, for which the passing score was 60. Trebek took it after the tournament launched, notching “ a very respectable 86 .”

Between 1987 and 2019, Jeopardy! hosted a Teen Tournament nearly every year—and sometimes twice. Trebek held it up as a sort of paragon of American sensibilities. “With all the comments brought forth about today’s youth, the Teen Tournament is the ideal showcase to display the talent and energy that is the reality of our young people,” he told a reporter in 1989. Viewers, it seems, tended to agree .

Wrapping the show’s identity around an explicitly educational theme was no mere gimmick: It was also great TV. From the outset, the Teen Tournament was an eye-popping ratings success. In its network TV heyday, Jeopardy! pulled in 25 million viewers a night, with the Teen Tournament reliably delivering the show’s highest ratings year in and year out . ( Jeopardy! still rules the syndicated roost, but these days more often draws in the neighborhood of 7.5 million nightly viewers .) The tournament became a staple of the February sweeps period, when networks would attempt to woo advertisers with “big-money, lots-of-frills segments,” as the Los Angeles Times wryly noted in 1988.

Indeed, the tournament was enough of a priority for the studio—and perhaps for the host—that after Trebek had a heart attack in 2007, he pledged to be back in action to tape the contest the following month.

The tournament evolved: In 2019, champion Avi Gupta took home $100,000 and nary a box of Rice-A-Roni, a parting gift of the past. America’s teenagers and sensibilities changed, too. But Trebek’s devotion never wavered. 2018 champ Claire Sattler remembered the host tearing up as he told the parents in attendance that they should be proud of their children for making it into the tournament.

Trebek was still thinking about the Teen Tournament when, just months before his 2020 death, he credited contestant Dana Venator’s personal anecdote during the 1987 Teen Tournament as his all-time favorite in his memoir.