the Washington Post 

First Blind Player Wins Big on ‘Jeopardy!’

Eddie Timanus, left, won nearly $70,000 on "Jeopardy!," which is hosted by 
Alex Trebek, right. (Columbia Tristar Television)

By Tom Jackman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, October 24, 1999; Page C1

Eddie Timanus launches into John Belushi's famous monologue from "Animal 
House," one of several classic movie bits he has memorized start to finish, 
like many in his Boomer generation.

"Over? It's not over. Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?"

Gathered around him in a sports bar in Sterling, Timanus's family and 
friends nod. They've heard it a million times. Anyway, they're not here for 
comedy. They're here to watch Timanus, for the second night in a row, 
demolish two opponents on television's "Jeopardy!"

In the afterglow of his second $12,000-plus game-show victory, which they 
watch on a television set in the noisy bar, his pals plot to slip him the 
dinner check. Timanus, a sportswriter for USA Today, pays them no mind; 
he's simultaneously commenting on the musical selections in the jukeboxes 
and monitoring a dozen ballgames being broadcast throughout the room.

Oh, and he's totally blind.

The 31-year-old Reston man is the first blind contestant in the 16-year 
history of the syndicated TV show. But Timanus is not just a contestant: In 
two days of taping in August, he rattled off five straight victories, 
rolling up nearly $70,000 in winnings and advancing to the coveted 
"Tournament of Champions" in the spring – a feat accomplished by only about 
half a dozen of the 400 contestants who appear on the show each year.

Timanus's fourth appearance airs Monday night (Channel 7, 7:30 p.m.).

He's as unassuming and engaging as any other sports and trivia nut, trading 
barbs with friends and giving as good as he gets. His disability – he lost 
his sight to retinal tumors at age 3 – hasn't slowed him at all, and when 
"Jeopardy!" host Alex Trebek informs the audience that Timanus is blind, 
his coterie at the bar howls "We know! We know!" in mock irritation.

Near the end of his second appearance, Timanus picks the final square on 
the board, a Daily Double. Instantly, he calculates exactly how much he'll 
need to win the game outright, before Final Jeopardy. And he does.

It isn't his first brush with show business. As a student at South Lakes 
High School, he appeared on the program "It's Academic," so "I kinda knew 
how to handle the TV thing," he says. "I just decided to have fun with it 
and play to win."

He was born in St. Joseph, Mo., the son of an itinerant radio disc jockey. 
 From his earliest days, he liked to "watch" game shows with his mother, 
erri. As a 6-year-old listening to the old Art Fleming-hosted "Jeopardy!" 
Timanus recalls telling her, "The Daily Double squares are orange with 
yellow stripes, right, Mom?"

He was right.

The family moved to Reston in 1981. At South Lakes, Timanus cruised through 
his advanced placement courses. On one episode of "It's Academic," he 
successfully answered a question that involved a photograph.

"He was an excellent student, and his blindness was never a problem," said 
Carolyn Slednik, a teacher of the visually impaired in Fairfax County. "He 
was particularly excellent in math. He would dictate to me where to put the 
numbers in which columns."

As a youth, Timanus helped his father, Chuck, with statistics at sporting 
events that his dad was broadcasting. He refined his love of sports at Wake 
Forest University, where he graduated in 1990 with a degree in economics.

Not long after that, his mother appeared on "Jeopardy!" She did not win.

In 1992, Timanus hooked up with USA Today, where he compiles the paper's 
Coaches' Top 25 college football and basketball polls. He also writes the 
Friday college football roundup, plus feature articles on a variety of sports.

He does most of his reporting by phone but occasionally covers a game in 
person, mainly lacrosse. His father accompanies him, providing play-by-play 
and keeping statistics. Timanus uses a computer program that speaks, 
allowing him to hear when he's typed or downloaded from the Internet.

"I learned how to type very, very early," he said. "And I 'watch' a lot of 
games. It's kind of knowing what to listen for."

As "Jeopardy!" fans know, the game can be difficult for even top-notch 
trivia buffs. Timanus had been trying to make the cut for years, taking the 
written test four times before being invited to a second round of tryouts 
last year. They don't keep score at the tryouts, he said. "They're just 
making sure you don't go 'blugblugblug' when it's time to answer."

Timanus survived that round and a series of interviews. The producers 
wanted him, but in December some of the show's coordinators returned to 
this area to visit him one more time. They wanted to see if he could handle 
the buzzer contestants must use, and find out whether he'd need special 
accommodations.

"I said if I just had a Braille list of the categories, I'd be fine," 
Timanus said. For Final Jeopardy, he types his answers on a keyboard.

When producers told him to book a flight to Los Angeles in August, Timanus 
called David Sher, a close friend and local theater producer he jokingly 
refers to as "Shakespeare Boy." (Sher returns the favor with an edgy barb 
of his own: As Timanus picked up the dinner check last week, Sher said, 
"Thanks for dinner, Freak.")

The two flew to California and endured two days of tapings at Sony Pictures 
studios, waiting for Timanus's turn at bat. Contestants wait off-stage 
together during the tapings; after each show ends, two new names are picked 
out of a hat to face the reigning champion in the next round.

In his first show, Timanus's correct identification – and pronunciation – 
of the Peloponnesian War, vaulted him to victory.

The only accommodation producers made for Timanus – besides the Braille 
listings – was to eliminate video-related questions. And because 
contestants can't buzz in until Trebek finishes reading the questions, 
being able to see the board was only a slight advantage to Timanus's 
competition.

"He's remarkable, and he's such a nice guy," said Laine Sutten, spokeswoman 
for the show, adding that Timanus won more money than anyone else has this 
season.

Now the national media are on Timanus's heels. Talk show gigs are not far off.

"I'm trying not to get the 'celebrity head' going," he said.


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