Sam Buttrey won big on ‘Jeopardy!’ and so did CSUMB students

By Mark Muckenfuss

Sam Buttrey is a know-it-all. The kind people like. 

Buttrey, of Pacific Grove, is a three-time veteran of the TV game show “Jeopardy!” He also generously donated a little more than half the winnings from his first appearance, when he won $100,000 as champion of the Professors Tournament, to a CSU Monterey Bay scholarship fund. 

Since that initial appearance in December 2021, Buttrey has been invited back to the show twice for different champion tournament iterations – his most recent appearance was in May – and he expects to go back at least one more time. He said he has had a blast doing the shows and he’s made some Otters very happy in the process. 

An associate professor of operations research at Monterey’s Naval Postgraduate School, Buttrey earned his PhD at UC Berkeley in 1996. As an educator, he said it seemed appropriate to do something good for students when he won his first tournament.

“We saw it as found money,” Buttrey said of him and his wife. They chose to work with CSUMB, he said, “because it was local. We’re interested in helping children from the community who might not have the resources to attend college.”

Winning the tournament, he said, fulfilled a long-time dream. 

“I’ve been a fan of the show forever,” he said. “I used to watch in the old days, when Art Fleming was the host [in the 1970s]. We probably catch every episode.”

“We” is he and his wife, Elinda. Both of them have tried out for the show numerous times over the years, but neither had gotten past the second round until 2021. 

They don’t, he said, get into conflict watching the show. “We’re more complimentary (than competitive). She’s more math and literature and I’m more math and science.”

When Buttrey was chosen for the Professors Tournament, he said, he only had about six weeks to bone up on his knowledge of everything. The questions on the show, he said, don’t usually require a great deal of in-depth knowledge. Instead, it’s best to know a little bit about a lot of things.

One strategy Buttrey said he came across was to read children’s books, where the facts are presented quickly and clearly. It’s easier than delving into a scientific journal, but it does have a downside.

“It’s a little embarrassing,” Buttrey said. “You’re supposed to be very knowledgeable and you’re reading a children’s book.”

As for the show itself, it’s anything but child’s play.

“It’s pretty stressful,” he said. “The game goes very quickly and they do five shows in a day. To keep that kind of focus is taxing.

“The real issue is the buzzer,” he added. “At a high level, most of the players know the answers. But if you can’t get on the buzzer . . .”

It’s not a question of simply buzzing in once the question goes up. The buzzers are controlled by a production person called the enabler. Only after a question is read by the host does the enabler activate the buttons, allowing the contestants to buzz in. Anticipating that delay of a fraction of a second in order to get the timing right is critical, Buttrey said. 

“I have to go with this almost zen-like feeling of getting in touch with the enabler,” he said.

It’s a mystical part of “Jeopardy!” that few understand. But it has served Buttrey well. And it has made him a bit of a star. He’s been recognized by people while he was traveling as far away as New Hampshire and Michigan, he said. It probably doesn’t hurt that he bears a striking resemblance to entertainer Steve Martin. Martin, himself, commented on social media on the likeness after Buttrey won the Professors Tournament. 

“It’s fun,” Buttrey said. “It gives me a little bragging rights with my brother and my family.”

And with the Otters at CSUMB.