Jeopardy champ James Holzhauer donated part of his winnings to a cancer walk for Alex Trebek
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On the final episode of James Holzhauer’s long run on Jeopardy, Alex Trebek thanked the champ for a get-well card from his daughter, in response to the host’s battle with pancreatic cancer: “I want to express my thanks to your beautiful little daughter, Natasha, for having made this get-well card for me… That was very sweet of her.” CNN reports that the exchange caught the attention of Ann Zedikera in Naperville, Illinois, where Holzhauer once lived. She contact him to see if would attend this summer’s Naperville Pancreatic Cancer Research Walk, an event she was fundraising for, telling CNN, “At the end of the day, I had nothing to lose… My heart told me it was the right thing to do.”
Holzhauer wrote back declining to attend the walk, but sending a check for $1,109.14 with the message, “For Alex Trebek and all the other survivors.” The check’s amount references Holzhauer’s daughter’s birthday. Last month, Trebek announced that his cancer was in “near remission,” despite his initial stage 4 diagnosis.
The champ and the host also had a reunion this week: Trebek presented at the NHL show in Las Vegas, in one of his first public appearances since his diagnosis, and Holzhauer joined him at the event. Holzhauer said that Trebek promised that “he’d be there whenever Jeopardy welcomes me back” and also regretted the alarming huge-hands camera angle.
8 Comments
I swear James Holzhauer was created by Disney Imagineers.
Best of luck to him on his ‘Teach A Grown Man How To Smile Without Looking Like A 7-Year-Old On School Picture Day’ charity, as well. Judging solely from that first picture of him to the second, I see they do great work.
Obviously it’s great that he did this, but this is getting a LOT of publicity for a thousand bucks when the guy won literally millions.Doesn’t diminish the kindness of a donation, just the justification of this hitting every news site.
Maybe it encourages more sheepish fundraisers to take a shot and ask “celebrities” for donations to their causes? If so, all fine by me.
Jesus, I give almost that much to my public library every year, and I won’t make that guy’s winnings in my lifetime.
Do you want an article too then?
Yeah, I feel like articles across the web touting his donation of “part of his winnings” sets it up to be like $25k or something. A grand is a nice gesture but not anything different than what “normal” people often donate.
Love his Twitter profile picture.