Imagine if all of the clues in the popular TV game show Jeopardy! were related to the University of South Carolina. USC archivist Elizabeth West's new book, The University of South Carolina Trivia Book, provides plenty of material — more than 500 questions and answers — for a Gamecock version of the show.
TRANSCRIPT
Announcer voice: “This is Gamecock Jeopardy! Here are today's contestants."
Narrator: What if there was a University of South Carolina version of the Jeopardy! game show that challenged contestants only on the finer points of USC trivia?
Announcer voice: A clown impersonator from Bowman, South Carolina, Greg Bravehorse.
An apprentice time traveler from Tralfamodor, Jessica Rabbitte.
And our returning champion, a chef from Lancaster, South Carolina whose three-day winnings total $18,001, Sarah Schwette.
And now the host of Gamecock Jeopardy!, Tom Staley.
Host: “Will Sarah Bailey continue her winning streak? We’ll soon find out! Let’s take a look at today’s Gamecock Jeopardy categories — Student Life and Traditions, Faculty, Alumni, Leaders, Town & Gown, Campus, and finally, Athletics. Sarah, make your first selection!”
Sarah: “I’ll take Student Life and Traditions for $800, Tom!”
Host: “Dixie Dugan helped keep the Carolina community connected when this was first installed on USC’s campus in 1929.”
Sarah: “What is a … telephone system?”
Host: “You are correct. Dixie Dugan was USC’s first switchboard operator and a beloved source of advice and comfort for many homesick freshmen. Select again.”
Sarah: “Let’s do Alumni for $200.”
Host: “Mattie Jean Adams made history in June 1898 when she did what no other woman before had ever done.”
Greg: “What is … earn a degree from the University of South Carolina?”
Host: “That’s right Greg! Select again.”
Greg: “Let’s try Town & Gown for $400."
I’m Chris Horn, your host for Remembering the Days, and today we’re catching up with university archivist Elizabeth West, whose latest book includes more than 500 trivia questions about USC.
It’s titled, appropriately enough, The University of South Carolina Trivia Book, and it’s the result of Elizabeth’s many years of gathering quirky bits of information about the university’s past.
Elizabeth West: “It's a way of making history enjoyable in these tidbits. So trivia doesn't mean it's trivial. This is something that people can pick up and enjoy and learn a few things at a time, and then put it down and come back and pick it up again.
It was a lot of fun to kind of reconfigure a lot of this information into this format, and I really hope people will enjoy it. It's funny, it's shocking, it's silly, it's serious.”
So what sorts of trivia can you find in Elizabeth’s new book? Let’s go back to the Gamecock Jeopardy! studio to find out …
Jessica: “I’ll take Faculty for $1,600.”
Host: “This 19th century South Carolina professor once tried to have a student expelled for stupidity.”
Jessica: “Who is Thomas Cooper?”
Host: “Incorrect!”
Greg: “Who is … Jonathan Maxcy?”
Host: “Not him, either!”
Sarah: “Who is Francis Lieber?”
Host: “Correct. Select again.”
Sarah: “Let’s do Alumni for $1,200, Tom.”
Host: “USC has had 10 of these starting with William Henry Verner in 1900.”
Greg: “What are … Rhodes Scholars?”
Host: “Correct! Carolina’s most recent Rhodes Scholar was Jory Fleming in 2016. Select again.”
Greg: “I’ll take Campus for $2,000.”
Daily Double sound effect
Host: “It’s the Daily Double! How much will you wager?”
Greg: “Let’s make it a true Daily Double!”
Host: “You’ll double your winnings if you come up with the correct response to this: In the President’s House on the Horseshoe, no one is allowed to sit in this chair.”
Greg: “What is the chair that the pope sat in when he came to USC?”
Host: “Correct! Pope John Paul II came to USC during his historic visit in 1987 as part of the university’s ecumenical year. Select again.”
Greg: “Let’s try Alumn’ for $800!”
Host: “This 19th century alumnus of South Carolina College, the precursor of the University of South Carolina, died while defending the Alamo in 1836.”
Jessica: “Who is James Butler Bonham?”
Host: “That’s right, before his untimely death at the Alamo, Bonham had been expelled from South Carolina College during his senior year when he led a student protest over the poor quality of food served on campus — the so-called Biscuit Rebellion. Select again.”
Well, you get the idea. The University of South Carolina Trivia Book lives up to its name with enough material to fuel several trivia contests about the university.
Whether you want to simply learn more about USC or perhaps organize your own garnet-and-black-themed trivia night, The University of South Carolina Trivia Book has got the questions and the answers that you need. I mean, where else could you learn factoids like this?
Jessica: “Alumni for $2,000.”
Host: “This 1925 graduate of USC’s law school became an FBI agent and used his law degree — and a pistol — to hunt down gangsters such as John Dillinger and Pretty Boy Floyd.”
Sarah: “Who is Melvin Purvis?”
Host: “Correct!
Elizabeth got a lot of the material for the USC trivia book from historical records of the university, which she has painstakingly examined over the years. A popular TV show provided some last-minute inspiration as well.
Elizabeth West: “I had thought I was finished with the manuscript. I was just polishing it up. And then there was an episode of The Simpsons that came on, and it was playing in the background, and I heard Homer refer to Jasper Johns, and it was an art-based episode. And Jasper Johns, of course, is an alumnus of the University of South Carolina. And so I started wondering, are there other alumni of Carolina that have been on The Simpsons? And so I, of course, looked up The Simpsons Wiki, and it was Jasper Johns and Leeza Gibbons, and they both played themselves on different episodes of The Simpsons. So I immediately had to add that to the book.”
The trivia book is Elizabeth West’s fourth book on the history of USC. Her previous books include University of South Carolina Football Vault: The History of the Gamecocks and, with co-author Katharine Thompson Allen, On the Horseshoe: A Guide to the Historic Campus of the University of South Carolina.
Well, you can’t watch the actual game show Jeopardy! without sticking around for Final Jeopardy at the end, so, here’s that segment on Gamecock Jeopardy!.
Host: “The theme for tonight’s Final Jeopardy is athletics. Make your wagers, contestants, and here is your clue: When the Williams-Brice Stadium switched from astroturf to natural grass in 1984, a bumper sticker was created in response that read ‘Cocks kick ass on natural grass.’ Following Pope John Paul’s visit to USC’s campus in 1987, the bumper sticker was modified to this."
OK, if you know the theme music to Final Jeopardy, just hum that to yourself for a few seconds. We can’t afford to pay the copyright fee to use it. And if we hum it for too long, that’s a copyright violation, too. OK, they’ve had enough time.
Host: “Jessica, we’ll start with you. You wrote: ‘Cocks kick butt on natural grass.’”
Jessica: “I thought maybe they tried to clean it up a little bit after the Pope went to the stadium.”
Host: “No, that’s incorrect. And you wagered only $500, leaving you with $9,500.
Sarah, what did you write? “Cocks digress on natural grass.” That is incorrect. What was your wager? Oh, all of it, leaving you with nothing.
Greg, what was your response?”
Greg: “Cocks kick ass on holy grass!”
Host: “That’s correct and your wager of $2,001 brings your total to $29,208 making you our new Gamecock Jeopardy! champion.”
OK, I don’t think there’s going to be a TV show anytime soon called Gamecock Jeopardy!, but you can create your own contest at home with a copy of The University of South Carolina Trivia Book. It’s available everywhere books are sold.
Current students will get a chance to test their USC trivia knowledge on Sept. 26 when Elizabeth West will play host to a Gamecock trivia night at the South Caroliniana Library. Sounds like fun. And if they read the book ahead of time, it might be a very competitive evening.
Well, that’s all for this episode. Thanks for listening, and we’ll catch up with you again on the next Remembering the Days. I’m Chris Horn. Forever to thee.