MICHAEL RANKINS

Date of first appearance:
June 1988

Total winnings:
$62,098 (plus a prize package valued at $7,700 for winning “ Jeopardy! Battle of the Bay Area Brains)

Records held/stats:
Five-time champion, TOC semifinalist (1988), Super Jeopardy! participant, Champion, Jeopardy! Battle of the Bay Area Brains

Favorite anecdote:
TV Guide interviewed me in 1996 when the controversy involving Maya Angelou's criticism of the apparent dearth of minority contestants on Jeopardy!

How did Jeopardy! affect your life?
Even after all these years, Jeopardy! still makes a marvelous “calling card.” Whatever else I've accomplished in life, my history as a Jeopardy! champion is always the achievement people find most remarkable, and most want to hear about.

Do anything crazy with my winnings?
With my original five-game winnings, I took my then-seven-months-pregnant wife to Hawaii . Had we scheduled the trip even one week later, her doctor would not have released her for air travel. My daughter, who's now nearly 16 years old, still hasn't quite forgiven her mother and me for the fact that her only trip to Hawaii thus far was taken in utero.

Anything else?
1. I collect original comic book art.
2. I'm an associate editor and film critic for the largest DVD review website on the Internet ( www.dvdverdict.com ).
3. I've performed three times in international competition in an a cappella chorus.