![]() ![]() "I picked peas," Long said, an experience few, if any, of his peers in University City shared with him.Īlso around that time, Long's father decided to move the family to Bensalem because "he was tired of finding crack vials on his doorstep," Long said. His dad met the family at Reading Terminal Market. When Long was about 10-years-old, his father sent him to a Mennonite family's farm in Harleysville for weeks at a time in the summer. "He would expect me to figure it out myself." "But then he wouldn't answer," Long said. He would often pose challenging questions to Long. Long's father worked several jobs, including a stint as a Philadelphia police officer, and instilled a love of learning and trivia. ![]() His Twitter handle, , is a nod to those ethnicities. Long's mother is a Black woman who moved to West Philly from Georgia when she was 9, and his father is a Northeast Philly native of Irish descent. Long enjoys the peace and solitude of deep sea fishing, like his father did, he said, and his favorite fishing spot is at the shore in Belmar. That money will make a difference for him and his son, he said. He is planning to use some of his winnings to take Nathan on a fishing trip. Through Thursday, Long had won $209,300, the 10th largest total among "Jeopardy!" winners this season. It paid off when he correctly answered Peyton Manning to the clue: In 2021, this Hall of Fame athlete launched Omaha Productions. The category was Sports & Entertainment, and Long bet big on himself, risking all but $1 of his pot. Headed into Final Jeopardy, Long had $13,000 and trailed Aaron Gulyas, a community college history professor from Michigan, with $14,800. Long's sports expertise set up the most dramatic win of his reign on Friday night. That last display of knowledge helped secure his fifth win and a spot in the show's Tournament of Champions. On Wednesday, he ran the category Movie Supervillains, and on May 20 episode, Long answered another set of movie-themed clues in the category One-Name Oscar Winners. The "Jeopardy!" daily box scores show, on Thursday, Long gave the correct responses for all five questions in the category Movie Co-Stars. So far he's been correct in that assessment. Most of the other contestants have college degrees, and many have advanced degrees, too. Long graduated from George Washington High School in the Northeast and attended a year of community college.īut Long is unflappable. He was confident his knowledge of movies and sports, two subjects that he said are often weaknesses for contestants, would give him a competitive edge when he applied to be on "Jeopardy!" more than a year ago. Long's job makes him different from most of his "Jeopardy!" opponents. In case anybody’s wondering why I’m constantly squinting and adjusting during the game…it’s because my glasses are 3000 miles away, where they will do the most good. There was a time his doctors questioned whether he would survive, he has said. When he did recover, he found he no longer could handle the physical strain of his SEPTA job. Long, 39, previously worked for SEPTA, then in January 2021 he was hospitalized at Chestnut Hill Hospital for three weeks with a serious case of COVID-19. "I'm at that age where you start thinking about what you've accomplished in life," he told PhillyVoice in an interview earlier this week. Long was able to set aside his qualms about being on TV due to his love for "Jeopardy!" and a desire to make a name for himself. The harder part of being on "Jeopardy!" – the part that gets more difficult with each episode he wins – is being in the limelight, particularly when it comes to answering questions about himself. "Everything that comes out here his floating around in here somewhere," Long explained, pointing to his head. The win included Long giving the correct response of Lake Baikal to the Final Jeopardy clue, "It's referred to as 'the blue eye of Siberia.'"
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |