UCLA students for $2,000: This second-year math economics student taught himself how to read before kindergarten, enjoys Mario Puzo’s novel “The Godfather” and will be appearing on Jeopardy College Championship in February.
Answer: Who is Ryan Stoffers, 19.
After trying to get on the quiz show as a high school student and as a college freshman, Stoffers received the fateful call in December inviting him to compete on the show.
“I was sitting in class when I got the call,” Stoffers said. “I was super excited. … I was pacing around, calling all my friends and family.”
Stoffers filmed the show as UCLA’s sole representative last week at the Radisson Hotel in Culver City, but the championship will not be broadcast until February.
By the time Stoffers was in high school, Jeopardy had become part of his family’s daily ritual. Dinner was often served while Ryan Stoffers and his older brother Kyle Stoffers battled to shout out the most correct answers.
“Even when watching the adult show on TV, (Ryan) could get the answers even when the three contestants couldn’t,” said Ryan Stoffers’ mother, Robin Stoffers. “We always had a sense that he could be on the show.”
In spring 2009, Ryan Stoffers led his Dykstra Hall team to victory as part of the on-campus Office of Residential Life College Bowl.
“What was great about (Ryan) was that he was never too confident or obnoxious,” said Terrie Tran, assistant residential director of Dykstra Hall at the time of the competition. “He was really kind of unassuming and modest in his answers.”
Even at that time, Tran said she knew it was Stoffers’ “dream to be on Jeopardy.”
In October, Stoffers took his first step toward making it on the show by taking the preliminary online test of 50 questions, each of which needed to be answered within seven seconds. After this, he received an e-mail inviting him to the Los Angeles area auditions in Culver City.
“I think about a couple thousand people take the test, and about 500 make it to the audition. Fifteen people make it on the show,” Stoffers said. “The odds were so long I wasn’t holding my breath.”
After participating in mock games complete with buzzers and opponents from other colleges, Stoffers was left to wait for a call.
“I had been through this so many times that … I just had fun with it,” he said. “I definitely didn’t feel much pressure going in. If I made it that would be awesome, and if I didn’t it would just be another year of not making it.”
While many students play along with Jeopardy at home, Stoffers’ friend Stephen Moock said Stoffers was especially cut out to play the game.
“He pretty much has the three main components for success,” said Moock, a second-year math economics student. “First of all his memory is perfect. … He doesn’t forget much of anything once he knows it. Also, he is generally a really competitive person, and he can just think more quickly. He gets the answers before anyone else.”
Stoffers’ father first noticed his son’s talent for the game years ago.
“I used to think I was fairly smart, but (Ryan) started beating me probably when he was an eighth grader or (high school) freshman,” Kurt Stoffers said. “It was amazing how he managed to answer some of the questions. … We would be amazed and ask him, “˜How did you know that?’ And he would say “˜I don’t know.'”
Family trips to Europe provided excellent memory exercises for Stoffers when he was young. Often he would be the only one in the family able to remember the facts and histories of places visited. Stoffers credits his success with Jeopardy to traits like attentiveness and curiosity rather than to outright intelligence.
“I would say that it is definitely right that being able to compete on Jeopardy is not a good measure of intelligence. … But the things that make you go on Jeopardy, things like quick recall, a strong memory and a general intellectual curiosity are really things intelligent people need to have,” Stoffers said. “You can be intelligent without being good at trivia.”
Though Stoffers cannot by contract reveal the outcome of the championship until it is broadcast in February, he is guaranteed a minimum prize of $5,000. What is he planning on doing with the money?
“I need a new iPod,” he said jokingly.