A Little Rock native who won $75,000 on Jeopardy! as a teen returns to the game show after six years to compete in its first-ever team tournament starting Wednesday.
Leonard Cooper, who was a senior at eStem Public High Charter School when he took home the top prize in the quiz show’s Teen Tournament in 2012, accepted an invitation to participate in Jeopardy!'s All-Star Games.
The tournament’s contestants are a collection of some of the “winningest and most popular players in recent Jeopardy! History,” the show said in a statement.
“They told us they were going to be doing something new, but we didn’t know what it was yet,” Cooper said Tuesday. “So it was really exciting to hear back from them in general.”
The Little Rock native — who graduated from eStem in 2013 and is now pursuing a Master’s degree in biology at Brown University, where he received his bachelor’s — plays on a team alongside Austin Rogers, who won over $400,000 in a 12-day win streak and works as a bartender in New York, and Roger Craig, who holds the record for most money won in a single show at $77,000.
Five other teams composed of notable former players are also competing for a top $1 million prize that will air in a series of 10 episodes beginning Wednesday and concluding March 5. The tournament itself, though, took place in January. Cooper said he couldn’t comment on the outcome of the competition, as participants and their families aren’t allowed to share results until the episodes air.
Judy Cooper, Leonard Cooper’s mother, said it was incredibly difficult to keep her son’s 2012 victory a secret.
“I had to keep a straight face,” she said, recalling the Teen Tournament. “So I’m just like about to blow up, wanting to say something because I’m so proud but at the same time knowing I had to keep everything confidential.”
And now, Judy Cooper said, she has to try to keep the games' outcome to herself again.
Cooper described the experience of returning to Jeopardy! after six years as a “completely different vibe.” He was 16 when he first played. Cooper is now 23.
“It was definitely a different atmosphere,” he said. “Coming and playing against teenagers and kids who were younger than you, versus coming in, being the youngest one there and playing against these people you’ve been watching.”
The 18 contestants were chosen primarily on the basis of their previous success, with an edge going to fan favorites as determined by social media, said Harry Friedman, executive producer of the syndicated show.
Cooper was the only Teen Tournament champion and the youngest player picked to compete. His 2012 victory garnered national attention when he bet $0 in his response to a clue in the final round looking for the person who said, "The eyes of the world are upon you" on June 6, 1944.
When Cooper’s written answer was revealed, it said: “Some guy in Normandy. But I just won $75,000!” Even though he didn’t write down the correct response — Dwight Eisenhower — he still won.
Following his victory in 2012, Cooper appeared on The Today Show, and a headline on the website Deadspin hailed him as a “Jeopardy folk hero.”
The All-Star Games mark the first time in the show’s run that players will compete as teams. The full teams won't play directly against each other, with one person from each team designated to compete in a game's first round, another to play Double Jeopardy and the third to play the final round.
The winning teammates will get equal shares of the top prize, or about $330,000 each. The second- and third-place prizes to be split are $300,000 and $100,000.
Rogers admitted some anxiety.
"I do not care if I fail. But if I fail other people on something that I should know, that I should have memorized ... like a world capital or an Oscar year, and I'm letting someone else down, that's not cool," he said.
Cooper said he was excited to be play alongside Craig and Rogers, who called the former teen winner a “rookie sensation.”
The trio had an additional edge, Cooper said, in their geographic proximity to one another. Because the three all live in New England, they were able to meet up multiple times after the teams were set through a draft to study and develop strategies, he said.
“It was also great just hanging out with them,” he said. “They were great guys. I couldn’t have picked a better team.”
The All-Star Games will air weekdays between Wednesday and March 5. Cooper’s first-round games are scheduled to air from Feb. 25 to Feb. 27.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.