- David Madden (Jeopardy! contestant)
David Madden (born
June 13 ,1981 ) is the second longest-winning contestant on thetelevision game show "Jeopardy! ". BetweenJuly 5 ,2005 andSeptember 19 ,2005 Madden won nineteen games and $432,400, both records only exceeded byKen Jennings in regular season "Jeopardy!" His total "Jeopardy!" winnings of $442,400 (adding $10,000 for the 2006 Tournament of Champions) is fourth all-time, behindBrad Rutter ,Ken Jennings , andJerome Vered . [ [http://www.jeopardy.com This is JEOPARDY! ] ] In terms of regular game winnings he ranks second, between Jennings andLarissa Kelly (whose husband Jeff Hoppes joined Madden at a Jeopardy! tryout while on a birdwatching trip in 2004; Hoppes was a Jennings victim in Game 70).During his time at Ridgewood High in New Jersey, he competed on his school's
Quiz Bowl team, and attended theNational Academic Championship , where he was named to the Hall of Fame, being one of only 18 people named to it in its 25 year history.Madden's play was noted for many runaway or lock games, strategic wagers, and the selection of higher valued clues when approaching a category, in an effort to "fish" for the Daily Doubles. His nineteen-game streak came to an end on
September 19 ,2005 , when he was defeated by Victoria Groce, a musician fromDecatur, Georgia . Steve Kaltenbaugh, a U.S.Navy sailor fromColumbia, Maryland , finished third.During the 2006 Tournament of Champions, Madden won his first round match (defeating the eventual winner of the Tournament, Michael Falk), but in his second round match, Madden entered Final Jeopardy in a distant third place, trailing Bill MacDonald $22,600 to $4,600. Instead of answering the Final Jeopardy question, he wished "Good Luck" to MacDonald on the answer screen and finished with $0.
Madden also holds two other achievements of note relating to his run on "Jeopardy!" Throughout his 22 games (including two in the 2006 Tournament of Champions) he selected 46 clues that were Daily Doubles and got only 2 incorrect. Madden is also believed to be the longest ever "real-time" champion since he taped his first show on
December 14 ,2004 and his last regular season show onJuly 9 ,2005 . During much of this time, Jeopardy! was either taping the Ultimate Tournament of Champions or on summer hiatus.Madden studied at Princeton and Berlin and is a co-author of the forthcoming
catalogue raisonné of the American artistRichard Anuszkiewicz which will be published in 2008. From July 2007-February 2008 he hiked the length of the United States as a fundraiser for theFisher House Foundation , a charity that provides free accommodations for family members of veterans at American military hospitals. Currently he splits his time between his hometown ofRidgewood, New Jersey and Europe, working as a genealogist.References
External links
* [http://www.j-archive.com/showplayer.php?player_id=861 J! Archive] - David's bio and game summary
* [http://www.pmpmail.com/maddenwatch Madden Watch]
* [http://www.usahiker.blogspot.com] - Link to David's blog of his hike
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