Colby Burnett is the first ''

Jeopardy! ''Jeopardy!'' is an American game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead given genera ...

'' contestant to have won both the Teachers Tournament and the Tournament of Champions. Burnett, who at the time was a teacher at Fenwick High School in

Oak Park, Illinois Oak Park is a village in Cook County, Illinois, adjacent to Chicago. It is the 29th-most populous municipality in Illinois with a population of 54,583 as of the 2020 U.S. Census estimate. Oak Park was first settled in 1835 and later incorporated in ...

, won the Teachers Tournament in November 2012. Later, in February 2013, Burnett won the show's Tournament of Champions, taking home the $250,000 grand prize. He later appeared on season 3 of TBS's reality game show ''

King of the Nerds ''King of the Nerds'' is an American reality competition series co-produced by Electus and 5x5 Media. It was inspired by the ''Revenge of the Nerds'' films. The show is hosted by actors and executive producers Robert Carradine and Curtis Armstr ...

''. Governor Pat Quinn named December 18 as "Colby Burnett Day" in

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

Education

Burnett graduated from Fenwick High School. He then went on to get his BA from

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

, double majoring in

History History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

and

Political Science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

. Then he got his MEd in Reading Teacher Education from Dominican University.

Early life

Burnett grew up in the

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

neighborhood of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. He credits his mother with keeping him out of trouble, as well as enhancing his intellect by buying him an encyclopedia, which he has read from cover to cover. After winning ''Jeopardy!'', Burnett bought his mom a new home in a better area of Chicago. When asked what the greatest accomplishment of his life was, the ''Jeopardy!'' champion stated, "knowing a duke of

Sealand SeaLand, a division of the Maersk Group, is an American intra-regional container shipping company headquartered in Miramar, Florida with representation in 29 countries across the Americas. The company offers ocean and intermodal services using ...

Education

Early life

References

External links