PHOTO: USPS
LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A first-day-of-issue ceremony for a stamp honoring the late "Jeopardy!" host Alex Trebek was held in Culver City Monday on the 84th anniversary of his birth and in connection with the ongoing celebration of the game show's 60th anniversary.
"My family and I were completely surprised about Alex being honored by the U.S. Postal Service. It is a such an extraordinary honor and a wonderful way to recognize what Alex meant to so many people," Trebek's widow Jean Trebek said at the ceremony at John Calley Park at Sony Pictures Studios. "Jeopardy!" is taped at what is now the Alex Trebek Stage at the studio.
"Alex would be over the moon about this distinctive honor and, he'd feel very humbled. I think the stamp design is very creative because Alex Trebek is the answer to all the clues."
The stamp pays homage to the show's answer-and-question format. On the stamp is written the prompt, "This naturalized U.S. citizen hosted the quiz show `Jeopardy!' for 37 seasons" and underneath, upside down, is the correct response: "Who is Alex Trebek?"
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The stamp's 20-stamp sheet resembles the array of video monitors that form the "Jeopardy!" game board. Category headers appear at the top of each column of stamps, and to the left is a photograph of Trebek with a portion of the "Jeopardy!" set behind him.
"It's so appropriate that the stamp illustration commemorates Alex with a `Jeopardy!' clue. He loved the game so much, and he always insisted the clues were the true star of the show," said Ken Jennings, "Jeopardy's!" greatest contestant and Trebek's successor as host.
"Alex Trebek was an American institution and so it makes perfect sense to honor him on a postage stamp. And of course, I had to geek out when I saw that the full sheet of stamps looks like a `Jeopardy!' game board."
Trebek began hosting "Jeopardy!" from the start of its syndicated revival in 1984 until his death at the age of 80 from pancreatic cancer in 2020.
"I've been very blessed to discover how many people our show has influenced in their lives and because of the power of our show, how I have become a factor in the lives of so many other people in that I'm in your home every day and I have been for 35 years," Trebek said backstage at the 2019 Daytime Emmys.
"`Jeopardy!' has become a special institution in Americana. It has been a force for good, a force for knowledge, a force for the best kind of reality television. Anybody can succeed. Anybody can win a lot of money."
In 2014, Trebek set the record for most game show episodes hosted by the same presenter with 6,829 episodes of "Jeopardy!," breaking the previous record held by "The Price is Right" host Bob Barker, according to Guinness World Records. He would go on to host more than 8,200 episodes of "Jeopardy!"
Trebek was an eight-time winner of the Daytime Emmy for outstanding game show host, including each of his final three seasons. He was nominated 29 times as host of "Jeopardy!" and three times as host of "Classic Concentration."
Trebek's other honors included induction in the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame in 2013, the National Association of Broadcasters Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2018, being named an officer of the Order of Canada, the nation's second-highest civilian honor, a lifetime achievement Daytime Emmy in 2011, a Peabody Award in 2011 for "encouraging, celebrating and rewarding knowledge" and stars on both the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Canadian Walk of Fame in Toronto.
Trebek was born and raised in Sudbury, Ontario. He began his career in 1961 with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation covering national news and special events for radio and television and hosting music and game shows
Trebek made his American television debut in 1973 as the host of the NBC game show "Wizard of Odds." He also hosted versions of "Double Dare," "High Rollers," "Battlestars" and "To Tell the Truth."
"Millions of Americans invited Alex Trebek into their living rooms each weeknight," said Michael Elston, secretary of the USPS Board of Governors.
"After thousands of shows over 37 seasons, he was someone we trusted and felt like we knew. And with his intelligence and wit, he made it cool to be smart."