Alex Trebek, the soul of television’s regularly scheduled interaction with eggheads, died a few days ago, on November 8.

He had been the host of ‘Jeopardy!’ since 1984, when the five-day-a-week version of the show returned from a decade off the air.

I love that show, and I was going to revisit my personal experience with it, and Alex, back in 1988, when a split second cost me the game.

However, I have referred to that painful outcome before, so we will instead have a look at a meaty batch of recollections from a former newspaper colleague of mine, Andrew Baggarly, who had a four-day run with Trebek and ‘Jeopardy!’ in 2012.

Baggarly is rightly proud of his run, which netted him more than $60,000.

Andy and I are among those who love the game and I assume, like me, that Andy is thankful we had Alex Trebek as long as we did … but sad that the classy host of the “answer and question” game has left us.

Here is Andy’s take on all things Trebek and ‘Jeopardy!’, from The Athletic website. I heartily recommend giving it a read.

Thanks for that, Andy.

A little bit more on Alex Trebek, from other news sites.

–The ‘Jeopardy!’ producer’s interview with CNN.

–The wikipedia link to the show.

–The New York Times obituary.

And a few more tidbits:

–Trebek’s final show was taped on October 29 and is scheduled to run on Christmas Day. That looms as a fantastic gift for some of us.

–Trebek hosted more than 8,000 episodes of ‘Jeopardy!’ over 37 years.

–During the break from the show this year, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, he wrote an autobiography entitled: “And the answer is …” Fans will want to read it.

–No successor has been named, but do not be surprised if it is Ken Jennings, widely considered the greatest contestant in the history of the show. He already has been making cameos for the show since Trebek announced on March 6 of last year that he had stage IV pancreatic cancer.

–And one last quote, from Mike Richards, the producer of ‘Jeopardy!’, on what made the show so special to Trebek.

“He reveled in these intelligent people, in the contestants and writers. He liked being surrounded by it.”