What happened when Alex Trebek came to Charlotte?
Local radio personality Bob Lacey has fond memories of co-hosting with Trebek during a Charlotte appearance shortly after Trebek became "Jeopardy!" host. Trebek died Sunday at age 80.
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Alex Trebek was just weeks into hosting “Jeopardy!” when he appeared on the Southern Women’s Show stage with media personality Bob Lacey in 1984. Trebek died Sunday. (Courtesy of Jeopardy Productions)
by Cristina Bolling
Alex Trebek had been the host of “Jeopardy!” for barely a month in October 1984, when he and a version of his show rolled into Charlotte to take the stage at Southern Women’s Show at the former Civic Center at the corner of College and Trade streets.
Bob Lacey, current co-host of the “Bob & Sheri” morning radio show on 107.9 The Link, was then co-host of a popular WBTV show, “PM Magazine,” with Moira Quinn.
Lacey had shared stages with famous personalities oodles of times, so he didn’t think twice when he was told he’d be sharing hosting duties with Trebek in front of a live audience of a few hundred people, as well as a TV audience. (Trebek was already well known to TV viewers because he’d hosted other game shows.)
The gig wound up being a little tougher than Lacey anticipated, but one that left him with a good story to tell and a deep appreciation for Trebek that still stands.
Trebek, who hosted more than 8,200 episodes of “Jeopardy!” over 37 seasons, died Sunday at the age of 80. He announced in March 2019 that he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
“What comes to mind most was how nice Alex was. He was just an absolute gentleman,” Lacey recalled Monday during a phone call with The Ledger. “He was really slick-looking — I mean that in a good way. He had a beautiful suit on; a very dashing looking guy.”
Here’s what else Lacey remembers about the experience:
I didn’t prep for it at all. I was familiar with Jeopardy, like everybody is, and I thought, ‘You’re going to go in front of a few hundred people and just sort of host it with him.’ I was wrong. The show is a lot more confusing when you’re the host than one might think.
As I recall, we had three contestants and there were several hundred people that were in the audience. We introduced the contestants, where they were from. Then he sort of bowed and said, ‘Take it away.’ At that point I found out very quickly that it was not an easy show to do.
The whole thing of ‘put your answer in the form of a question’ - I never gave it a thought. But when you have to do that with each of the contestants, it’s a little trickier than you might think.
To make a long story short, I started just blowing it. I mean, I didn’t know what I was doing, where I was going, how many points each person had, were they asking it the right way? …
I sailed the ship right into rocks. Everyone was confused. He backed it up and started taking more of the lift and that made it easier for me to get through it. But at the end of it, he smiled and shook my hand and thanked me and I said, ‘I don’t know what you’re thanking me for. I should be the one thanking you.’ It was a real thrill.
Lacey can’t recall exactly what prompted Trebek’s appearance in Charlotte, but he has a hunch it was because “Jeopardy!” wanted to forge a contract with WBTV to air the game show.
Quinn didn’t share the stage with Trebek, but recalls meeting him that day, and remembers him being “just as lovely as can be.”
“He was absolutely charming, and delightful,” said Quinn, now chief operating officer and senior vice president of communications for Charlotte Center City Partners. “It was so unbelievably amusing and fun to watch him and Bob interact.”
Trebek’s visit came during the second year of the Southern Women’s Show, which would now be in its 37th year if Covid hadn’t canceled it this fall.
Joan Zimmerman, who along with her husband Robert founded Southern Shows Inc., including the Southern Women’s Show, says Lacey and Trebek “secured the love and loyalty of that audience for all time.”
“What I remember most about Alex Trebek is how gracious he was,” Zimmerman said, “how he told us that our show was a winner, and that if he could impress these hard to impress 'Southern women,' all would be well with his world.”
Cristina Bolling is managing editor of The Ledger: cristina@cltledger.com
This nugget ran in the Charlotte Observer on Oct. 13, 1984, announcing Alex Trebek’s visit to the Southern Women’s Show. The version of the “Jeopardy!” game show Trebek and local TV personality Bob Lacey hosted that day revolved around soap operas.
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