{"id":351045,"date":"2026-06-07T23:45:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T23:45:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/351045\/"},"modified":"2026-06-07T23:45:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T23:45:08","slug":"creator-of-jeopardy-for-students-dies-in-long-beach-after-long-battle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/351045\/","title":{"rendered":"Creator of ‘Jeopardy!’ for students dies in Long Beach after long battle"},"content":{"rendered":"

The creator of Long Beach\u2019s long-running \u201cJeopardy!\u201d Tournament of Champions died Friday after a long battle with pancreatic cancer, just hours before the academic competition wrapped up its 25th year.<\/p>\n

Jim Birge, 78, was remembered throughout Saturday\u2019s championship event as students, organizers and former contestants celebrated the legacy of the man behind the popular middle-school competition.<\/p>\n

The creator of Long Beach\u2019s long-running \u201cJeopardy!\u201d Tournament of Champions died Friday after a long battle with pancreatic cancer, just hours before the academic competition wrapped up its 25th year. Facebook\/Jim Birge<\/p>\n

The annual tournament, modeled after the hit television game show, has challenged thousands of students over the past 25 years with rapid-fire trivia questions. This year\u2019s event brought together three finalists for a final showdown.<\/p>\n

Jordan McGuffie, who became the tournament\u2019s first middle-school champion in 2002, returned from Georgia for the milestone competition.<\/p>\n

The annual tournament, modeled after the hit television game show, has challenged thousands of students over the past 25 years with rapid-fire trivia questions. ABC7<\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely wanted to make sure I made it back for this one. I knew it was the 25th and it was the potential to be the last one,\u201d McGuffie told ABC7<\/a>.<\/p>\n

McGuffie said the trip was also about honoring Birge, whom he credited with building and sustaining the competition.<\/p>\n

Birge, described as the driving force behind the marathon quiz tournament, had announced this season would be his last as he battled pancreatic cancer. ABC7<\/p>\n

\u201cJim has always been a vibrant character,\u201d he said. \u201cHe wants everybody to learn. He finds fun ways to learn.\u201d<\/p>\n

Birge, described as the driving force behind the marathon quiz tournament, had announced this season would be his last as he battled pancreatic cancer. Despite his illness, he remained determined to see the program through.<\/p>\n

Organizers announced his death during Saturday\u2019s event and reflected on his impact on generations of students. ABC 7<\/p>\n

Birge\u2019s widow, Donna Bergeron, explained the tournament grew out of his passion for learning and creativity. ABC 7<\/p>\n

\u201cTo get to June, our Tournament of Champions, there\u2019s absolutely no way this would\u2019ve happen if it wasn\u2019t for my crew and my family,\u201d Birge said while holding back tears during an earlier interview.<\/p>\n

Organizers announced his death during Saturday\u2019s event and reflected on his impact on generations of students.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo the hundreds and hundreds of students who have been able to play and feel good about learning and honor the legacy of Jim and the continued success of the greatest school show ever made, \u2018Jeopardy!\u2019\u201d a speaker said.<\/p>\n

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Birge\u2019s widow, Donna Bergeron, explained the tournament grew out of his passion for learning and creativity.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would laugh at stuff and come up with silly stuff, and ideas in the middle of the night,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was all his idea. I had no idea it was going to last this long.\u201d<\/p>\n

As contestants competed in the tournament\u2019s final round, many acknowledged that Birge\u2019s influence was everywhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis energy is still in the building, his spirit is still here, all of his loved ones are here, and we want to make sure that we\u2019re still carrying on his legacy,\u201d McGuffie said.<\/p>\n

Birge died Friday, just hours before the competition he created crowned its latest champion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The creator of Long Beach\u2019s long-running \u201cJeopardy!\u201d Tournament of Champions died Friday after a long battle with pancreatic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":351046,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[7,4900,339,29459,131,133,132,4182,3183,113240,143535,3586],"class_list":["post-351045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-california","tag-cancer","tag-death","tag-jeopardy","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news","tag-metro","tag-students","tag-terminal-illness","tag-trivia","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=351045"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351045\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/351046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=351045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=351045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=351045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}