‘Jeopardy!’s First-Ever Champion Speaks Out About Show 64 Years Later

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Throwing it all the way back! When Jeopardy! first premiered 62 years ago on March 30, 1964, fans never could have imagined what it would turn out to be today. The same goes for the first-ever champion, who has spoken about her life now and her time on the game show in a new interview.

Mary Cabell Eubanks, a self-proclaimed housewife from New York, was the first champion that Jeopardy! ever had. She forever cemented a spot in pop culture and Jeopardy! history.

When she was 26  Eubanks moved her then-husband from her family’s farm in Candor, South Carolina, to New York City, where they rented an apartment in Greenwich Village, just a few weeks before auditioning. “He had a new job and was going to New York to take a course for his position,” she told the Jeopardy! site.

While her husband worked, Eubanks spent time with a friend who lived in her apartment building. “The women had nothing to do all day,” she told Jeopardy!. “So, we would try out to go on various programs where people entered to win something, and others were simply fun programs to be an audience in.”

One of those programs was The Price Is Right. While standing in line for TPIR, Eubanks was approached by a man who asked her if she wanted to be on a new game program.

So, she finished her The Price Is Right taping and then headed over to a building in Manhattan, where they held auditions for Jeopardy!. “In the front of the room were Merv Griffin, Art Fleming, and executives of the broadcast,” Eubanks said. “We just talked, and they listened. They had a standard question kind of thing.”

She received a call 10 days later, asking her if she would want to be on the game show. When Eubanks told them yes, she immediately asked what she should wear, to which they told her, “Nothing white.” Eubanks decided on a pink skirt and top. When Eubanks arrived at the studio, she was placed in the same makeup room as Griffin. “He was just as nice as can be,” she said.

During the game, the contestant said that she wasn’t nervous at all. “I was just having fun. I think they planned some of those words, like food, so that it would be funny the way I pronounced it. The audience just had a fit over it, and so did Art, for that matter.” Being from South Carolina, Eubanks had a thick Southern accent.

When it came time for Final Jeopardy, Eubanks correctly answered “What quote was made to Hamlet?” and won $345. “I knew the answer because I had been an English teacher. I loved reading and was pretty much into all things literary at that point in my life,” she told Jeopardy!.

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With her winnings, Eubanks went to “every Broadway show that was in town,” she said. “I loved drama and shows and plays and everything. So I spent my money going to those. They were a lot cheaper at that point in time, obviously.”

Today, at 84 years old, Eubanks moved back to the South. She lives in Greensboro, North Carolina. The first-ever champion is a mother of two and grandmother of four. Eubanks retired from the American Red Cross years ago, but still works part-time at a furniture store.

When not working, Eubanks relaxes and enjoys telling people about her time on Jeopardy! and how it impacted her life. “I love being a part of this particular show. It’s kind of been like the theme of my life in a sense, to not worry about doing new things because I started out early. As long as you just enjoy it, and as long as you have fun, everything will be good.”

“I’m very proud of [my win],” she ended. “I was just stunned over the whole thing. It never occurred to me as to whether it would be on forever and ever.”