A Wilmette native competed on Alex Trebek’s final episode as ‘Jeopardy!’ host: ‘He was on top of his game’

Cliff Chang recalls watching “Jeopardy!” as part of his daily routine growing up in Wilmette. He played on New Trier High School’s Scholastic Bowl team and said he was “screaming inside” when he got the call that he would be on “Jeopardy!” Chang competes on Friday’s show, which was the final episode Alex Trebek hosted before he died.

“At the time, I had no idea how significant this episode was going to be for him and the ‘Jeopardy!’ community,” Chang, 33, told the Tribune by phone this week.

Trebek died Nov. 8 at the age of 80 after battling pancreatic cancer. His final day of filming was Oct. 29. Friday’s show is slated to conclude with a special tribute to Trebek, who hosted “Jeopardy!” for more than 36 years. Chang faces Jim Gilligan, an assistant professor of English education at San Francisco State University; and the winner of the episode airing at 3:30 p.m. Thursday on WLS-Ch. 7.

Chang — a math standout — said he took a “hard break” from trivia after graduating from New Trier in 2005. He studied computer science at the California Institute of Technology and now works as a software engineering manager for the work management platform Asana, which is headquartered in San Francisco. He said he got into trivia again during the coronavirus pandemic because it was a way to stay connected to friends.

He came across a digital ad for “Jeopardy!” online auditions. He said he had taken the qualifying test before, but things didn’t work out. This time he scored a place on the stage. He compared being on the show to an “exhilarating train ride” and called Trebek a “consummate professional.”

“I was a little bit worried when we were taping, like, Oh, is Alex going to be OK? But he was on top of his game. I was really pleased and proud of him for doing so well and seeming so sharp and healthy that when I found out that he passed, there was a sort of disbelief, like, But he was doing so well. He taped a great episode,” Chang said. He praised Trebek for “normalizing being cool for knowing stuff, in a way that not a lot of other people did.”

“Jeopardy!” returned to production Nov. 30 with champ Ken Jennings serving as the first guest host. His episodes are scheduled to start airing Monday. A series of guest hosts are filling in until a permanent host is named. Chang said he is looking forward to seeing how the show evolves.

“The whole production was a really tight-knit crew of people who really knew how to run a great quiz show. There’s a lot of conversation right now about what the future of ‘Jeopardy!’ is going to look like, and I have a lot of faith and curiosity about what that group of people is going to come up with because I think it will be different,” Chang said. “I don’t think they’re going to try to find Alex II because there’s no one quite like Alex, but I’m really curious and excited to see what it will be next.”

tswartz@tribpub.com

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