Before James Holzhauer was crowned champion of the prime-time “Jeopardy! Masters” tournament Wednesday, he gave a shoutout to family and friends in his Naperville home town and shared an anecdote involving his brother, Naperville City Councilman Ian Holzhauer.
James Holzhauer, a professional sports gambler who now lives in Las Vegas, eked out a win in the final round of the competition, despite failing to provide the correct answer in Final Jeopardy. Opting to go against the “all-in” style that fans associate with him, the low wager worked to his advantage.
Holzhauer became a celebrity in 2019 when had a 32-game “Jeopardy!” winning streak in season 35, becoming one of only two contestants — Ken Jennings is the other — to earn more than $2 million in regular season play.
That success continued in recent weeks as he competed in the masters championship, and culminated Wednesday when he edged out Mettea Roach, of Toronto, Canada, to take home the Alex Trebek trophy and the $500,000 grand prize. Third-place winner was Matt Amodio, of Cambridge, Massachusetts.
When contestants were given a chance to thank people, Holzhauer mentioned his childhood home of Naperville where “where I felt a lot of friends and family rooting me on.”
He also took time to recall a humbling incident that occurred during his last visit home. He and his brother were having lunch when someone came up to their table, and James assumed it was a fan seeking a photo or autograph.
Bracing himself for another conversation or request, James said the person instead spoke to his brother, asking, “Excuse me, are you Ian Holzhauer, Naperville city councilman?”
Ian Holzhauer said that a visitor sidestepping his brother to speak with him was definitely unusual. There have been 40 or 50 different occasions, he said, when he’s been out with his brother and James was approached by a fan.
He added that while James’ story was true, his younger brother omitted some details in the story about their visit to Portillo’s.
According to Ian Holzhauer, the man spoke to him while pointing at James.
“Well, that is the Jeopardy guy, which means you must be Councilman Ian Holzhauer. We don’t care about him. I want to talk to you,” Ian Holzahauer said.
After James told the story, show host Ken Jennings joked, “I don’t know how big a place Naperville was, but if you want to thank everyone in the city by name….”
The Naperville North High School graduate rattled off his dad, brother, nieces and nephews, sister-in-law and friends.
Quickly realizing he forgot someone, he added, “I left my stepmom out. Please put her in.”