Eddie Timanus (born 1968 in St. Joseph, Missouri) is a Jeopardy! champion and USA Today sportswriter who grew up in Reston, Virginia, then graduated from Wake Forest University. He met his wife through a Yahoo! Groups discussion group on game shows; the couple now has a son. Timanus has been blind since he was a toddler due to retinoblastoma.
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At age 3, Timanus had an operation to remove tumors from his eyes, leading to his blindness. Following his Jeopardy! success, Timanus related a story from his childhood that his mother told him: "I came home and said, 'Turn on the lights.' And she said, 'They're on and you won't see them.' And I said, 'Well, OK' and went on." [1]
Timanus's father, Chuck, was a play-by-play announcer. Eddie began attending sports events with his father at the age of six, and he started keeping statistics at the age of eleven. Timanus graduated from Wake Forest University in 1990 with a degree in economics. In 1991, The Washington Post reported that Eddie worked alongside Chuck as a statkeeper for American University's basketball games, using pegboards and abaci, compiling statistical information for WINX-AM radio.[1]
Timanus was a contestant on Jeopardy!; his games aired in October 1999. He was the first blind contestant to compete on the show.[2] The only special assistance given to him during his games was a card on which the category names were printed in Braille (which he only received at the very start of the round), and a computer keyboard to type out his name on the podium's computer and his response for Final Jeopardy!.[2] There were also no video-based clues during his appearances.[2] Also, beginning with his appearances, contestants started out the episode already at their podiums, instead of the old practice of walking up to them as they were being introduced. (The practice became permanent starting in September 2000.)
Timanus won five consecutive games and then, according to the rules in effect at that time, retired undefeated. His winnings totaled $69,700 (USD) plus two new cars (Chevrolet Camaros in his case), and he was invited back for the show's Tournament of Champions, where he reached the semifinals and won $5,000 there. The story became a minor media sensation, with Jeopardy!'s Nielsen ratings rising 15% for Timanus's fourth and fifth games.[3] Timanus was a contestant on the Jeopardy! Million Dollar Masters Tournament which aired in May 2002, but did not advance beyond the first round and took home $10,000.
Timanus also appeared in the Jeopardy! Ultimate Tournament of Champions on March 16, 2005, in a first-round game. He finished in second place, taking home $5,000. In addition to the Braille cards and computer keyboard provided on his earlier appearances, an audible tone that was in sync with the game board's lights was added in order to give him an indication of when he could begin buzzing in to respond.
In 2000 he acted as a lifeline on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.[4] On November 26, 2004, Timanus appeared again on Millionaire, this time as a contestant, and won $50,000 in prize money. When he used the Phone-a-Friend lifeline, host Meredith Vieira would read the question and the four choices to the friend that he chose to call and would also remind him how much time was remaining on the 30 seconds used for that lifeline.[5]
Timanus is a staff sportswriter for USA Today whose articles appear frequently in the publication. In addition to general reporting, he is responsible for compiling the weekly USA Today Coaches Poll. He also writes the preview section for college football games.[2]