Madden '03 wins big on 'Jeopardy'

Every weeknight at 1 a.m., Central European Time, David Madden '03 called his parents from Berlin. In his hometown of Ridgewood, N.J., it was 7 p.m. — just in time for the opening bars of the "Jeopardy!" theme song.

"He's always been addicted to the show," his mother, Susan Madden, said. "We thought it was just another one of his quirks, that he had nothing to do in the middle of the night in Berlin."

So Madden's parents kindly turned up the television volume, placed the phone beside it and let him listen in to the show. It wasn't until his first "Jeopardy!" appearance aired on July 5 that they realized he had been practicing to be a contestant.

The practice paid off. Until Monday, when Madden lost for the first time in 20 games, the 24-year-old alum held the title of reigning champion. He earned $430,400 in all, second only to the legendary Ken Jennings, who earned more than $2.5 million over the course of 74 wins last year.

"The first episode was one of the closest, and the only one where I was legitimately nervous," Madden said. "After that, it was all gravy."

Even with the experience of having led Princeton's College Bowl team to a third-place finish in the national tournament, Madden prepared intensively for the show. He pored over trivia books, created study guides to help him remember names and dates and developed a strategy for the show's trademark "Daily Doubles" — clues that allow contestants to wager all their earnings on one question.

"My conservative wagering on the Daily Doubles made sure that I never took myself out of a match that I was already doing well in," he said.

Once he won the championship title, Madden cut back on the studying and enjoyed his built-in advantage. Since five shows were taped in one day every few weeks, he enjoyed the momentum of being a returning champion, while his opponents had to come in cold.

Chip Beall, who directed the quiz bowl contest Madden excelled in during high school, noted that the relaxed personality that made him such a memorable player in high school — his high school team took second at the National Academic Championship in 1999 — came through on "Jeopardy!" as well.

"He's a fun guy to watch," Beall said. "Always with a smile on his face. [He's] a devastatingly good player ... with a breadth of knowledge in all subjects."

Madden considered history, geography and other social sciences to be his strengths, so Beall helped Madden "drill and drill and drill" on other subjects like natural sciences and pop culture.

The study sessions came into use, but they couldn't prevent some blunders and close calls. For example, Madden won his 11th game only because his opponent missed the final clue. And he'll never forget the "slightly embarrassing" moment when he missed a question about Berlin.

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"The most humiliating moment" of all, though, "was having to answer, 'What is hail Yale?' in a rhyme time category," he said. "But I did get questions right on Princetonians F. Scott Fitzgerald '17, Woodrow Wilson 1879, A. Scott Berg '71 and Adlai Stevenson '21."

Madden plans to give back to the University with his winnings, donating to the counseling center, Outdoor Action and the Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination. He also recently visited hurricane-damaged areas in Mississippi to donate and distribute supplies, and has set up two scholarship funds in the names of his two favorite high school teachers.