GW Academic Competition Club Order of Emeriti

GW quiz bowl players of ages past, immortalized. 

To nominate an individual for this page, or to update information on it, send e-mail to trivia@gwu.edu. All former full members of GW College Bowl, GW Trivia Club, or GW Academic Competition Club who left the school while in good standing with the team are eligible for inclusion. All information on this page is the fault of Edmund Schluessel unless otherwise noted and inadvertent inaccuracies and misrepresentations are his responsibility alone.

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Jason Bezis

Jason Block

CBI Region 4 Champion - 1990

Best known today for being one of the most popular and colorful contestants in the short history of WWTBAM, winning $125,000 in January 2000, Block played for GW during the early 1990's. Biography courtesy James Dinan

Justin Chan (active ?-Spring 1999)

Chan, a former roommate of Rick Terpstra, also headed the GW Gamers until his graduation.

Emily Charette (active ?- Spring 1997)

Kathy Cox (active ?- Spring 1997)

Robert Daguillard B.A. Int'l Affairs

An early player for GW and son of a Haitian diplomat, Daguillard later played for Georgetown in the mid-1990's.

James Dinan (active Fall 1992-Spring 1996) B.A. Journalism '96

CBI Region 4 Champion - 1993, 1994, 1995
Best CBI NCT finish - 4th, 1994
Princeton Invitational - first place, fall 1994
Georgetown Cup - first place, fall 1994

All-Star:
CBI Region 4 - 1995
Georgetown Sports Cup - 1995
Princeton Invitational - 1995

Dinan's career since graduating from GW has included a stint at Voice of America. TO QBers, he's most recognizable as, along with Dave Vacca, one of the founding members of TRASH.

Gary Greenbaum

CBI Region 4 Champion - 1989, 1990

Gary Greenbaum founded the team and led it to many early victories in the first half of the 1990's. Now practicing law, he made appearances at GW QB practices as late as 1997. Singlehandedly brought about several CBI rules changes. Also founded NYU's team.

Rick Grimes (active Fall 1988-Spring 1990) M.A. Russian & Eastern European Studies

CBI Region 4 Champion - 1989, 1990

All-Star:

CBI Regionals, 1989
CBI Regionals, 1990
CBI Nationals 1989
CBI National 1990
Terrapin International Tournament 1988
Nittany Lion Invitational I

An expert in Russian, geography, and politics, Grimes went on to a career as a government analyst whose details we're not allowed to tell you about (but that involves places ending in -stan). More publicly, he won $64,000 on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" early in the show's run.

Jim Hunter

Chris Jenkins (active ?- Spring 1997)

Hailing from somewhere near Lowell, Massachusetts, Jenkins left GW Quiz Bowl to participate in GW's student government. :-p He was features on the 1997 CBI Regionals team.

Guy Jordan (active Fall 1991-Fall 1996) B.A.s Religion & History of Art, 1995

Region 4 champion, 1993-1995
All-Star:
1993 Terrapin Invitational
1994 Princeton Invitational
1995 Nittany Lion Invitational
1996 Yale Invitational

Born near Philadelphia, PA, Guy thought he was really good as a freshman until he came to his first practice and got clobbered by Rick, Drew, Jon, and Gary.  Eventually realized that QB questions were quite predictable, and got better as time went on.  His senior year, met Earlham transplant Carol Herin, whom he married three years later.   After playing for Harvard for a while, he received his M.A. in art history from U Mass-Amherst in 2001.  Currently he's back living in the DC area and is a Ph.D. student at Maryland, but has no plans to play again collegiately.  Carol and he do plan to participate in the occasional masters event when time permits. Biography courtesy Guy Jordan

Carol Jordan (née Herin) (active Fall 1994-Spring 1995)

All-star
1994 Terrapin Invitational

Originally from Charlotte, NC, she founded the CBI team at Earlham, where she met Dave Vacca. Carol sat in on a few classes at GW which gave her what could be termed "Jon Nam Elligability."  Probably the best hard-core ACF player in the program's history, she married Guy Jordan in 1998.  She is currently a drama and theater teacher in the D.C. area.

Drew Kane

Matt Kline (active ?-Spring 96)

CBI Region 4 Champion - 1993, 1994

Starting player on the 1993 and 1994 teams to CBI Nationals. Originally from Florida; later transferred to USF. Biography courtesy James Dinan & Dave Vacca.

Amy Kroll (Fall 1994-Spring 1997)

Kroll's role in GW QB was largely a supporting one; she had a car and knew how to deal with administration. Originally and currently from New Jersey, she started her GW career as a history/German major, dropped the German major, switched to Radio/Television, then went back to History. Currently an editor at a television station, Kroll is also a certified bartender. Biography courtesy Dave Vacca

John Nam

Believe it or not, Maryland dinosaur John Nam actually got his law degree from GW and attended GW practices. In this interval, however, he somehow continued to play for UMCP. Nam is currently retired from the QB circuit, but he's been retired before and it hasn't stuck.

Mike Ost

Another early plater, Ost (pronounced "oast") specialized in geek-trash. After leaving GW, he played for the University of Akron, and appeared on the Philadelphia Experiment 2 team with Rick Grimes, Gary Greenbaum, and Jason Block. Biography courtesy Dave Vacca
 

*Jeff Paris

Kate Petrucelli (active Fall 1997-Spring 1998)

Jen Wood's roommate, Petrucelli is notable for her obsession with David Duchovny.

Jim Power

"Gentleman" John Schmidt (active Fall 1989?-Spring 1994?)

CBI Region 4 Champion - 1993, 1994

Captain from 1992 to 1994, Schmidt was on at least three GW teams that went to CBI NCT.  He could sense a spelling tossup a mile away, and was known for his calm, cool, unflappable captaincy, earning his moniker from his careful application of clock-killing answers. At last report, Schmidt is a civil engineer in Kansas. Biography courtesy James Dinan & Rick Grimes

Steve Sheiko (active ?-Spring 1997)

Sheiko, in a perverse twist on "The Sound of Music," ran off to become a Catholic priest and at last report was at seminary in Philadelphia. He is known for his penchant for Vernor's Ginger Soda. From Lexington, Kentucky, but originally a Michigander. International affairs specialist.

Travis Skaggs (active Fall 1996-Spring 1999) J.D. '99

Simply put, Skaggs was one of the scariest trash players anyone has ever seen. He was not only aware of, but versed in, the Teletubbies and Manos: the Hands of Fate before either exploded into the public consciousness. Skaggs is currently believed to be practicing law in South Dakota, or something.

Anna Stafford (active Fall 1990-Spring 1996)

GW's "Ragin' Cajun," Stafford, a native of Baton Rouge, LA, played with GW from 1990-1996, and was known for her knowledge of sports, the movies and things Russian. She currently practices law in South Carolina, and derailed Tom Waters's bid for a 20-0 game with the answer "Abkhazia." Biography courtesy James Dinan & Dave Vacca.

Rick Terpstra (active Fall 1995-Spring 1996, Fall 1998-Spring 1999) B.A. English '99

CBI Region 4 champion - 1999

Terpstra, a native of the greater Philadelphia area, currently continues his studies of Old English and Middle English at West Chester University. Probably the best GW lit player of recent years, he speaks Old English and made a special pilgrimage to see the original manuscript of Beowulf in London.

Dave Vacca (active Fall 1993-Spring 1995) M.A. Political Science '95

CBI Region 4 Champion - 1995
Princeton Invitational - first place, fall 1994
Georgetown Cup - first place, fall 1994

All-Star:
CBI Region 4 - 1995

Vacca's QB career began in his native Indiana as a player for Earlham's legendary "Fighting Quakers." After graduating from GW, he spent one year at Maryland-College Park acclimating to post college life and now works as
a research analyst for international trade issues.  As a player, he was noted for having the lowest "Kevin Bacon number" in GWACC history (2) and was considered a specialist in current events and "unclassifiable miscellany," especially of a bizarre nature.  He still lives in Washington and, as a founding member of TRASH, now writes many disturbing questions instead of just answering them.

Juan Carlos "J.C." Viscerra (active 1987-1993)

A great friend of Gary Greenbaum's and Rick Grimes', Juan Carlos Viscerra is remembered for his dry sense of humor. He died tragically in 1994, and GW's Presidential Invitational tournament was rededicated in his honor and has been called the JCV every year since then. All-time moderator. Played on the USC CBI Nationals team, and known for his heavy partying.

Jen Wood (1995-Fall 1997) Mathematics

Tim Young (active Fall 1996-Spring 1999) J.D. '99

President, Fall 1997-Spring 1999

CBI Region 4 champion - 1999

All-Star:
Johns Hopkins Invitational, 1996
CBI Region 4 - 1997, 1999
CBI Nationals - 1999
Penn Bowl 8, 1999
QOTC, 1999
NAQT ICT, 1999
NAQT Mid-Atlantic Sectionals, 1998
ACF Mid-Atlantic Regionals, 1998

Young was born and raised in Worcester, Massachusetts, and attended Dartmouth College, earning a degree in history there in 1996 (and playing three seasons, 1993-1996, for Dartmouth QB) before starting law school at GW. From 1997 through 1999, he was team president, carrying GW's team through a rough period of low membership and rebuilding it into its current vibrant state. Young also led a team to CBI Nationals in 1999, having won Region 4. An all-around player, only partly due to his six years of experience, Young's specialties included law, history, Latin, sports, and music. He currently works in the Washington, D.C. area and unofficially coaches GWACC, as well as continuing to play in open tournaments in the area.

David Zuckerman (Fall 1993-Fall 1997) J.D. 1997

Founded USC's team, then came GW. One of many Poli-Sci people, hailing from San Marino, CA. Zuckerman ran GW Quiz Bowl before Tim Young's tenure, after Guy Jordan.

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