Trivia Night champs crowned at Hampton Community Library

Thanks to folks like Betty Dixon, “Jeopardy” has been a mainstay of television since Ford made its first Mustang.

“For years and years and years, I watched Alex Trebek,” she said about the show’s late longtime host. “There was a rule: Do not call between 7 and 7:30 unless it is really, really important, because I’m not answering the phone. And if they did call, I would pick up the phone and say, ‘Don’t you have a clock in your house?’

“Even little grandchildren knew that: Grandma’s watching Alex Trebek.”

Q: In which country was Alex Trebek (1940-2020) born?

Seeing contestants answer all those answers with questions, in categories from American Authors to Zodiac Rhyme Time, has helped make Dixon a ringer when it comes to Trivia Night at Hampton Community Library.

A participant since the start of the annual fundraiser, she now is a two-time champion thanks to her team, the Inglorious Bookends, capturing the 2023 title in March. Joining her in passing the test of knowledge were fellow Bookends Gary Bergman, Peter Bergman, Zach Hough, Sydney Starr, and Anita, Ashley, Ken and Parker Napierkowski.

Dixon, who works the library’s front desk, previously was on a championship team called Queen Elizabeth’s Court in honor of the second British monarch by that name.

Q: How long did Elizabeth II rule the United Kingdom?

“I did like the queen,” she said, adding her opinion of the rest of the royal family: “I don’t like any of these new people.”

She does enjoy trivia, especially when the subjects involve history and something that may be a bit puzzling to the GIS crowd: geography.

For library director Suzanna Krispli, Trivia Night means her coming up with questions for participants to attempt to answer.

“It’s really whatever I’m in the mood for,” she said. “We had a category on pirates because four days before, I watched a special about Blackbeard on the History Channel. I wondered, well, what else happens with pirates? And I grabbed a bunch of kids’ books and started looking it up.”

Q: Who hit the most home runs … oops, wrong kind of Pirates! But who did blast the most balls out of the park for Pittsburgh’s baseball team?

Of course, the library’s shelves can provide plenty of inspiration.

“We got in a brand-new kids’ book, and it was called ‘Not-So-Common Cents.’ And it was all about the history of money and how it all started,” Krispli said. “And so that was a category, because it was just so interesting.”

Q: What is the world’s oldest currency still in use?

Trivia Night joins the midwinter “Soup”er Bowl contest in generating proceeds that go toward supporting the library’s summer reading programming. Krispli said the money helps pay for behind-the-scenes necessities such as paper for registration forms, raffle tickets and bags for kids’ prizes.

“We try really hard to be fiscally responsible,” she said.

Q: When did Hampton Community Library open?

For Trivia Night, a primary responsibility is to provide a fun and inviting atmosphere.

“I think it’s really important when we do these events that everyone who comes feels like they participated and had a good time,” Krispli said. “The more laughter, the more successful it is.”

For more information about Hampton Community Library, visit www.hamptoncommunitylibrary.org.

Answers:

• Canada, specifically Greater Sudbury, Ontario.

• 70 years, from 1952 to 2022.

• Willie Stargell, 475 for his career and 48 in a single season, 1971.

• The British pound, approximately 1,200 years.

• September 1990, thanks to the efforts of numerous volunteers and contributors.