OCEANSIDE
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Jonathan Hawley is going to be on “Jeopardy!” and no one's surprised. The Harvard sophomore from Oceanside is known for knowing a lot.
“He collects facts like others collect dust,” said George Roswell, one of Hawley's history teachers at Rancho Buena Vista High School.
Hawley, 19, Rancho Buena Vista High's 2006 valedictorian, is pretty low-key about the whole thing.
“I've spent my whole life learning worthless trivia, but it keeps me going,” he said with a chuckle. “And there are times when I've found it useful.”
Taping was scheduled for yesterday and today as Hawley competed against 14 whiz kids from universities across the country in the 2008 “Jeopardy!” College Championship.
But the results won't be revealed until May 5-16, when the shows air nationally.
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'Jeopardy!' sampler
A: Matt Damon plays a janitor at MIT who's really a math genius in this film.
Q: What is “Good Will Hunting”?
A: The Treaty of Ghent had already been signed when Andrew Jackson decisively won this January 1815 battle.
Q: What is the Battle of New Orleans?
A: This Steinbeck novel begins, “To the red country and part of the gray country of Oklahoma, the last rains came.”
Q: What is “The Grapes of Wrath”?
A: Part one of this military miniseries saw David Schwimmer treating his World War II paratrooper recruits harshly.
Q: What is “Band of Brothers”?
A: Scrooge's two-word response to “A merry Christmas, Uncle!”
Q: What is “Bah, humbug”?
A: This innovative Polish director brought Charles Dickens' “Oliver Twist” to life in 2005.
Q: Who is Roman Polanski?
A: Founded in 1769, this city near the Mexican border is often called “The Birthplace of California.”
Q: What is San Diego?
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Hawley could win $100,000 if he takes first place. And if he wins, what would he do with the cash?
You guessed it: Learn more.
The history major wants to visit all the presidential libraries across the country. So far he has been to three, including the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston, which he toured on his last birthday.
“He's always been curious about everything,” said his mother, Lynn Hawley. “He's a fact guy. If you tell him something once, he remembers it.”
To get on the show, Jonathan Hawley scored big time against competitors across the country in an online test and came out on top at an audition at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City in January.
Unlike the high school academic team matches that Hawley participated in, aspiring contestants could not ring in until after the end of the question.
“You just have to calm down so you don't press the button too soon,” he said.
Although Hawley auditioned last year and wasn't chosen for the show, he was determined keep trying.
This year, he felt it was meant to be because the contest is at his mother's alma mater, the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Roommates at his Harvard University dorm have been preparing him with questions from old shows.
What's Hawley's favorite presidential fact? Nixon's top snack choice was cottage cheese with ketchup.
Filling his mind with information seems to come naturally for Hawley. By 5, he had memorized the names of all the U.S. presidents and could recite them in 27 seconds, said his sister Jess, 22.
“He tried to beat himself every time,” she said.
As a captain of his high school's academic team for four years, Hawley led the team to victory, answering a slew of “Jeopardy!”-like questions in the San Diego County Academic League Championship in 2006.
“He has an infectious enthusiasm for learning and for life,” said Roswell.
When Hawley was asked to give a speech on his career choice, he talked about being president of the United States to a panel of community members and teachers.
“If we had done a vote, I think we would have all voted for him,” said Steve Hargrave, assistant principal at Rancho Buena Vista High.
Lynn Hawley had a feeling her son might end up on “Jeopardy!” someday.
After all, the family has watched the game show as long as Jonathan Hawley can remember.
“Every night we tuned in and I picked up something,” he said.
His voracious appetite for facts about U.S. history started when his mom gave him a place mat with all the presidents on it.
“People would always ask him, 'How'd you know that?' ” his sister remembered.
“Everything is in that head of his,” she said. “I'm not surprised he's on 'Jeopardy!' I always thought this would happen someday.”
Linda McIntosh: (760) 752-6756; linda.mcintosh@tlnews.net
