‘Papa, Papa, Papa!’ Remembering a local teen Jeopardy! winner
Editor’s Note: As Lexington celebrates the 250th anniversary of its founding, the Herald-Leader and kentucky.com each day throughout 2025 will share interesting facts about our hometown. Compiled by Liz Carey, all are notable moments in the city’s history - some funny, some sad, others heartbreaking or celebratory, and some just downright strange.
Feb. 17, 2006: Papa Chakravarthy becomes the third student from Paul Laurence Dunbar High School to win the Jeopardy! Teen Tournament.
Technically, Chakravarthy won the tournament months before, but on Feb. 17, he joined his family and friends in the Dunbar school gym to watch the episode air.
Chakravarthy had been sworn to secrecy by the show after his four-day run on the tournament. On the final day, he got host Alex Trebek to ask him if he had a girlfriend, hit all three Daily Doubles and walked away with nearly $70,000 in cash.
Bobbing his head slightly to the theme music, Chakravarthy quickly answered the Final Jeopardy question – “In 1998, Czar Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra were laid to rest in this city.” Chakravarthy had a commanding lead - $23,000 compared to his opponents $4,600 and $8,400.
As Trebek joked, “Now we come to Papa”, he answered correctly – St. Petersburg – to take home the win.
In the gym, the crowd erupted into cheers of “Papa! Papa! Papa!” and gave him a standing ovation.
Chakravarthy was only a 15-year-old sophomore at the time and outscored another 14 students from across the country to win the tournament. He told reporters from the Lexington Herald-Leader he’d been studying for the show since he was 6.
“Jeopardy’s been a dream for more than 10 years now,” he said at the time. “I’ve always had that yearning to excel, and I felt Jeopardy would be a national stage where I could prove myself.”
But he wasn’t the first Dunbar student to win the Teen Tournament. Two others, Fraser Woodford in 1993, and John Zhang in 2003, have won since the Teen Tournament started in 1987.
In 2004, Dunbar graduate Kermin Elliott Fleming Jr. won the Jeopardy College Championship as a student from Carnegie Mellon University.
Have a question or story idea related to Lexington’s 250-year history? Let us know at 250LexKy@gmail.com