Legendary Belinder Elementary teacher Larry Martin was remembered at the national level last week as the game show Jeopardy kicked off a special tournament for which he would have qualified.
Martin wowed the Jeopardy world last year when he won the game show’s annual Teachers Tournament. The win qualified him to participate in the Tournament of Champions, which kicked off this week.
However, shortly after his Jeopardy win, Martin was forced to step back from the classroom after a pancreatic cancer diagnosis. He died in January and was remembered at a celebration of life ceremony this spring at the school where he taught for 27 years.
Last Tuesday, Jeopardy host Alex Trebek opened the Tournament of Champions episode with a remembrance of Martin, and noted that contestants were wearing purple ribbons to raise awareness of pancreatic cancer:
We opened today’s show with a special message about last year’s Teachers Tournament champion, Larry Martin. The donation will be going to the Fred Rogers Center. ? #TournamentOfChampions pic.twitter.com/uBauQzVP6E
— Jeopardy! (@Jeopardy) November 5, 2019
Trebek himself was diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic cancer in March of this year. He recently filmed a public service announcement on the disease, which will air during the Jeopardy broadcast Nov. 21, which is World Pancreatic Cancer Day.