Questions about "Survivor" Hatch among weekend trivia fare 

DATELINE: STEVENS POINT, Wis. 

Associated Press, April 23, 2001

BODY: 
Questions about "Survivor" winner Richard Hatch, Bob Dylan,
Robert Redford and a myriad of other subjects kept thousands of
participants guessing in a 54-hour trivia marathon. 

"We had a ball - the usual malarkey," said organizer Jim Oliva after
the contest ended at midnight Sunday night. 

Now in its 32nd year, what's billed as the world's largest trivia
contest began Friday and attracted more than 400 teams with 12,061
participants. They tried to answer questions aired on the University
of Wisconsin-Stevens Point radio station WWSP. 

The winners were 20 Wisconsin natives who called themselves
"Network 2001: Time after Tim." The same members had won about
15 of the last 22 contests, Oliva said. 

"It was just a very tight race all the way through," Oliva said. 

The winners get a traveling trophy as well as a permanent one,
Oliva said. 

Oliva, 55, who has written questions for the contest since 1979, said
he slept for only two hours and 15 minutes during the weekend
trivia blitz. 

The question that topped off the game noted that reporters asked
Hatch ridiculous questions after he won the million-dollar prize of
the "Survivor" series last year, including one about something that
happened with Sonja in the second episode - even though she had
been ousted after the first episode. 

"What was the first and last name of the reporter that asked that
question?" 

The answer? Josh Tyrangiel, from Time Magazine. 

Above all, Oliva said he had a good time. 

Some players make an annual pilgrimage to stay with fellow team
members in the Stevens Point area. Oliva said he had teams playing
this year out of Washington state, Milwaukee, Atlanta and
Appleton, among other places. 

Following contest tradition, the first question had the same answer
it always does. 

The lengthy question noted that actor Jason Robards passed away
in the past year. It went on to ask what author wrote the following
about Robards: "The first Broadway play I saw was 'Long Day's
Journey into Night.' At the time, I was planning on becoming an
artist and I was pretty green to the theater. Jason Robards'
performance was powerful and raw and his naturalistic style stuck
in my mind." 

The answer? actor Robert Redford. 

Dylan's name surfaced in the second question of the contest's 45th
hour: 

"What was the name of the group that backed up classic folk
singer/songwriter Bob Dylan at his controversial 1965 appearance
at the Newport Folk Festival?" 

The answer? The Paul Butterfield Blues Band - and 231 teams got it
right. 

Contest personnel included 18 phone operators, three people
waiting on them, two people helping Oliva, somebody out in a van
collecting food, three computer operators a couple of people out
front selling Trivia Contest merchandise and one news person
keeping the operation going, Oliva said. 

Gene and Laura Traas of Milwaukee said the contest is a thrilling
brain tease worthy of the four-hour drive north. 

"We like the mental challenge," Gene Traas said. "A question
comes from left field, and we wonder, 'Now what?"' 

Kristine Clark, of Aiken, S.C., returned to her hometown and played
Trivia with childhood friends. 

Access to information via the Internet has changed the way Trivia
players dig for information, she said. 

"We used to have tables full of reference books," Clark said. 

Brian Polzin, who hosted many of the competitors, said Trivia makes
a great reunion. 

"The main point of this is to get people together," said the former
trivia disc jockey for Trivia when he was in high school and college.