While fans across the world have sent Alex Trebek good wishes since his pancreatic cancer diagnosis in March, here in his hometown, we sent him something special: an honourary high school diploma.
Trebek, the beloved host of Jeopardy!, was a fresh-faced Grade 9 student when he enrolled at Sudbury High in 1953, minus his famous mustache which came (and went) years later.
Heather Downey, principal at what is now Sudbury Secondary School, said administrative assistant Barb Hamilton came up with the idea of sending Trebek an honourary high school diploma to go along with the real one he received in the 1950s.
The idea cropped up when Sudbury MP Paul Lefebvre was encouraging the community to sign a Greater Sudbury flag showing our support for Trebek and his health challenges.
“So we brought it to our school which we were super excited about because we support him,” Downey said. “The day before I had just been telling my husband that I was going to send him a card, because he has kind of kept in touch with us.
“So I wrote him a card from Sudbury Secondary, saying he's such an important alumni, and generation after generation (of students) are proud that they go to the same school.”
Hamilton found Trebek's Grade 9 school registration card a day earlier, and they had the idea of sending Trebek something special. Previously, they had made an honourary diploma for artist Charlie Rapsky, an alumni who left school just before graduation.
“(Trebek) is already a graduate, but I asked Barb to make him a diploma just for fun,” Downey said. “And I included with the diploma the picture of him in Grade 9, which I thought he'd get a kick out of — and sure enough he did.”
This week, the school received a funny thank-you note from Trebek for the diploma.
“I plan to use it to lobby for a raise in salary,” he wrote, adding “Still have fond memories of Sudbury High.”
Downey was happy to get a response.
“It's just so nice that he did that, and it still means so much to some of our graduates now that he graduated here.”
She said she's impressed by how many students know who he is – and how many were excited to sign the flag supporting him.
“I was really surprised to hear that lots of them were aware that he was a graduate,” Downey said.
While their most famous alumni may be Trebek, several other prominent people are also graduates, including urban designer Bruce Mau, Olympic gold swimmer
Alex Baumann, Tim Horton (the hockey player and coffee shop founder) and former Toronto Maple Leaf Captain George Armstrong.
While several graduates from the school's performing arts program have gone on to professional careers, Trebek is “the most recognizable across the genres,” Downey said.
The 78-year-old said May 29 his treatments seem to be making a difference, and he's in "near-remission."
“It’s kind of mind-boggling,” Trebek told People Magazine. "The doctors said they hadn’t seen this kind of positive result in their memory … some of the tumors have already shrunk by more than 50%.”
