Ellen Corrigan, ’14, cleared $42,000 as a three-time champion on Jeopardy!, the iconic televised game show that has been testing contestants’ knowledge of trivia since 1964.

Corrigan, a clerk for Common Pleas Court Judge Charles Ehrlich, appeared on episodes that aired on July 14, 15, 18 and 19.

In the first episode, Corrigan faced an attorney from New York City and a medical coder from Madison, Wisc., the returning champion.  After a rocky start in the first round, Corrigan hit her stride in Double Jeopardy, where categories on stock symbols and scary movies showcased her knowledge.

But it was the $2,000 question about the pale horse in the “Biblical Equines” category that allowed Corrigan to pull ahead, and she entered the Final Jeopardy round in first place with $20,400.

After winning that episode, she sailed through two more episodes, accumulating $40,000 in winnings until she met her match in the form of a PhD student from Shaker Heights, Ohio.  

Corrigan discussed her pro bono service teaching Philadelphia teens about the U.S. Constitution through the Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project, responding to questions from Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek.

She went on to correctly answer a Final Jeopardy question about the late U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall, but so did the doctoral student, who had accumulated more cash in that episode with which to gamble.