Frank Dillon newspaper article, from The Plain Dealer--December 24, 1964

[Bob Zager]

Here is the article from:  https://jboard.tv/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=5085

I'd first heard of Frank Dillon, when he'd competed in the annual Joker's Wild tournament of champions, winning the first and second tournaments (with top prizes of $50,000 and $100,000 respectively), and finishing in second place in the third one (top prize--$250,000).  He did not participate in TJW's $1,000,000 tournament.

Toward  the end of the article he mentions he'd won a total of $1,000 and a set of Compton's Encyclopedia.  I remember that Compton's was the "source authority," (thank  you, Don Pardo!) originally, and I was a bit surprised to see no mention of a home game.  I later realized they most likely didn't market such a game, yet!

I believe Frank Dillon competed in the first Jeopardy! Seniors Tournament in the current series.

[TLEberle]

J-Archive corroborates--he was a semifinalist in the 1987 Seniors Tournament.

[TimK2003]

Interesting read.  Also interesting that in its infancy, Jeopardy was getting 1000+ inquiries per month for  contestant auditions, with only around 40/month selected to appear.

I wonder how those numbers  compare to all the other daytime game shows that were prevalent in NYC in the 60s and 70s.