Addy Goldberg: "Grand Master"

Needham Student Oversees Nation's Longest-Running Trivia Contest

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Needham's Addy Goldberg (upper left) will oversee the 49th annual, 50-hour long Lawrence University Great Midwest Trivia Contest with the help of his 12 assistant trivia masters

APPLETON, WIS. (01/22/2014)(readMedia)-- The irony is not lost on Needham student Addy Goldberg.

The senior psychology major at Wisconsin's Lawrence University and self-confessed "very bad" trivia player finds himself overseeing the 49th edition of the nation's longest-running intellectual scavenger hunt - Lawrence University's Great Midwest Trivia Contest - despite never actually having played the contest.

The 2010 graduate of Needham High School, joined elite company in the contest's illustrious history by earning anointment as a "trivia master" in 2011 when he was just a freshman, a feat matched by few first-year students. After two more years as a master, he was thrust into the contest's ultimate position this year: Grand Trivia Master.

"I feel like I've been raised by it, because my introduction to the contest wasn't through playing it or through witnessing it, but through running it," said Goldberg, son of Steven Goldberg and Janet Klein, Needham. "I feel a lot of debt to the trivia masters who 'raised' me as the freshman who had no idea what was going on, which usually is not how it's supposed to go.

"Trivia in the general sense, the more bar trivia kind of thing, I'm actually very bad at," conceded Goldberg, who doesn't count any freshman among his 12 trivia "minions" this year. "I was actually in Quiz Bowl in high school and I was bad there, too. But I like weird stuff and I happen to learn a lot about it. I can't exactly spout it off in a useful way sometimes but if you want to ask me what I've been up to on the Internet lately it'll probably be obscure. So in a sense the trivia contest is pretty well catered to me."

Under Goldberg's direction, bragging rights to the title of this year's 50-hour minutia marathon kicks off anew at the precisely appropriately inconsequential time of 37 seconds after 10 p.m., Friday, Jan. 24 and runs continuously through midnight Sunday, Jan. 26. The contest is webcast worldwide on the Internet at wlfmradio.com.

From its armadillo mascot to its first-place prizes unfit for even the cheesiest white elephant exchange, the Lawrence University trivia contest is steeped in tradition.

Launched in 1966 as an alternative activity for students who didn't participate in an academic campus retreat, Lawrence's Great Midwest Trivia Contest is a 50-hour celebration of all things obscure and insignificant, with 400 Google-challenged questions of various point values asked every three minutes, sandwiched around off-beat humor and eclectic music while on-campus student teams, as well as community teams scattered across town or across the country, scramble to call in answers to a phone bank in the WLFM studios.

The contest has undergone more than its share of changes, mostly technological, over its nearly five-decade existence. But the one thing that has remained constant is the no. 1 rule of the entirely student-run contest: have fun.

Through its nearly half-century existence, the Lawrence University trivia contest has enjoyed remarkable staying power, as Appleton in late January remains a destination point for many from around the country who return to reunite with classmates, friends or family for a weekend of serious web surfing.

"People seem to really care about it," said Goldberg. "People are willing to work for it and put a lot of energy and effort into it, which is great, and there's a lot of surprising energy there."

Goldberg, whose own doctor got excited during a recent office visit when he discovered he was examining this year's Trivia Grand Master, also credits an intertwining of communities for the contest's longevity.

"You get the tight-knit trivia masters who somehow manage to pull it together every year, and they are in debt to the players they see every day, their friends on campus, all of whom have a debt to the off-campus teams, the real lifeblood of the contest because they're way more dedicated," said Goldberg. "All the intertwining communities bring a lot of vitality to it."

This year's contest will provide new Lawrence President Mark Burstein with his trivia baptism. Following tradition, Burstein will have the honor of getting the 49th contest started by asking its first question, which, also by tradition, is always the final question - the virtually unanswerable "Super Garruda" - from the previous year's contest.

All teams worth their smart phone should start the contest with an easy 100 points by knowing the answer to this question: Within a sculpture by Mike Sullivan, the creator of "The Sex Life of Robots," there is a building called "Kino Ironhole." What is carved into the pavement to the left of the word "lulu?"

But of course, it's "Big Unit Jizzbot."

About Lawrence University

Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a nationally recognized conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. It was selected for inclusion in the Fiske Guide to Colleges 2014 and the book "Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College." Individualized learning, the development of multiple interests and community engagement are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,500 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries.