26 | MAY 23 • 2024
J
N
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pon touching down back in
Detroit from Florida after the
holidays, I turned on my cell
phone to find an exciting invitation. I had
received a message from Michele Loud,
writer and editorial producer of Jeopardy!
No, I wasn’t being recruited
to be a contestant on the
world-renowned game show
— how cool would that
have been, though! Rather,
it was an invitation to the
Jeopardy! Honors Ceremony
in Los Angeles in February.
My late uncle, Steven
Dorfman, was to be
inducted into the Jeopardy! Hall of Fame
following in the footsteps of TV greats
Alex Trebek, Johnny Gilbert and Merv
Griffin. Michele hoped that some of our
family members could come to the event
at Sony Studios to accept the award on
Steven’s behalf. Of course, our answer was
a resounding yes.
Steven Edward Dorfman was born
on Oct. 24, 1955, in Detroit to my
grandparents, Debby and Neil Dorfman.
Growing up, Steven was an enthusiast
of trivia, game shows and word games.
In high school, his passion for radio
call-in contests won him hundreds of
prizes, including two motorcycles, record
collections, cash, a trip to New York City,
and concert tickets to Tom Jones, the
Osmonds and the Beatles. Funny enough,
he used very few of the prizes; for Steven,
it was all about knowing the answers and
beating the buzzer.
The day after graduating from Wayne
State University, Steven packed his car
(won from a radio contest) and drove
straight to Los Angeles, determined to
find a job on a TV game show. After eight
years of applying to various TV-related
jobs and finding work where he could,
his luck changed. While working as a
cashier at Hamburger Hamlet, a popular
restaurant among L.A. creative types,
a customer said he heard they were
bringing Jeopardy! back and were looking
for writers.
In 1983, Steven Dorfman was hired
by Alex Trebek to be the first writer on
the newly syndicated Jeopardy! He spent
20 years doing what he loved — writing
clues that are still being used today. With
more than 50,000 clues to his credit, his
impact on the show is tremendous.
Steven was much more than just a
writer. He took it upon himself to grow
the reference library and, as computers
started to become popular, he brought
the Jeopardy! team online. His quirky
sense of humor and thirst for knowledge
led him to create fascinating categories
such as “Wacky Roman Emperors” and
for food terminology, “Turn Around, I’m
Dressing.” He often threw in ties to home,
including nods to Wayne State University
and ham radio, a hobby shared with his
parents.
At the time of Steven’s untimely passing
at the young age of 48, he was the show’s
head writer and longest serving writer.
The loss was enormous not only for our
family, but for his Jeopardy! family, as
well. Some of Steven’s co-writers came
to Detroit for the funeral, and Alex
Trebek gave a beautiful eulogy in Steven’s
memory. Years later, the Jeopardy! library
at Sony Studio was dedicated in his
Samantha
Foon
Contributing
Writer
OUR COMMUNITY
Who was Metro Detroit native Steven Dorfman?
A Jeopardy! Legend
Steven
Dorfman
Taylor Sher, Randee Sher, Benjamin
Mitchell, Lisa Mitchell, Samantha
Foon, Billy Wisse, Ken Jennings