Sam Buttrey

Samuel Edward Buttrey (born August 19, 1961) is a podcaster,^[1] and retired Associate Professor of Operations Research^[2] at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School^[3] in Monterey, California. He is best known for multiple appearances on the game show Jeopardy!.^[1]

Sam Buttrey
Born	(1961-08-19) August 19, 1961 (age 63) Rome, Italy
Alma mater	Phillips Exeter Academy
Occupations	Professor podcaster
Known for	Multiple appearances on Jeopardy! (2021–2024)

Early life

Buttrey was born in Rome, Italy, on August 19, 1961, the son of Theodore V. Buttrey, Jr. and Marisa (Macina) Buttrey. He was educated at The Perse School in Cambridge, U.K., graduated from the Phillips Exeter Academy in 1979, and was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree from Princeton University in 1983. He thereafter obtained his Ph.D. in Statistics from the University of California, Berkeley in 1996. ^{[verification needed]}

Career

Buttrey has about two dozen journal articles and over a hundred masters theses advised.^[4][5] He has also published a book, A Data Scientist's Guide to Acquiring, Cleaning, and Managing Data in R.^[6] In 2004, Buttrey was awarded the Rear Admiral John Jay Schieffelin Award for Excellence in Teaching at the Naval Postgraduate School. ^{[citation needed]}

Jeopardy!

Buttrey’s initial appearance on Jeopardy! was during its inaugural Professor's Tournament^[7] in December 2021. Buttrey won his initial game, won again in the semi-finals, and prevailed in a two-game final. His win earned him an automatic spot in the show's Tournament of Champions, which aired from October 31 to November 21, 2022,^[8] where he progressed to the finals, which was won by Amy Schneider. Buttrey obtained a degree of social media renown for his physical resemblance to the actor Steve Martin,^[9][10] as well as his jovial manner and quick-wittedness.^[11]

He donated a little more than half the winnings from his first appearance, when he won $100,000 as champion of the Professors Tournament, to the CSU Monterey Bay Buttrey-Hardy endowed scholarship fund.^[12][13][14]

Buttrey was invited back to Jeopardy to compete in the Jeopardy! Masters competition in May 2023. He finished sixth among the six players. He won $50,000.^[11]

Buttrey's final Jeopardy! appearance came in the show's inaugural Invitational Tournament, which aired from March 20 to April 9, 2024.^[15] He won his quarterfinal match against Colby Burnett and Lilly Chin, but lost in the semifinals to eventual champion Victoria Groce. In September 2024, it was announced that Buttrey had been made a co-host of the show's "Inside Jeopardy!" podcast,^[16] as a result of which he had retired from competition. His job as "Sambassador" includes appearances at Jeopardy!-themed events, like the Jeopardy! event at the Sporcle's SporcleCon 2024 event in Detroit.^{[citation needed]}