Alex Trebek's Hometown Is Discussing Ways To Honor His Memory, Including Potentially Building A Statue, Putting Up A Mural, Or Naming A Brand New Library After Trebek
TMZ- The answer to "Who is Alex Trebek?" is not a short one, but the good folks of Greater Sudbury, Ontario want it to be known he's their hometown hero … in the form of a memorial. We broke the story … the iconic "Jeopardy!" host died Sunday morning after battling pancreatic cancer. The Canadian city where he was born and raised is honoring him by flying flags outside its City Hall at half-staff and creating a virtual condolences book where residents can leave messages for the Trebek family.
Brian Bigger, Mayor of Greater Sudbury, tells TMZ they want to honor him in a much bigger way … and there are already a few leading ideas on how to do so. Mayor Bigger says proposals on social media include some type of public work of art -- either erecting a statue of Alex or putting up a mural -- or … possibly linking Trebek to Sudbury's public library set to be built over the next few years. The Mayor says the library idea makes a lot of sense considering the TV legend was so involved in education, but he makes it clear … this is just wishful thinking at this point.
Bigger tells us nothing has been decided -- this is just preliminary planning -- but he will bring the ideas to the next City Council meeting to get the ball rolling.
I was always jealous that Canada could claim Alex Trebek as their own since it was a tough look for America when one of our national treasures wasn't technically a national treasure since he wasn't born here. Actually I'm not sure if that's the rules for national treasures, but it feels like it should be.
However, this story kinda hammers home why Trebek was so beloved despite being the millionaire host with all the answers (in the form of a question) of a gameshow for supernerds. Simply being Canadian raises your Likability rating at least 20 points. I don't know if it's from all the early mornings and long nights grinding it out on the pond while trying to become hockey players. But they truly are the cream of the crop of the salt of the earth crowd. That's why Poors like me could still love an intellectual like Trebek mixing it up with fellow brainacs while dropping heavy French accent on the table and getting sassy with his fancy pronunciation of "gennnnnnre".
So Mayor Bigger (incredible name btw), if you are reading this, I say you make it a clean sweep by making a Trebek mural, building a Trebek statue made of gold as pure as his soul, and naming the local library after the man that helped make being smart cool while also bullying the nerds who somehow didn't know a damn thing about sports. And if you are really serious about honoring the legend that came out of your neck of the woods, rename Greater Sudbury to Trebek Greatest in addition to all that other stuff.
#Somethings