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Draft:Ryan Holznagel

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Ryan “Fritz” Holznagel is an American writer and game show contestant. He was a writer at Google in its first decade, and he’s written for high-tech firms and solemn old banks, the Dictionary of American History, and Where in the USA is Carmen Sandiego?.

His latest book, 8 Letters or Less: How to Write Like a Pro at Work, is being published by How2Conquer. He’s also the author of Secrets of the Buzzer and The Ultimate Droodles Compendium.

He won an Emmy as co-writer of the animated CBS special A Claymation Easter Celebration[1][2], and in a quirky twist, also is a winner of the 1995 Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions. Since 2022, he has been the quizmaster for the news site The Conversation.[3]

Biography

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Fritz Holznagel grew up in Forest Grove, Oregon and graduated from Willamette University in 1983 with a degree in History.[4][5][6] He was named an alumnus member of Willamette’s Phi Beta Kappa chapter in 2005.[7] After graduation, he worked in film and video as a production assistant and assistant director before joining Will Vinton Productions in 1988 as a production manager and, later, writer.[8][9] He earned two Primetime Emmy nominations as a co-writer of the CBS specials Claymation Comedy of Horrors (1991) and A Claymation Easter Celebration (1992), winning the Emmy for the latter show.[10][2]

In 1995 he edited The World Wide Web Top 1000, a book of reviews of popular websites.[11] He was hired by the Internet search engine Lycos in 1998 and created the Lycos 50, the first weekly ranking of the most popular internet search terms.[12][13] He later worked at Google as part of its writing team.[14][15][16]

With Paul Hehn, he created the biographical website Who2.com in 1998.[17] Holznagel is also the editor of The Ultimate Droodles Compendium (2019), a cartoon collection and biography of American humorist (and Mad Libs co-creator) Roger Price.[18]

Jeopardy! and Secrets of the Buzzer

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As Ryan Holznagel, he first appeared on Jeopardy! on November 3, 1994, winning four games and $49,413.[19][20] He returned to the 1995 Tournament of Champions and in the final, which aired on November 24, 1995, defeated Isaac Segal and David Siegel to win the tournament and its top prize of $100,000.[21]

He represented the United States in the 1996 Jeopardy! Olympic Games Tournament, and was also invited back for the Ultimate Tournament of Champions (2005) and (as Fritz Holznagel) for the Battle of the Decades in 2014.[22][23] His total Jeopardy! winnings to date are $179,413.[24]

Holznagel wrote the book Secrets of the Buzzer in 2015, outlining what he had learned about reaction time and buzzer speed while training for the Battle of the Decades.[25] The book gained fame when Jeopardy! contestant James Holzhauer credited Holznagel for helping his buzzing technique during his 32-game winning streak in 2019, during which he won $2,462,216.[26] FiveThirtyEight wrote that Holzhauer “credits former contestant Fritz Holznagel — and his book ‘Secrets of the Buzzer’ — for his prodigious digital skill.”[27] The Atlanta Journal-Constitution wrote that “Baseball players have Ted Williams’ ‘The Science of Hitting.’ Golfers have ‘Harvey Penick’s Little Red Book.’ And quiz show wannabes have Fritz Holznagel’s ‘Secrets of the Buzzer.’”[28]

The book was featured on the official Jeopardy! blog on December 2, 2019.[29] Fritz was interviewed on episode 3 of the Sony “This is Jeopardy!” podcast in 2023, titled “Both Sides of the Buzzer.” Host Buzzy Cohen remarked, “Fritz is the buzzer guru — he’s the Obi-Wan of the signaling device.”[30]

Fritz Holznagel also appeared on the quiz show Who Wants To Be a Millionaire? in 2018, winning $30,000.[31][32]

Filmography

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Year Title Position Notes
1986   Shadow Play Third assistant director Feature film[33]
1987   The Last Innocent Man Production assistant Television film[34]
1987   King Cole's Party First assistant director Video[8]
1988   Permanent Record Production assistant Feature film[35]
1988 Meet the Raisins! Production manager Television special[9]
1989 The California Raisin Show Story supervisor Television series[36]
1991 Claymation Comedy of Horrors Screenplay Television special[37]
1992   A Claymation Easter Celebration Screenplay Television special[38]
1994   Jeopardy! Contestant Quiz show
1995   Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions Contestant Quiz show  
1996   Jeopardy! Olympic Games Tournament Contestant Quiz show
2005   Jeopardy! Ultimate Tournament of Champions Contestant Quiz show
2014   Jeopardy! Battle of the Decades Contestant Quiz show
2018   Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Contestant Quiz show
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References

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  1. ^ "Champions Archive | Jeopardy.com". www.jeopardy.com. Retrieved 2024-10-09.
  2. ^ a b "RYAN HOLZNAGEL". Television Academy. Retrieved 2024-10-09.
  3. ^ Holznagel, Fritz (2022-08-25). "The Conversation U.S. weekly news quiz". The Conversation. Retrieved 2024-10-09.
  4. ^ Townsley, Nancy (2014-02-25). "Holznagel: 'I'll take history for $1 million'". ForestGroveNewsTimes.com. Retrieved 2024-10-09.
  5. ^ Lauria, Andria (2019-08-19). "Fritz Holznagel". Boston Athenaeum. Retrieved 2024-10-09.
  6. ^ "Willamette University | WU Alumni Connection". willamette.edu. Retrieved 2024-10-09.
  7. ^ "Phi Beta Kappa Chapter Members Alumni & Community Members". willamette.edu. Retrieved 2024-10-09.
  8. ^ a b King Cole's Party (Video 1987) - IMDb. Retrieved 2024-10-09 – via www.imdb.com.
  9. ^ a b Meet the Raisins! (1988) - IMDb. Retrieved 2024-10-09 – via www.imdb.com.
  10. ^ "Will Vinton's Claymation Comedy Of Horrors". Television Academy. Retrieved 2024-10-09.
  11. ^ Holznagel, R.F., ed. (1996). World Wide Web Top 1000. New Riders Pub (published January 1, 1996). ISBN 978-1562055776.
  12. ^ Brown, Janelle (1999-09-21). "Pop chart". Salon. Retrieved 2024-10-09.
  13. ^ "The Lycos 50 Daily Report". The Lycos 50. {{cite web}}: Check |archive-url= value (help)
  14. ^ "Google releases an E-book about the Web". Devils' Workshop. 2010-11-19. Retrieved 2024-10-09.
  15. ^ "Fritzify! - About Fritz". fritzify.com. Retrieved 2024-10-09.
  16. ^ Talks at Google (2007-03-25). Brainiac | Ken Jennings | Talks at Google. Retrieved 2024-10-09 – via YouTube. {{cite AV media}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  17. ^ "About Who2 | Who2". Retrieved 2024-10-09.
  18. ^ Price, Roger (2019). The Ultimate Droodles Compendium: The Absurdly Complete Collection of All the Classic Zany Creations. Tallfellow Press (published March 6, 2019). ISBN 978-1931290692.
  19. ^ "J! Archive - Show #2339, aired 1994-11-03". j-archive.com. Retrieved 2024-10-09.
  20. ^ "J! Archive - Ryan Holznagel". j-archive.com. Retrieved 2024-10-09.
  21. ^ "J! Archive - Show #2585, aired 1995-11-24". j-archive.com. Retrieved 2024-10-09.
  22. ^ "Jeopardy! - Ultimate Tournament of Champions Round 2, Game 10 - TheTVDB.com". thetvdb.com. Retrieved 2024-10-09.
  23. ^ Townsley, Nancy (2014-02-25). "Holznagel: 'I'll take history for $1 million'". ForestGroveNewsTimes.com. Retrieved 2024-10-09.
  24. ^ "Champions Archive | Jeopardy.com". www.jeopardy.com. Retrieved 2024-10-09.
  25. ^ "How focusing on the buzzer helped 'Jeopardy! James' win millions". wtsp.com. 2019-06-04. Retrieved 2024-10-09.
  26. ^ McNear, Claire (2019-04-18). "Big Bets and a Fast Buzzer: The Secret Sauce of James Holzhauer's 'Jeopardy!' Success". The Ringer. Retrieved 2024-10-09.
  27. ^ Roeder, Oliver (2019-04-24). "The Man Who Solved 'Jeopardy!'". FiveThirtyEight. Retrieved 2024-10-09.
  28. ^ Hummer, Steve. "A player for the ages on display now - on 'Jeopardy!' of all places". Further Review Blog (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution). Retrieved 2024-10-09.
  29. ^ "What Is "Secrets of the Buzzer"? | J!Buzz | Jeopardy.com". www.jeopardy.com. Retrieved 2024-10-09.
  30. ^ “Both Sides of the Buzzer.” This Is Jeopardy! The Story of America’s Favorite Quiz Show., Sony Music Entertainment and Sony Pictures TV. https://www.jeopardy.com/listen/this_is_jeopardy
  31. ^ "Ryan Holznagel". Who Wants To Be A Millionaire Wiki. Retrieved 2024-10-09.
  32. ^ "See Who2's Founders on TV Today | Who2". Retrieved 2024-10-09.
  33. ^ Shadow Play (1986) - IMDb. Retrieved 2024-10-09 – via www.imdb.com.
  34. ^ Spottiswoode, Roger (1987-04-19), The Last Innocent Man (Thriller), Ed Harris, Roxanne Hart, David Suchet, HBO Pictures, Home Box Office (HBO), Maurice Singer Productions, retrieved 2024-10-09
  35. ^ Permanent Record (1988) - IMDb. Retrieved 2024-10-09 – via www.imdb.com.
  36. ^ The California Raisin Show (TV Series 1989–1990) - IMDb. Retrieved 2024-10-09 – via www.imdb.com.
  37. ^ Bruce, Barry (1991-05-29), Claymation Comedy of Horrors (Animation, Short, Adventure), Tim Conner, Brian Cummings, Krisha Fairchild, Will Vinton Studios, retrieved 2024-10-09
  38. ^ Gustafson, Mark (1992-04-19), Claymation Easter (Animation, Comedy, Family), Tim Conner, Jim Cummings, Kiefer Davis, Will Vinton Studios, retrieved 2024-10-09
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