On Alex Trebek's birthday, we revisit how the "Jeopardy!" host's Canadian town honoured him

The legendary Canadian-American host of the hit TV game show Jeopardy!, Alex Trebek, passed away in the fall of 2020. He would have turned 84 today.

Months after his death, the beloved TV veteran’s Ontario hometown honoured him with a retro-style mural that brings things full circle.

Painted on the outside of Sudbury Secondary School in Sudbury, Ontario — the very school Trebek himself attended when he was young — artist Kevin Ledo chose to depict an old-school Trebek with a full head of dark curly hair and a thick moustache.

“I choose to do a retro Alex Trebek, with a design pattern from the era, for a number of reasons,” Ledo wrote in an Instagram post. “1) It’s fun and playful to see the handsome local hero in his youth sporting his most excellent style. 2) It’s closer to the time when he lived in Sudbury. 3) I’ve been joking around about how it’s a mural depicting the origin story of his once-iconic moustache. 4) I love 70s design and finally found a perfect outlet for it.”

 

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Trebek passed away in November 2020 after a months-long battle with pancreatic cancer. After hosting Jeopardy! for more than three decades, he carried out his duties until the end.

 

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Ledo found it challenging to complete the mural, which was painted as part of the Up Here art and music festival.

“This mural wasn’t an easy one,” he wrote. “The brick was an insane challenge, and the 10 days of sun and heat were taxing. Nonetheless, I had a great time, and I’m very happy with the result.”

The Trebek mural now serves as a fun, colourful reminder of the Canadian legend.

A few years ago, just after Trebek announced that he had been diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer, a 1963 video of him started making the rounds.

The black-and-white video, posted by Old Toronto Series on Facebook, showed a much younger Trebek hosting a trivia show, Reach for the Top, in Toronto between Leaside and Monarch Park High Schools.

While he may look different and almost unrecognizable in the video, Trebek’s voice is unmistakable. And we all miss it.

With files from Laura Hanrahan.