>> Tonight, Agawam High School, they'll be going against Northampton High School.

That is our competitive scenario for tonight's championship of as schools match wits.

>> I was just a little kid and I couldn't answer any of the questions, but I always said to my grandmother, I said, someday I'm going to be on that show.

>> That was great.

Delaware, Mother's Day, National League Central.

>> Those questions are so hard.

I think the same thing glows red in a vacuum discharge tube neon.

>> Andy Warhol.

>> Chiang Kai shek.

>> Trees.

>> I certainly know on a Saturday night, I'm tuned in to channel 57 and watching as schools match wits.

>> How's everybody doing?

>> Good.

>> Are we ready?

>> It's hard to believe that a little high school quiz show on local television could endure for 65 years.

But here we are.

The story of the program's history is tied directly to the golden age of local television, where programming was created by and for locals.

But ASM really begins with the founding of WWLP, channel 22 by a man named Bill Putnam.

>> The Putnam family.

They were very distinguished citizens.

The call letters WWLP were William L Putnam.

It was also the first UHF station in America.

>> When, as schools match wits was born.

We were literally nine years as a local television station.

So all local programming was was new and different.

>> There was a very successful program that appeared on Sunday nights.

It was called the G.E.

College Bowl.

It was a national program, and it was well watched where colleges and universities across the country would compete.

Lenny Collamore was an educator.

He came from a great family of polymers in the city of Holyoke.

He followed the idea of the G.E.

College Bowl, and he decided that he would emulate it.

So along with Phil Shepardson, they began a schools match wits at 22.

>> They thought, what better than to have the high schools competing in an academic environment on a local television show?

So this idea was immediately embraced by the community.

A chance for students to come on the air and compete academically.

It was huge.

It was big.

The show was a huge success in the early days.

>> Participating in a schools match wits back in the day was quite different from now over in Provo Mountain.

It was that really windy road to get up to the studio.

>> The drive was close to a mile up a winding road and the founder, Bill Putnam, he was a naturist and he didn't believe in cutting down trees if he didn't have to.

So the road literally wound around trees and.

And it was a precarious drive, especially in the winter time.

>> It was very difficult to navigate, which was part of the adventure of going to school as matchwits because, hey, we got to go up the mountain.

I hope it's not snowing that night.

I remember taping on Monday and Thursday evenings, and it was always like in between newscasts.

We were under the gun because we needed to get done before the next thing had to happen.

You know, the studio needed to be used.

>> The names of the schools were cardboard cut outs.

The students sat at a desk.

Unlike today, when they're standing, Van Phil Shepardson, the longtime host of As Schools Match wits, would, uh, ask the questions back and forth.

>> We had sheets.

You could pick poetry, general knowledge, and then Phil would pick out the card.

>> For the capitalization.

And Mr.

Todd Rovelli.

>> Number four general.

>> He is the supreme god.

>> And then you just had categories and he went back and forth.

You could capitalize.

And then the final score, whoever won.

And you had to win three matches back in my day to be retired to make the playoffs.

And then they took all the teams that made the playoffs and they played them off.

And one winner emerged.

>> And Agawam, you got number three.

You got to retire.

Not on your laurels, though.

You're coming back.

We'll see you in May.

And you're at the moment you're in a buy position.

>> Winning the school's met switch championship I think still carries some weight.

And you can brag that you are the best in Western Mass and southern Connecticut.

I was lucky enough to participate for three years and actually be part of the Agawam High School Championship team from 1981, just a couple of years ago.

>> I want to thank everyone for allowing us to come into your homes for the past 20 years.

>> That was the 20th season, and it's amazing that we're on 65 now.

>> Don't they look like champions?

They have that smile, the demeanor.

Todd Rovelli, Todd congratulations buddy.

You didn't want this one, did you?

>> But it was just Phil Shepardson.

I mean he was the show.

He had the big hair at the time, his curly hair and and he had a personality that was unmatched.

And it was just it was just must see TV on a Saturday night.

>> Yes, it is a big night on as schools match wits.

>> Phil was a trip.

He loved to see the kids succeed.

So when you got something right he would always say yes and get very excited about it.

>> You know, he.

Lawrence T.E.

Lawrence yes.

>> Make you feel like you just, you know, won the Super Bowl or something like that.

He was the man, you know, for, for the part he was humorous, theatrical.

>> I'll try not to be too sketchy.

You like that.

That's that's only for the art category.

We say that Mr.

Collymore writes this stuff because I would never take credit for it.

>> He used to smoke a pipe.

I guess we could.

We could do that back then.

But he just had this way about him.

He just relaxed you.

We were all nervous when we went up there.

No matter how well we felt we were prepared.

He would just kind of put you at ease for the warm ups.

>> I remember it would be like quick back and forth things just to test the microphones and make sure everything's working right.

And he'd say, all right, I'm going to give you a word.

You give me the plural.

And he'd say, mouse, and you would say mice.

And he'd say, louse, and we'd say lice.

And he'd say house, and we'd say house.

And he'd go, ah, I got you.

>> Oh, no, I beat your store and Anton Chekhov again.

But you got.

>> Just that kind of stuff to really make you feel kind of, you know, like you're enjoying yourself instead of nervous about it.

>> Thank you for the night.

This is still Shepherdson saying good night.

>> Anna Giza was part of management for channel 22 back in 1991, and she happened to mention, you know, Phil Shepherdson is retiring after 30 years of doing the show.

I said, oh, what a shame.

I said, I hope the show is going to stay in the air.

She said, well, we don't have anybody to write the questions and we're still working on getting a host.

I said, well, I'd love to help out.

Could I write the questions?

Okay, go in and talk with the general manager of channel 22 at the time, who was Bill Pepin?

And I said, hey, I'd love to do this.

Okay.

You're hired.

>> Now it was Find a Host.

I was a member of the Promotion and Creative Services Department.

I had a theatrical background, and for some reason, Bill approached me and said, John, would you like to do the show?

Oh, okay.

What the heck?

I'll give it a try.

So it all just came together.

>> As schools match wits.

>> And a very.

>> Good evening.

We're delighted you could be with us tonight, for it is game one.

>> Phil was kind of folksy, and John was perhaps a little more academic.

>> All right.

Just the way the game is supposed to be played.

Great match.

Has Lee High School 105, Amherst Regional 80.

We're back with.

>> Amherst.

He was good in front of people in an audience and was able to carry it in his own way.

You know, just brought his own charm and personality to it.

It was different than Phil's, but I thought John brought his own unique charm to the position.

>> TV land now to earn five quick points, simply expand.

>> I just continued the traditions and the way the show was produced.

But over time, being of a younger generation and watching how television was evolving, uh, I tried to change the format, not necessarily the questions.

This was not a trivia show.

It never would be a trivia show.

This was an academic program.

So we kept that pure.

>> The show itself started to look a little better and, and less simplistic and basic.

You know, it just had a more of a flair to it at that point.

>> There was a tremendous amount of pressure to keep it going and to keep up the high standards, because under Phil there was no cutting corners.

The show had to be great.

I was really, truly honored and humbled to be asked to be a part of the legendary program, and it's something that will always remain with me for my entire life.

>> 2005 2006 season and all of us here at WWLP 22 news.

Good night.

>> In 2006, I got a call from John Barron, who was also the station manager at the time, and he said, you know, due to I think it was budget restrictions or whatever, as much, which we can't afford or whatever, we can't continue it.

>> It was a business decision.

Ownership had changed.

And there's a formula program profitability.

They looked at the expenses at a corporate level.

I guess they decided that, you know, perhaps we can run something else and it's in its place.

So yeah, it came as a shock and it was a disappointment to everybody that was involved in the program.

>> It was kind of a unthinkable thing that this show that had been on for, for decades and decades and kind of meant a lot to people would would just not be there anymore.

>> I wrote an impassioned say it ain't so Joe letter saying, you can't do this to us.

You know, we love the show.

I got a couple of nonagenarians who live across the street from me.

They live for this show.

>> My sister was on the show, and I remember we got the news that it had been cancelled, and I was so disappointed because I hadn't gotten a chance to be on it yet.

>> When we learned that WWLP was cancelling as schools match wits, I read about it in the local newspaper.

I knew enough about the program at that point to understand that that was a loss for the region.

And so I came to campus and had a conversation with my colleague Mark Saint Jean about the viability of our picking up the show.

>> Elizabeth Preston came to me one day and said the infamous line, hey, you want to do a game show?

>> It felt like we had the facilities and the students to crew the program.

So in some ways we'd be able to keep the program alive.

But we were unclear about distribution that was going to have to be public access cable or something.

Concurrently, Wgby was having similar ideas.

>> The idea that Wgby would consider taking it on was that took a couple of days to sink in, that that was something possible, maybe a little quicker for me.

They can be a lot of fun.

They can be community building.

And that was what was happening on.

As schools match wits for many, many years.

>> We ended up having a meeting with him to talk about bringing the show as a partnership to Wgby produced here at the university.

>> Well, trivia lovers rejoice as schools match.

Wits gets a new lease on life.

22 News vice president and general manager William Pepin announcing late today that a partnership has been agreed upon that will have Westfield State College producing the long running high school quiz program and the partnership agreement calls for Wgby channel 57 to broadcast as schools match wits.

>> It looks like there will be a great future for as schools match wits in the region for many years to come.

>> We hope our students here at Westfield State would be able to learn and work on a full blown broadcast television show, so it was kind of a win win deal.

Then it was just a matter of, okay, now how are we going to get this thing going?

>> So when the show came to Westfield, it came with this broadcast set and a lot of history, but it didn't come with a lot of people from the show.

And so one person that did come with it was Todd Rovelli.

>> And we were able to provide a lot of continuity that way.

>> It was a wonderful thing that these two institutions could come together and keep this golden asset in broadcasting in this area alive.

>> It was like a blessing from heaven.

This is wonderful.

So the tradition continues, and in the hands of two well respected entities, it was a no brainer.

>> Good evening and welcome to the 46th season of As Schools Match wits.

We're coming to you tonight from our new home on the campus of Westfield State College.

>> This being the host of the schools, Match wits is kind of a big deal.

Phil Shepardson casts a long shadow and with such a legendary figure.

And then, of course, he passed the baton to John Barron, who was in some ways equally iconic with modern audiences.

And so when we took on the program, we had Chris Roman as our host for the first two years, but then we had the opportunity to bring on Beth Ward, and I'd worked with Beth many years ago in local news.

>> And we had such a great working relationship back in the day, and they were looking for someone to take over as host.

And he called, we talked, and it was a no brainer.

And I think in that conversation said, yeah, sign me up.

Good evening and welcome to the 48th season of As Schools Match Wits.

I'm your host, Beth Ward.

When I think.

>> Of Beth as a host, I think of somebody who is in control of all the aspects that you need to be as a host.

She is so warm and welcoming to the kids, whether they're veteran kids, and she'll say, oh, I remember when you guys were here last year.

>> So we will begin each match as we do with the challenge round.

>> In the challenge round, which was brilliant, reinstituted the two lightning rounds.

All that matters is the points.

Never mind this, you know, winning three times business, you know.

And it was it was so much so much better.

>> We will see how things shake out the rest of this season.

Scored a beat 260.

>> So one of the things we've always tried to focus on since coming here to Westfield State University, with the production, is expanding it and increasing the production value and just trying to do things bigger and better whenever we can.

And a prime example of that are the video questions.

And over the years we have had a stellar cast of stars ask questions to our students that come in here to compete.

We've had Grammy winners, Super Bowl winners, Academy Award winners.

But I think my favorite question has to be the one that we got from astronaut Cady Coleman, who happens to live here in western Massachusetts and provided us with video questions directly from the International Space Station a few years back.

>> I'm Doctor Cady Coleman in orbit around the earth.

Welcome to schools match wits, and I'd like to congratulate them on their stand by.

>> Having students be the crew here at as schools match wits, I think has been one of the amazing experiences of being part of the entire production.

>> This was an opportunity after class to come in and be able to really touch the equipment, feel the equipment and learn how it is to do an actual production in a real environment, and then being able to work with Tony and Mark and Eric and, and really learn from their expertise over the years was it was invaluable experience.

>> It was a very fast moving show and it was just fun.

It was honestly a good experience to be there with other students who are learning new skills like you are, but actually putting on a show that's going to be on TV.

>> I've worked for the Spurs, the NBA team.

After that, I've had the opportunity to work at Electronic Arts, which was an incredible opportunity, being able to ship an actual video game.

>> I was out in the community and I ran into a former student who was on the crew of a schools match wits, and he gave me a big hug and he said, look what I'm doing.

I'm doing what I wanted to do.

And thank you and thanks to everyone for really helping to mentor him and, and find his passion.

And that is one of the coolest memories I have.

>> I give a little speech to both teams before the show and go over the rules and things like that.

And the one thing I always tell them is that we do this for them, that all of this the lights, the cameras, the action, the crew, the questions, everything is here for one sole purpose.

It's for them.

It's for them to be able to shine academically like they're athletically gifted.

Peers can.

>> Quiz.

Teen kids are special kids.

They really are.

They're special because they're curious kids.

They want to pick up a rock and find out what's underneath it.

>> As schools match, wits draws all kinds of kids.

I've had varsity athletes and class presidents that want to do it.

I've also have kids that have said I didn't really have anything else in high school.

I was looking for my people and I found my people here.

>> I played sports when I was little, but I know a lot of people who were athletes, especially in high school.

Talk about the camaraderie of being on a team, and I didn't really have that.

I was very into music.

I was very into musical theater.

I played the violin, and this was sort of one place where I got to work together with my teammates and learn what it was like to be part of a team.

>> When you're here, when the lights go on and we are live, you'll see some of the team members get so nervous, but then you see the momentum kick in and they're really focused in and we go really fast through our questions.

And you can see that switch where they're just gaining more and more confidence.

And it's fun.

It's fun to see.

>> Public office Deerfield candidate.

>> Candidate is correct.

>> One question I get asked all the time is about the questions.

Who writes them?

Where do you come up with them?

What do you base them on?

>> This show is all about keeping up with the academic standards that we have in Massachusetts and Connecticut.

>> I hate it when people call it trivia because it ain't trivia.

It's what it is, is it's knowledge.

It's information.

It's not wisdom, but it is knowledge.

And, you know, if you have pretensions one day of being wise, you got to know stuff.

>> World War Two, correct?

>> As far as I'm concerned, this is really a national standard for valuing the kinds of knowledge that we expect of our of our very, very best high school graduates.

And it presents it to them in a format that's both challenging and fun.

And it has to do it every single year.

>> I would like to think that my time on a schools match wits proved to be some good.

On the job training for my appearance on jeopardy!

>> When I was on jeopardy and won, I was like, oh, I felt this feeling before in that moment when I knew I was going to win, and I was just like, oh, this kind of takes me back to this thing that I was always chasing as a teenager and trying to win.

>> It's really kind of mind boggling to imagine how many kids have appeared in front of these cameras over the past 65 years.

But behind every team lies a coach, and they're sort of the unsung heroes of a schools match wits.

>> I've been a coach for 42 years, and I'm glad I can still do it.

Uh, quite frankly, I'm, you know, I'm almost 80 and, uh, but I still enjoy working with young folks.

>> I'm the biggest kid on the team.

Okay.

You know, I mean, I love this stuff.

I get pleasure out of saying, no, damn it.

I didn't know that, you know.

I mean, little stuff, you know.

I mean, it's satisfying.

>> That was you.

>> That is correct.

I didn't have to finish.

All right.

Nice job in the sport of tennis.

The 2015 as schools match wits season concludes.

>> One of the most memorable matches I have ever been a part of in my tenure as schools.

Match wits was that match.

In 2015.

>> 48 schools became eight.

Now it is down to the final match of the season.

>> It was Holyoke High School against Longmeadow High School.

Holyoke high had been a bit of a dark horse that year, but had performed really well throughout the entire season.

>> Longmeadow was a powerhouse.

They had done very well, so it was really kind of an exciting thing.

>> I think every championship match is high stakes, full of a lot of energy, two very competitive teams going at each other.

>> Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Yes, Jesus Christ Superstar.

>> Yes, that's correct.

>> But this one was a bit different.

You could sort of feel it from the outset.

This one was going to be special.

>> And this whole thing was kind of occurring within this broader context of where we had recently found out that Holyoke High was being brought into state receivership.

>> Meter changes are coming to Holyoke Public Schools.

The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education voted to place the Holyoke School District in receivership today.

>> And with that came this kind of designation that somehow the kind of students and the teachers and the entire school environment was somehow like lesser.

>> Being here, just sitting over there and watching the match and, and just on pins and needles because you don't know what's going to happen, trying to be as relaxed as possible because you want your team to stay relaxed.

And then all of a sudden it's going neck and neck all the way through and nothing is changing.

It's just back and forth and back and forth and back and forth, and then you get to the end and it's tied up.

>> Now what is the right answer?

Ah, that marks the end of our lightning round.

It also marks the end of our tied match.

>> Well, well, that was something that just didn't happen.

And you match ending in a tie.

>> I don't know.

>> We had to come up with material for additional lightning rounds.

>> So what we're going to do is we're going to do one more sudden one more lightning, right?

Yes.

Stand by.

>> I don't know if I can take it.

>> So we scrambled.

We got the backup lightning round into place.

Boom!

Second lightning round.

>> Carson City.

>> Carson City is right.

Oh!

>> Ended in a tie.

>> Oh my God.

Oh.

>> That marks the end of our lightning round.

But we cannot end with a tie.

So every time we we take a breath.

We're tied, we're tied.

I, I just couldn't believe it.

>> Like, oh, it keeps ending in a tie.

Even though it kind of seemed like we were frustrated.

We were frustrated.

We were excited about this kind of unique moment in a schools match wits.

>> Tony came out and was like, uh, we've never had this happen before.

So we got to kind of figure out what's going to happen.

>> So we put together one final lightning round, crossed our fingers, and hit the timer.

>> All right, good luck to both teams.

>> You have 90s starting right now.

>> I think I had to close my eyes.

I just I couldn't even pay attention.

I was that nervous.

>> It almost felt like you couldn't breathe because you were just so focused on the moment.

It was all.

So you're just hoping and willing it forward.

I mean, I remember I was literally buzzing for Nick because I knew the exact things that he would know, and I was trying to buzz in as fast as I could just for him.

>> And then all of a sudden, I'm looking at the clock and the clock goes.

>> Zero Longmeadow.

>> Before.

>> Before 2001.

>> If somebody next to me said the buzzer went off and they said they got it, they got it.

>> And that's when the funny thing happened.

>> I remember turning to Mark and saying, hey, I think we won.

But I can't feel my leg because he was.

He was crushing my leg.

>> I thought it was on my knee.

It was his knee.

I was on and it was like that.

And I said, could you just let go of me?

>> It's just five points.

It was so close.

We all just like I just remember all four of us.

Just like giving each other like this big, like, team hug.

>> I think there's actually a photo of me and Nick in, like, a bear hug.

We were so excited that we that everything had paid off.

>> And we just sort of embraced and sort of held each other for this moment.

And it was just pure joy in every way where we were so excited, so proud of ourselves.

We knew the kind of gravity of what had occurred.

>> The hand shaking and the tears after.

There were tears, but how the teams acted towards each other was so impressive to me.

>> The Longmeadow team the entire way through was extremely gracious.

They were, you know, they're happy to greet us before the match.

They didn't have that kind of competitive edge.

You might see from some teams where they are sort of seen you as an adversary.

>> We would have been just as equally as happy for them if it had ended up the other way.

So not only to to have that moment of excitement, but also be able to share that with the other team and just feel so celebrated by everybody in the room was was a wonderful feeling.

>> It was funny because the next day, I think we all had a we all had the same AP environmental science class.

We had a test that day.

And so I think we just kind of, in some sense kind of went back to normal kind of day to day life.

But then Mr.

Todd kind of told us about how there was going to be the kind of ceremony down at City Hall.

>> I remember we were brought, you know, to meet with the mayor, the we received a commendation from the City Council.

We were interviewed for a number of news programs, and it was all just such a great kind of light to bring onto the school, onto our individual accomplishments as well as, um, you know, the capabilities of our of our teachers to bring us to that level.

>> And I remember that the mantra of the day was that, you know, Holyoke had pockets of excellence, and it was but mostly it was just failing.

It was a failing district.

And that's why I needed to be taken over.

And I remember going in front of the school committee and saying, look, we got pretty deep pockets.

>> To have that good news after we'd had such bad news for so long and were put down for so long that we could put it out there going, see, we tried to tell, you see, this is what these are our kids.

These are our kids, and they are brilliant.

>> There's not many things I'm certain of in this world, but I am certain of this.

That match changed those kids lives.

They walked into that match being told, nope, not going to happen.

Can't happen.

On paper it was.

The outcome was inevitable as to who was going to win that match.

But when that final buzzer sounded, those kids learned that with hard work and discipline and the pursuit of knowledge, anything is possible.

I think this.

>> Experience really did change my life.

I think it really put a focus on the importance of education and the importance that people who work in education can have on students.

>> I would say it absolutely changed my life.

I'm still friends with Brendon to this day, pretty closely.

And like we still share that talk about that together.

Um, it still means so much to me to have done that for my school community to have kind of just shine that light on Holyoke and all the kind of amazing things that go on here.

>> It was not only a testament to the commitment of the people of Holyoke to their system, but just as importantly, to achievers.

And we need to acknowledge and honor that.

>> So the pride of our, our, our city was all based on what happened to these kids on that day and to one family in particular.

And that was the Colmore family.

Leonard Colmore was the creator of this show, and to bring this trophy back to Holyoke was huge.

And for that family and for everybody in Holyoke that knows this family so well.

This was a moment.

>> When I think about the effect that if schools match, wits has had, it really is no exaggeration to say that it is.

It is profound.

>> I've had so many students who participated in a schools match wits, go on to do amazing things.

They're getting their PhDs at Yale.

They're becoming doctors.

But I always think that, like quiz team and his schools match wits kind of gave them a home because they just love learning.

>> Because this show has created joy, sorrow, all the powerful emotions for over 65 years.

That's why it's still important and that's why you're still doing it.

And that's why people are still coming to be in it.

>> The essence of a schools match wits is an opportunity to look at wonderful, bright young people on TV just showcasing themselves in the most humble possible way.

People love watching people.

It'll never change.

It'll never go away.

And my thanks to all of you at channel 57 and at Westfield State University for keeping the show on the air 65 years.

That's unbelievable.

It's unbelievable.

Very proud of you guys.

Thank you.