Iconic deep blue curtains surrounded the Alex Trebek Stage in Los Angeles where three contestants faced off in a battle of wits. The beloved game show called 18 participants back to the stage for their 2026 Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament. Their unique answer-then-question format causes contestants to provide answers in the form of questions, such as:
Answer: This Texas Law alumni is the second contestant ever to compete on Jeopardy! for five different decades.
Question: Who is T.L. Cubbage?
T.L. Cubbage ‘92 competed in the 2026 Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament which aired Feb. 12-20, marking his five decade run. Cubbage received a call in December asking him to return to the stage after his last appearance in the 2014 Jeopardy! Battle of the Decades. Between these appearances, Cubbage actively practiced law in Washington D.C. and Dallas-Fort Worth after earning his law degree from UT.
“Being a lawyer and having to stand on your feet under pressure and focus and pay attention are good skills in the courtroom,” Cubbage said. “And they’re good skills on the Jeopardy stage.”
Cubbage’s long Jeopardy! career began with winning the first ever Jeopardy! College Championship in 1989 in his senior year at Southern Methodist University, which earned him a spot in the 1989 Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions. He then briefly left his first year at UT Law to compete in Los Angeles.
UT Law alumnus and Cubbage’s flatmate during their first year, Kurt Hamrock, said he remembers when Cubbage hosted an event for all of his friends and law school associates. Cubbage bought drinks for everybody, and they watched the episode where he won Jeopardy!’s Tournament of Champions.
“When we both made it back to the apartment (after classes), we’d sit on the sofa and watch Jeopardy!,” Hamrock said. “It’s very intimidating to be sitting with a Jeopardy! champion watching a Jeopardy! episode.”
After becoming the first contestant to win two tournaments, Cubbage returned in 1990 for Super Jeopardy! He took a break while establishing his legal career before participating in the 2005 Jeopardy! Ultimate Tournament of Champions, where he met fellow contestant Bob Harris. Harris said that when they met, Cubbage intimidated him, and although Cubbage didn’t mean to, his sense of self was just so powerful.
“The most important thing about going on Jeopardy! is (that) you’re going to be in a room with 15 other really curious people,” Harris said. “You have people with this humble, curious mindset, usually with a terrific sense of humor, which comes with it, and you’re there to play a game together, and you’re all nervous together.”
In last month’s Invitational Tournament, Cubbage ended his streak of 12 consecutive correct Final Jeopardy! answers and did not move past the quarterfinals. He is currently devoting his time to serving as the president of the Center for American and International Law.
“I did literally remind myself as I was standing at the podium on the game show stage a few weeks ago, when the lights were about to start, the production was about to begin,” Cubbage said. “I looked at the camera in front of me as if it was a judge on the bench, and I said what you typically say when you begin an argument to court, which is … ‘May it please the court.’”
