No matter what else the future brings, longtime Mt. Airy resident Mark C. Lashley will always be known as a "Jeopardy!" champion. Lashley, 43, an assistant professor at La Salle University with a doctorate in communications from the University of Georgia, won an exciting come-from-behind victory on April 23 on the iconic 40-year-old ABC-TV quiz show for brainy people.

Lashley was far behind Nam Nguyen, a playwright from Ontario, Canada, going into Final Jeopardy, whose category was "Business." The clue was "In the 1850s the .925 sterling silver standard was instituted by this company, the first American one to do so." The correct answer was, "What is Tiffany's?"

Lashley and Lianne Schaffer, a piano teacher from Newton, Massachusetts, answered correctly, while Nguyen guessed "What is Wells Fargo?" Later on social media, Nguyen wrote, "I didn't grow up in a family where luxury brands were at the top of our minds. Hell, my dad was in a Vietnamese refugee camp when he was my age!" Thus, Lashley ended in first with $17,601, Nguyen was second with $17,199, and Schaffer was third with $14,000.

The following night Lashley was up against Amy Hummel, an ER doctor from Wisconsin, and Paul Drake, a front desk attendant from Michigan. Hummel wound up winning with $18,900; Drake was second with $17,201, and the Mt. Airy resident was third with $9,401. Hummel went on to win $100,994 after winning five games.

Lashley went to Los Angeles during spring break and taped the shows on March 13. He was not allowed to tell anyone but his wife what the outcomes of the shows were until they aired. On April 23 he had a "watch party" of 30 people on the second floor of Mt. Airy Taproom. Several of his students at La Salle "who were really excited" also had watch parties.

"It was really not disconcerting (to lose the second game)," Lashley said last week. "To pass the audition and test and get on the show is the whole thing. In the first game, I thought it was a runaway for Mr. Nguyen. I thought well, it will be over soon, and I'll be OK with that. In the second game, I was playing with house money. The three of us (contestants) had a group chat afterward. They are all great people. I'd have been happy for any of them to win. Whether you win one or 74, you can still say you were a 'Jeopardy!' champ for the rest of your life." (Current host Ken Jennings is the all-time consecutive game-winner, with 74.)

"Ken came out to greet the contestants before the show," said Lashley. "He said his favorite thing is to hang out with 'Jeopardy!' contestants, although he is not allowed to do it outside the studio. It was an awesome moment; three trivia nerds talking to the greatest one of all time. It felt very natural, like he is one of us. We had five minutes to chat with him."

Lashley, who grew up in Fishtown, and his wife, Laura Piper Lee, an author and lawyer who has also been a law professor, have lived in Mt. Airy since 2013, when Lashley got the job at La Salle. "We love Northwest Philly," he said.

Lashley took the "Jeopardy!" test online four or five times. The test is only given once a year. There are 50 questions. "I have been watching 'Jeopardy!' for 35 years," he said. "The test was not the hardest I ever took. You have to have very broad knowledge. I think I got 37 or 38 right.

"I am good on pop culture but just middle of the road on history, literature and science. I am not good on classical music and fine arts but very good on crossword-type questions and things that happened before my time, and I try to remember celebrity culture. I do a lot of trivia competitions. I'm with a national online quiz league. Some of the top 'Jeopardy!' people come out of that league. There is such a thing as a trivia ecosystem.

"I played 'Jeopardy!' simulator online with some people who had won. That made me feel that I belonged. I was more nervous in rehearsal than on the show. My knees were shaking. In rehearsal, you get used to the buzzer timing, but I definitely got out-buzzed on some of the easier questions."

You might say that Mark Lashley's appearance on "Jeopardy!" was not his first TV quiz show rodeo. On March 14, 2018, he won $10,000 on the show, "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?"

"After the taping of 'Millionaire,' it took nine months of waiting for it to air," said Lashley. "The questions on 'Jeopardy!' are better. On 'Millionaire' they are trying more to trick you. Some of the other questions were insultingly easy.

"For 'Millionaire' the test was given to thousands of people at Sugarhouse Casino early in the morning. I believe I got 49 questions right out of 50. But being on the shows looks easier in your living room than in the TV studio."

Len Lear can be reached at lenlear@chestnuthilllocal.com