Jeopardy! champ James Holzhauer donates a portion of his winnings to cancer research in honor of host Alex Trebek after his diagnosis
James Holzhauer is giving back after being the long-standing champion on Jeopardy!
After racking in a total of $2,462,216 from 32 straight games on the show, the 34-year-old has donated a portion of the money to charity under the show's host, Alex Trebek's name.
Trebek, 78, is currently fighting pancreatic cancer.
Holzhauer pledged $1,109,14 to the 2019 Naperville Pancreatic Cancer Research Walk in Naperville, Illinois 'for Alex Trebek and all the other survivors.'
Giving back: Jeopardy! champion James Holzhauer has pledged over one million dollars to the 2019 Naperville Pancreatic Cancer Research Walk in Alex Trebek's name. Both are pictured on the show during Holzhauer's 32 win streak
And while that may be an odd amount of money to donate, the numbers hold significance to the Las Vegas-based sports bettor. It's his four-year-old daughter, Natasha's birthday.
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On what turned out to be Holzhauer's final episode, Trebek thanked him for the card his daughter made him. 'I want to express my thanks to your beautiful little daughter, Natasha, for having made this get well card for me,' he said to him. 'That was very sweet of her.'
Hitting home: Holzhauer lost his father in 2010 to the disease so making the donation for his friend was easy. The two are pictured above on June 19th at the NHL Awards in Las Vegas
Ann Zediker, a host raising money for the fight against pancreatic cancer, reached out to Holzhauer asking him to attend the upcoming event on July 14th after watching him on the show.
Trebek also used to live in Naperville and went to school there as well.
'My gut told me it was the right thing to do,' she said in an interview with the Chicago Tribune. 'It couldn’t hurt.'
It's a cause close to Holzhauer's heart as he lost his father back in 2010 from the disease.
While, he wasn't able to make the event he did respond and her let her know he would gladly make a donation.
'There was no expectation on my end,' she told CNN in an interview. 'I was just thrilled that he responded. I knew that Alex’s story had an impact on him, just like it has an impact on anyone who’s working with a family member who’s going through pancreatic cancer.'
Road to recovery: Trebek said in an interview back in May that he is 'near remission' after responding well to chemotherapy. He is pictured at the 47th AFI Life Achievement Awards on June 6th
The game show host went public with his stage four diagnosis back in March.
While the cancer has a nine percent survival rate, he told PEOPLE back in May he is 'near remission' after responding well to chemotherapy.
'It’s kind of mind-boggling,' Trebek said during the interview. 'The doctors said they hadn’t seen this kind of positive result in their memory … some of the tumors have already shrunk by more than 50 percent.'
Big comeback: Holzhauer is set to return to the show for the 36th season for Tournament of Champions edition.
Holzhauer is set to return to the show for the 36th season for Tournament of Champions edition.
He made history after hitting the two million dollar mark on the show making him one of only three players to do the same.
He lost to contestant Ken Jennings who won a record amount of $2.52 million dollars.
