"A police officer from Flushing, New York, Frank Spangenberg, who has won $102,597."
2014 Battle of the Decades invitee: $5,000.
2005 Ultimate Tournament of Champions Nifty Nine (players with byes into Round 2), Elite Eighteen (Round 2 winners) and Sweet Six (Round 3 winners) member: $105,199.
2002 Million Dollar Masters tournament quarterfinalist: $10,000.
1993 10th Anniversary Tournament champion: $41,800.
1990 Tournament of Champions semifinalist: $5,000.
1990 Super Jeopardy! quarterfinalist: $5,000.
Season 6 5-time champion: $102,597 (winnings capped at $75,000 per the rules of the show at the time; $27,597 donated to Frank's selected charity, the Missionaries of Charity in New York City, an order of nuns that runs a hospice in Manhattan, a branch of the Calcutta mission administered at the time by Mother Teresa).
Frank held the record for cash winnings in regular games ($102,597) between January 1990 and April 2003, when overtaken by Brian Weikle with the advantage of doubled dollar amounts. As adjusted for doubled dollar values (to $205,194), Frank's record stood for 29 years until broken by James Holzhauer (#7968, aired 2019-04-10), with $298,687.
In his fifth game (#1241, aired 1990-01-15), Frank set a single-day cash winnings record of $30,600, breaking the previous record of $27,800 set by Kevin Frear (#902, aired 1988-07-05) and tied by Bob Blake in his second game (#1149, aired 1989-09-07). Frank's record lasted for over two years, when it was broken by Jerome Vered's $34,000 finish in show #1794, aired 1992-05-21.
Frank appeared on Grand Slam on 2007-08-12. He was defeated and eliminated in the Sweet 16 round by Twenty-One 6-time champion David Legler. |
