Aaron Rodgers Shares Story Of Meeting Alex Trebek & How Well It Went

Speaking this week with The Athletic Wisconsin, Aaron Rodgers shared his experience of meeting Alex Trebek for the first time and what the death of the Jeopardy! host means to the Packers quarterback. Rodgers appeared on Celebrity Jeopardy! back in 2015 and won the episode, beating out Kevin O'Leary and astronaut Mark Kelly.

"I mean, literally, I’ve told friends of mine and people that come and visit and people I’ve dated, six o’clock at my house, is Jeopardy!. And that’s just the way it goes. I’ve watched it for years and, sadly, he’s gone."

“It’s safe to say I was star-struck. I was just telling one of our coaches today as we talked about it. It’s happened a few times in my life where I’ve been star-struck by somebody, and I understand maybe what that feels like to a lesser degree when somebody meets me, and that’s what I think gives me a good perspective with those interactions."

As you guys know, meeting your heroes can be a problem, except in Rodgers' case, Trebek quickly put that to rest. It didn't take Rodgers long to know the man was sincere.

"I think to be star-struck, it has to be a combination of not just really having a connection to somebody deep and meaningful and nostalgic, but when you meet that person, they have the presence and the charisma that you kind of hoped they would, and he definitely did. I was so excited, trying to keep it together and act like it wasn’t the huge deal that it was to me on the inside.

"He was very personable, just all the things that make you feel like he cares about the conversation. I’m talking about old school stuff. I’m talking about shaking your hand and looking you in the eye. I’m talking about eye contact and the conversation. Just the stuff that makes you feel important that I think we often forget about in society because we’re so damn distracted all the time. I felt like he was so present in the moment, and I appreciated it."

Rodgers outlasted astronaut Mark Kelly that day in 2015 when he met Trebek and won $50,000 for the Midwest Athletes Against Childhood Cancer charity. And then the quarterback and the fun gameshow host did the discount double-check. All was right in the world.