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Information about Pat Sajak

Pat Sajak
Birth namePatrick Leonard Sajdak[1]
BornSeptember 26 1946 (1946--) (age 61)
inChicago, Illinois, U.S.
Statistics
OccupationTV presenter, Game show presenter
GenderMale
Marital statusmarried
SpouseLesly Sajak
ChildrenPatrick Sajak, Maggie Sajak
Notable credit(s)Wheel of Fortune (NBC, Syndicated)
Official website[1]
Pat Sajak (born Patrick Leonard Sajdak on October 26, 1946),[1] is a television personality and a former talk show host, best known as the host of the American television game show, Wheel of Fortune.

Biography

Early life

Sajak, son of a Polish American trucking foreman, was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. His mother, Joyce, remarried to Walter Backal. During his elementary years, he attended Goethe Elementary School, as well as Gary Elementary School. In 4th grade, he won the school spelling bee by spelling the word "photosynthesis". He graduated Farragut High School in 1964 and then went on to Columbia College Chicago.

Career

Sajak won a contest on WLS radio's Dick Biondi Show to be a guest "teen deejay". While at Columbia College Chicago, his broadcasting instructor Al Parker told him that a local radio station (WEDC) was looking for a newsman. Pat applied for the job and was hired to work from midnight to 6:00 AM. In 1968, Sajak joined the U.S. Army, and was sent to Vietnam, where he deejayed on Armed Forces Radio. 1975 found Pat DJ'ing at 50,000-watt WSM in Nashville; at the time WSM was playing pop music during the day (country at night), and Pat was the 3:00–5:00pm afternoon personality. Sajak moved out to Los Angeles in the late 1970s to find work, and answered phones as a clerk at numerous hotels while job hunting. Later, in 1977, KNBC-TV in Los Angeles was looking for a weatherman, and spotted Sajak working for NBC affiliate WSM-TV in Nashville. Sajak accepted KNBC's request for him to be a full-time weatherman for the station. He also had a small role as a Buffalo, New York newscaster in the 1982 spoof film .

In 1981, Merv Griffin, the designer of Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune, asked Pat if he would be interested in taking over the duties as host of Wheel of Fortune from Chuck Woolery. Pat, who already had hosted a few game show pilots, accepted the position. From 1983 to 1989, Sajak hosted both the daytime (NBC) and nighttime (syndicated) versions of Wheel of Fortune. He still hosts the syndicated nighttime version of the show. When his late-night talk show on CBS premiered in January 1989, he left the daytime version of "Wheel," and was replaced by former San Diego Chargers place-kicker Rolf Benirschke.

In 1997, as part of an April Fool's joke, Sajak and Alex Trebek switched jobs. Sajak hosted Jeopardy! and became a contestant along with the hostess Vanna White on Wheel of Fortune, which Trebek hosted. Both Sajak and White played for charity, he for the Boy Scouts of America and she for the American Cancer Society. Sajak's wife Lesly took Vanna's place on the letter board. On an episode which aired in 2000, Sajak's children Patrick and Maggie delivered the show's closing comments in place of their father and White.

Sajak hosted a late-night talk show on CBS from January 9, 1989 - April 13, 1990 that failed to make ratings headway against Johnny Carson. He has since been a frequent guest host for CNN's Larry King Live when King himself was unable to attend. Sajak is also a regular substitute host for Regis Philbin on the syndicated Live With Regis and Kelly. Sajak also hosted a program, Pat Sajak Weekend, on the Fox News Channel in 2003. Sajak also currently hosts The Pat Sajak Baseball Hour, a syndicated radio sports talk show.

Sajak also is an External Director of conservative publishing house Eagle Publishing and is on the Board of Trustees at Hillsdale College in southern Michigan. He also has written for Human Events and served on the Board of Directors for the Claremont Institute. Pat was a major donor to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and often posts political commentary on his official website.[2]

Sajak once commented on Wheel of Fortune that his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame has the wrong emblem. His emblem is a movie camera when it should be a TV set. He quipped on the show that "someone should pry it off and sell it on eBay - it's a collectible!".

Personal life

Pat is married to his second wife Lesly Brown, and has a son named Patrick and a daughter named Maggie. The couple lives in Severna Park, Maryland. Sajak also owns a home in Manhattan Beach, California for when he is in Los Angeles taping Wheel of Fortune.

One of Sajak's philanthropies is an expansion of the Anne Arundel Medical Center in Annapolis, Maryland; it is named the Sajak Pavilion in honor of his donations. He is also part-owner of Annapolis radio station WNAV 1430, which broadcasts Naval Academy events and other local items of interest, and Westminster, Maryland radio station WTTR, which plays Oldies. He has also donated $100,000 to the Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund.

In 2005, Sajak, a huge baseball fan, became one of the investors for the Golden Baseball League, a new professional, independent baseball league with teams in California and Arizona.

References in popular culture

Pat Sajak has been referenced and parodied in many TV shows, movies, and animated television series.
  • In one episode of Rugrats, in which Chaz, Chuckie Finster's father, won $10 million, Sajak (who voiced his character as well) was outside his house holding up a check for that amount of money. Chaz asked, "Where's Vanna?" after he explained who he was.
  • In episode 2 of The Weird Al Show, Al suggested making lima bean cookies in various shapes, one of which is Pat Sajak's head.
  • In the Kevin Smith film Mallrats, Jason Lee's character calls the host of a local dating show "Pat Sajak".
  • Sajak was the idol of "Ed Grimley, Jr.," an eccentric character played by Martin Short on SCTV and Saturday Night Live. Short's character famously had a large framed black-and-white photo of Sajak hanging in his apartment.
  • At the beginning of the Family Guy episode, I Take Thee Quagmire, Peter Griffin was on Wheel of Fortune and when Pat congratulated Peter for making it to the finals, Peter said, "Thanks, Regis," mistaking Pat for Regis Philbin.
  • On an episode of Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Pat Sajak was referenced as a part of the feature "Conan's Celebrity Survey." In this segment, O'Brien pretended that he had sent out surveys for celebrities to fill in, and that a part of this was to fill in the blanks of some phrases. It was said that John Edwards completed the phrase "Most people don't know that I'm actually..." with the name "Pat Sajak", toying with Pat Sajak's physical similarities with John Edwards.
  • Some people have noticed Pat Sajak resembles former Vice President Dan Quayle. Sajak joked about this in song on his short-lived talk show.
  • A Muppet by the name of Pat Playjacks was created on the children's show Sesame Street. The Muppet, which looks very much like Pat Sajak, is a television game show host.
  • Tom Hanks played Pat Sajak in a skit on Saturday Night Live on May 6, 2006. In it, Sajak quits the show after the contestants exhibit immense stupidity.
  • Pat Sajak is mentioned in a lyric of "The Kill," a currently unreleased song by The Dresden Dolls.[3]
  • Pat Sajak is referenced by Ice Cube in the song "Last Wordz" off of 2Pac's album Strictly For My N.I.G.G.A.Z." The line is: "Fuck Pat Sajak, never did nothing for a nigga." The song actually adresses Pat Sajak's look-alike, vice-president Dan Quayle though who had spoken out against 2pac's music. [4]
  • In Thomas Pynchon's novel Vineland, Pat Sajak stars in The Frank Gorshin Story on the Eight o'Clock Movie.
  • Pat Sajak is referenced by rapper Lil Wayne in the remix of the Shop Boyz song "Party Like a Rockstar". The line is: "I have foursomes, I don't have to force 'em. They just do what I say-jak like Wheel of Fortune."
  • Pat Sajak is also referenced by rapper Kanye West in the remix of the Usher song "Confessions Part II". The line is "And I know when she broke the news you told her man don't say that, matter fact like Pat don't say-jak."
  • Pat is mentioned by Gorilla Zoe in the rap song "Coffee Shop." The line is "Pat Sajak, we bring anything back!"
  • Pat Sajak was the subject of a number one entry in the Top Ten List "Top Ten Things Dave's Mom Has Learned" on the Late Show with David Letterman: "If you want a good table in a restaurant, tell them you're Pat Sajak's mom."[5]
Preceded by
Chuck Woolery		Host of Wheel of Fortune (daytime)
1981–1989		Succeeded by
Rolf Benirschke (1989)
Preceded by
Bob Barker		Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show Host
1993		Succeeded by
Bob Barker
Preceded by
Bob Barker		Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show Host
1997 – 1998		Succeeded by
Ben Stein and Jimmy Kimmel

References

1. ^ Pat Sajak Biography. TV Guide. Retrieved on 2007-10-15.
2. ^ "Sajak Says..." archive. Pat Sajak. Retrieved on June 16, 2007.
3. ^ Downloads and Lyrics. The Dresden Dolls (2005-04-24). Retrieved on 2007-08-25.
4. ^ 2-Pac - Last Wordz lyrics. Lyriczz.com. Retrieved on May 12 2007.
5. ^ Late Show with David Letterman. Retrieved on 17 August 2007

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