A Walk in the Woods

ound, he was playing against 480 people for the 10 spots on ascheduled show. Berry now had to answer 5 questions correctly,each within 10 seconds.“The first question was an easy giveaway, but the last four werepretty tough," Berry recalled. “One was: ‘Put the following fourcountries in geographic order from north to south: A. Nicaragua;B. Belize; C. Panama; and D. Honduras.’ I was able to answer thisone only because I had, about two decades earlier, read a magazinearticle about Americans living in Belize that described the countryas ‘tucked up against Mexico,’ so I assumed it was the northernmostof the four, which it is. Another was: ‘Place the following fourtennis players in the order in which they firstwon the men’s singles Wimbledonchampionship, from earliestto latest: A. Pete Sampras;B. John Newcombe;C. Andre Agassi; andD. Arthur Ashe. Thetricky thing about thisone is that Agassi won theyear before Sampras started hisgreat run."Berry felt optimistic about all of his responses, so he wasn’tshocked when an associate producer called about an hour later withthe good news. As a stay-at-home father earning a part-time incomewhile his wife completed four years of full-time graduate study, Berrywas thrilled to tell his family about the Millionaire opportunity.In keeping with the free phone calls, all travel expenses for theNew York taping were paid by the producers. The contestantsarrived on the previous afternoon for a brief orientation at theshow’s rented hotel suite. At 8 a.m. the next morning, they werebussed a short distance to the studio, where they were alwaysaccompanied by security-conscious staff.After another orientation tour of the set, each of the contestantspracticed walking to and sitting in the hot seat—acutely aware thatonly two or three would have the actual experience, whereas theothers would leave with a souvenir T-shirt and $150 for expenses.Before the taping, the contestants also sat in their assigned semicircleseats at the edge of the set and played five practice games.“The questions were all quite easy, and I was always a second to asecond and a half behind the fastest contestants, which concernedme a bit," Berry said.With resolve just to focus on correct answers rather than speed,Berry developed a successful strategy. After winning the fastest-fingerquestion, he was given a few minutes to calm down from therush of adrenaline and emotion during a break. “All I remember ofthose first couple of minutes after shaking hands with Regis wasjumping up and down—literally—in the entranceway between theaudience risers, shouting, ‘I can’t believe it! A week ago, I waspunching numbers on the phone on my kitchen counter, and nowI’m going to be in the hot seat!’ All the while, a nice young showstaffer stood smiling at my side, repeating, in a very reassuringmanner, ‘Yes, yes, that’s right, you did great; you’re going to dogreat.’" Once in the “hot seat," Berry felt that he was in his “naturalarena." He was relaxed and comfortable, feeling none of the tensionof the fastest-finger rounds. “I felt like I was finally playing a gameon my home court; I never wanted to leave. I felt like Ted Williamsat the plate: You throw ’em; I’ll hit ’em." And Berry did exactly that,progressing to the $32,000 level by knowing that Dr. KennethCooper coined the word “aerobics" in 1968 and that Anna Sui andMichael Kors are fashion designers—not Nobel Prize winners, classicalmusicians, or modern dancers.Berry said: “The $64,000 question was tough for me; it askedwhat a hockey player named Craig MacTavish had been the lastNHL player to do. After burning my last two lifelines, I made aneducated guess that he was the last NHL player to play without ahelmet, which was correct. The $125,000 question asked how Dr.Doolittle got his ability to talk to the animals. I didn’t have anyidea, was out of lifelines, was facing three“ I NA L I F E T A K E N A S A W H O L E ,L U C K D O E S N ’ T M A T T E R . . . . I N T H E A R C O FA L O N G L I F E , T H E B R E A K S E V E N O U T , A N D Y O U RE N T I R E L I F E C O U R S E E N D S U P A P P R O X I M A T I N GR A T H E R C L O S E L Y W H A T Y O U A C T U A L L Y A R E .Y O U A R E W H A T Y O U A R E , N O T W H A TH A P P E N S T O Y O U . ”plausible answers, and, with$64,000 in hand, was quiterisk averse; so I retired onthat one."After the show, Berrymostly felt relief that hedid not “mess up" andhappiness that he had “comethrough" for his family. Now, lookingback, Berry’s Millionaire experience hasalso washed away any sense of previous “missed opportunities." Hesaid, “Every bad break I might have had in my life has been morethan outweighed by this; I end up in life being, to my surprise, avery lucky fellow. Even more, I see that in a life taken as a whole,luck doesn’t matter: I see that luck does happen—some good, somebad—but that in the arc of a long life, the breaks pretty much evenout, and your entire life course ends up approximating rather closelywhat you actually are. You are what you are, not what happens toyou."Since his appearance on the show, three strangers have recognizedhim. When he deposited the prize check, which will actuallyamount to about $40,000 after taxes, it caused a “minor uproar" atBerry’s bank. Now, the bank personnel smile and greet him byname. Every time he deposits a check, the funds are immediatelyavailable rather than the five days he previously had to wait for acheck to clear. “No huge deal but nice," he said.“For myself, it’s given me a boost in confidence. I wouldn’t saythat it’s justified my life, but it has, in a sense, justified my approachto life, which has involved spending a lot of time gathering knowledgefor no immediate, careerist purpose," added Berry, who ranksthis high point right behind his marriage and the birth of his threechildren.By appearing on the Millionaire show, Berry fulfilled a lifelongdream that was first inspired by Swarthmore’s College Bowl team.“One of the reasons I chose to attend Swarthmore was that itsCollege Bowl team, led by Nancy Bekavac ’69, was spectacularly goodin the 1968–69 season, winning five consecutive shows and retiringundefeated. I can still hear the moderator calling out, ‘Swarthmore,Bekavac!’ over and over again," Berry said.When he arrived at Swarthmore, Berry inquired about getting onthe College Bowl team and was disappointed to find out that theshow had gone off the air. “Thus, appearing on the Millionaire showallowed me to revisit and fulfill a desire so old that I had forgottenit had existed, which made the experience even sweeter than itwould otherwise have been."M A R C H 2 0 0 125