Lord of the Ring Secures Trivia Glory

"This year the San Francisco Opera presented the full four-opera cycle of "The Ring of the Nibelung. Who was its composer?"

With that last question, the three members of the Daly City Softball Champs started exchanging high fives. After 16 years participating in the , they knew they had finally won the elusive first-place trophy.

"We don't prepare," said team member Brian VonHagel, from Daly City. "We just come in cold."

On Friday night, about 375 people gathered in the South San Francisco Conference Center for what has become a major South City annual event: the Project Read Trivia Challenge fundraiser.

Project Read is an adult literacy program based in the that trains tutors and matches them with adult learners. And with a dinner, silent auction and a trivia challenge with 32 teams of three, the organization raised roughly $25,000 to $30,000 at Friday's fundraiser, said Holly Fulghum-Nutters, Project Read's program manager.

Though the Daly City Softball Champs have chased the prize for almost as long as the Trivia Challenge has been around (19 years), Gerry Manis, from San Mateo, Jeff Scaten, from Lincoln and VonHagel don't exactly portray themselves as slick competitors. 

They call themselves "Champs" because at the time they formed the team 16 years ago, they were in a softball league and had won the lowest division.

"The name's kind of a joke," Manis said.

VonHagel's wife, Sue VonHagel, organizes the team. She works at the Daly City Library, and every year, she collects pledges to fund the $400 entry fee for the Project Read fundraiser.

The Champs faced off against teams sponsored by the Rotary Club, the Lions Club, the Kiwanis Club, Poletti Realty, the Friends of the Library, the Daly City Police Officers' Association, and the South San Francisco City Council, among others.

Though the Champs had a few stumbles in the first round—they couldn't remember the names of Brigham Young or Ben Stiller—they were in the lead at the end of round two. When emcee Alisa Clancy, jazz DJ on KCSM, called out the last question, they knew the answer: Wagner.

The Champs had scooped third place twice before, but this time they won the honor of having their name inscribed in the eternal trophy and keeping it until next year. Second prize went to the Chocoholics, and Let's Be Friends 1 nabbed third.

Sue VonHagel says the trophy will occupy a place of honor in the Daly City library...until next year.