‘What Is Cal State Fullerton?’

In a first for America’s No. 1 television game show host, Cal State Fullerton will feature Alex Trebek in a campus benefit quiz show on Oct. 25.

But don’t look for the host of “Jeopardy!” to demand answers- in-the-form-of-a-question.

Using any part of the “Jeopardy!” format--even the word jeopardy in the title of the event--was nixed by Sony Corp., owner of the rights to the TV program that has ranked first in the Nielsen ratings for game shows the past 13 years.

It was the university’s promise not to follow the “Jeopardy!” format that convinced Trebek to participate. He had turned down the university five times during the past two years.

“He finally accepted when he understood that we were asking him as a celebrity to host a creative evening that wouldn’t have anything to do with ‘Jeopardy!’ ” says Larry Zucker, the university’s associate vice president of advancement.

Following the Trebek-hosted quiz show, an auction will feature items ranging from an evening with Walter Cronkite to the naming of a character in a future Elizabeth George novel.

The quiz show will be the first of three such annual events used to raise funds for university scholarships. Trebek’s contract specifies that the amount of his fee be undisclosed.

“We came up with a figure, offered him what we thought was a fair amount for the three-year contract and he accepted,” says Zucker, founder of the university’s annual spring auction that last year grossed more than $500,000. “The event marks the first time Trebek has been involved in a university fund-raiser with its own game-show concept.”

During the benefit, Trebek will stand before a crowd of 500 people to pose questions in a format devised by event organizers.

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Members of CSUF’s advancement department put their heads together and came up with a quiz show that will keep guests on their toes. Literally. In the first quiz, the entire audience will be invited to stand before Trebek to answer questions, one by one, multiple-choice style.

Trebek is looking forward to appearing on the Fullerton campus. But he has yet to learn the exact nature of the quizzes he is expected to facilitate. Zucker will fax Trebek a summary of the games, he says, and prepare cue cards for him. “He’ll understand what we’re trying to do.”

Trebek says he is looking forward to the opportunity to help raise funds for university scholarships.

“There’s no substitute for education and a charitable heart,” says Trebek, who has a degree in philosophy from the University of Quebec and serves on the board of the National Advisory Council for the Literary Volunteers of America.

“Without education, you won’t develop fully, fulfill your ambitions. And without a charitable heart, you’ll end up making people miserable, become a yo-yo.”

Host of “Jeopardy!” for 13 years, Trebek says the show succeeds because “our contestants make money the old-fashioned way--they earn it.”

Guests at the university quiz show/auction will have the same opportunity.

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Here’s the way it will work:

In the first game show, the entire audience will be invited to stand. Trebek will explain that, through a process of elimination--guests who answer correctly get to remain standing--prizes will be awarded to the three finalists. First place wins a prize worth $3,500, second $2,500, third $1,000.

Each guest will have four cards labeled A,B,C,D. This will enable contestants to answer the questions using a multiple-choice format, Zucker says. After each question is posed by Trebek--and displayed on a 20-by-20-foot screen--guests will have the opportunity to play or sit down.

Each table of 10 people will use the honor system as contestants hold up the cards they believe reflect the correct answer.

Questions will range from general trivia to facts about Orange County. Contestants will pay $10 each to play the first two rounds. Subsequent rounds will be available at increments of $10, with a maximum donation of $150.

Zucker is confident that the crowd will fare well in the competition. “People involved with a university--supporters, donors, graduates--are very intelligent and well-informed,” he says. “But it will also be an issue of luck, because, as questions come up, people might miss the fourth one, have to sit down, then know the fifth, sixth or seventh.”

The live auction, which will be conducted throughout the evening, also includes a walk-on role for two on CBS television’s “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman” and VIP packages to the Oprah Winfrey and David Letterman television shows.

Another feature: a Cyber-auction where guests can bid on 200 gift items via computer.

“Auctions are a great vehicle to bring corporations into the university,” Zucker says. “If we go to a corporation and ask if they want to donate money to us, they might say no. If we go to the same corporation and ask them to donate an item, they’ll normally say yes. That leads to our increased involvement with them, and, eventually, increased donations.”

Only one item in the live auction lineup will command a minimum bid--the opportunity for two people to sit with beloved news veteran Cronkite at the university’s Front & Center benefit at the Pond in Anaheim on Jan. 29. The starting bid: $10,000.

“We’ve never had a minimum bid on an item in the university’s auction history,” Zucker says. “This is the only one.”

* Information: (714) 278-3480.