Pedal meets brain power

Some of the questions took deep thought and far reaches into the crevices of their memories.

The answers to other questions were so simple they may as well have been pasted to the top of their brains with Post-it notes.

But no matter if the questions for the trivia game were simple enough for a kindergartner or might take a doctor to answer, the big winners were researchers in their fights against pediatric cancer.

More than 100 residents and members of SammyRides donated $5 each to battle brains in a "Trivial Pursuit 'Funraiser'" for SammyRides - a project sponsored by Team Will, a nonprofit organization made up of cyclists who volunteer to support research and help families whose children are currently undergoing cancer treatment. They played the game recently at Community Hall.

March 2, a team of five Sun City Center riders will begin their 2,400-mile bicycle journey from Sun City, Ariz., to Sun City Center to honor Sammy Rotman, the 9-year-old granddaughter of Michael and Lois Libenson. Sammy died of pediatric cancer Sept. 17, 2008, at home in Bow, N.H..

But this day it was brain power that drove the trivia players to pit tidbits of knowledge against one another.

With 80 trivia questions, asked by Michael Libenson, teams of eight sat at 12 tables in Community Hall and put their minds to the test.

"What three European countries begin with the letter A?" "What was the largest city in the U.S. when the first census was taken in 1790?" "The Philadelphia Atoms and Dallas Tornado were members of an American professional league of what sport?" were a few of the first questions Libenson asked.

Led by a chosen answer recorder, players were able to confer and offer their answers, which were written down. At the end of the two-hour game, the teams with the most correct questions out of 80 were given prizes of SammyRides T-shirts and bottles of wine.

Although serious answers were the norm, more than a few times, the answers given were a bit more smart aleck than smart.

"What U.S. city did Indiana Jones take off from in the movie, 'Raiders of the Lost Ark?'" LIbenson asked.

"Sun City Center. I should put that down," Heidi Oelgart said, as she wrote answers.

Between questions, Libenson gave the microphone to Mike Cassano, who sang a Broadway song, making the audience use their ears to come up with a response, including tunes from "Fiddler on the Roof" and "Damn Yankees."

After teams totaled up their right answers, three tables were tied. Libenson asked 10 tiebreaker questions, with the final four being: "What year was the first McDonald's opened?" "What president abolished segregation?" "What year was Queen Elizabeth II crowned?" and "What man broke the four-minute mile?"

With a doctor, musician, professor, fifth-grade teacher, historian and psychologist at Ken and Jill Ihlo's table, the winning answers came easily to their team. They walked away winners, having answered 57 out of 80 questions correctly.

"We're very diverse in knowledge," said Jill Ihlo of Sun City Center.

At 40 questions, the players took a break for cake honoring Sun City Center builder Minto Group for its donation of $10,000 to SammyRides - a surprise to most participants.

"It was a lot of fun. What's great is they're all old people and they're still sharp," joked Libenson after the game concluded.

So far, SammyRides has raised about $40,000 that will be contributed toward cancer research to centers along the bike route from Arizona east to Florida. The riders return to Florida May 1.

For information, see www.sammyrides.com.

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