UNO professor to appear on Jeopardy! tonight

OMAHA, Neb. -- A university professor in our backyard will be appearing on national television tonight.

Professor Ramón Guerra, an English professor from the University of Omaha, will appear on tonight's episode of Jeopardy! for the 2021 Professors Tournament.

Professor Guerra said the opportunity fulfills a lifelong dream that he's had since he was a child.

"It was just a dream come true. I've wanted to do it for a long time. I couldn't tell you how excited I was the day of the call, " Professor Guerra said. "I shared it with my family and for me, it was a disbelief, followed by 'this is going to be great!'"

Despite heading into the tournament with a lifelong dream fulfilled, Professor Guerra had one more goal, making Nebraska proud.

"Having that knowledge, that personal experience with Nebraska sort of gave me a lot of information to give the others but also that pride," said Professor Guerra. "It's like 'I'm here and I'm from Nebraska.' I want to do Nebraska proud."

Now you might think these professors were able to answer everything, but the tournament taught Guerra and the other contestants a few new things.

"I learned a lot of trivia, I'll tell you that. There was a bit that you see up there and you're like 'I don't know that,' so I certainly learned that," said Professor Guerra. "So I'm certainly open to that and I think I speak for everybody who was there as a contestant."

Guerra, a lifelong Nebraskan, has been a professor at UNO since 2008.

The episode will air tonight at 6 PM Central Time.