Former Members

These former members of NAQT contributed greatly to its development, but are no longer active within the organization, not even in the advisory capacity of members emeriti.

Douglas Bone

Matthew Bruce

Matt grew up in Tulsa and led the Booker T. Washington High School Academic Bowl Team to a national championship in 1992. At Harvard he was part of the only sibling pair ever to play on opposite sides of a college quiz national championship final (his side won). He created the playoff brackets displayed at many of NAQT’s high school and middle school championships. Matt’s membership in NAQT was terminated in June 2018 via the company’s grievance process.

Mike Burger

Mike Burger holds a Bachelors in Sport Management and Communication from the University of Michigan and a Masters in Computer Information Systems from Colorado State University. Mike works as a database analyst/customer service liaison for The All-Media Guide. Mike has competed in academic competitions since 1987 and captained his team to the “Trash” (popular culture and sports questions only) 1998 National Championship. Mike was a founding member of NAQT.

Dave Bykowski

Dave graduated with bachelor’s degrees in mathematics and computer science from Furman University and a master’s in computer science from the University of Michigan. While at Furman, Dave founded the Furman Academic Competitions Team and directed several high school tournaments, which he continued to do at Michigan. Dave previously served as NAQT’s Vice President for Communications. An avid competitive curler, Dave works professionally in project and program management and stays involved in academic competition as the chief moderator of the JROTC Academic Bowls sponsored by the College Options Foundation.

David C. Dixon

Having completed his Ph.D. in Physics at the University of California at Berkeley, David Dixon is currently an Assistant Professor of Physics at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, California, and also taught at Marquette University and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. While at Berkeley, David founded Berkeley’s Quiz Bowl Club, directed numerous tournaments, and captained Berkeley’s team to a National Championship Tournament appearance. He was also “Webmaster of Puppets” for the Beatles-Metallica mashup band Beatallica, appeared on NPR twice, and has way too many things to listen to on his hard drive. He plays in LearnedLeague under the handle DixonD.

David Frazee

While at the University of Michigan Law School, David founded Michigan Academic Competitions, which under his leadership grew into the largest collegiate academic quiz organization ever. David also captained Michigan to both a National Championship and an International Championship. While an undergraduate at Stanford, David helped write the influential Stanford Guidelines and directed numerous highly successful tournaments, which helped develop the then fledgling collegiate circuit. A former high school state championship player in Kansas, David also used to referee professional and NCAA soccer before the birth of his daughter. David was a founding member of NAQT and served as its first executive director.

Peter E. Freeman

Peter Freeman holds a Ph.D. in Astrophysics, and he now works at Carnegie Mellon University, where he works as an astrostatistician analyzing cosmology data. He first picked up a buzzer at Coronado High School, just outside of San Diego, in 1983, and he continued playing as an undergraduate at the University of California and as a graduate student at the University of Chicago. While at Chicago, he played on National Championship-winning teams in 1993 and 1994, and he also created the first question archive on the Internet. After leaving Chicago, he founded the Arizona State University quiz bowl team and coached it to a fourth-place National Championship finish in 1999. Peter was a founding member (1996) of NAQT and previously served as NAQT’s Vice President for Operations.

Chris Nolte

Chris Nolte grew up in the quiz bowl-deprived area of Carmel, California. He played in intramural tournaments while an undergraduate at Stanford, and as a graduate student was one of the founding members of the Caltech Quizbowl Club. He is now a postdoctoral fellow with the Environmental Protection Agency in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, where he is a member of the development team for the Community Multi-scale Air Quality (CMAQ) model. Chris served as NAQT’s Vice President of Operations from 2004 to 2006.

Chris Romero

Chris Romero is the director of the Texas Quiz Bowl Alliance and since 1998 has directed more than 100 tournaments in the Lone Star State. From 1998 through 2007, Chris played quiz bowl at Texas A&M University. Chris graduated with a Ph.D. in Mathematics Curriculum and Instruction from the school in 2012.

John Sheahan

John Sheahan graduated with a Bachelors in History from the University of Chicago and then a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School. While at Chicago, John was widely considered the nation’s best active all-around player, and he led his teams to five national titles, including the first NAQT Intercollegiate Championship in 1997, a dramatic come-from-behind overtime thriller over Harvard.

Eric S. Tentarelli

Eric Tentarelli began his collegiate playing career at MIT, where he won a national title. After Eric moved to Cornell University as a Ph.D. candidate in Physics, he continued as a player, tournament director, organizer, and perpetual All-Star award winner.

Thomas M. Waters

Tom Waters played in academic competitions for Emory University and Armstrong State College from 1979 until 1986, while earning a Bachelors in Biology and a Masters in History. In 1985 he appeared three times on the game show Jeopardy! Since then, he has taught history, first at a high school in his native Savannah, Georgia, and since 1989 at Armstrong State College (now Armstrong Atlantic State University). In 1988 and 1989 he served as moderator of WSAV-TV’s high school quiz show. Tom was a founding member of NAQT and served as Chief Editor from 1996–1999.

Andrew Martin Watkins

Andy Watkins played his first high school quiz bowl tournaments in Pittsburgh; as a result, they were all directed by Dwight Kidder. In college, Andy began writing and editing for both high school and college events, head-editing two HSNCTs as well as three of the six Harvard Fall Tournaments to date. Andy was a member from 2012 until 2013, when he resigned after a website security review revealed inappropriate access to questions during his time as a player.