Retried University of Wyoming Professor Robert Kelly gained notoriety among his colleagues during a long career in archeology. A noted expert in his field, he’s literally written the textbook on the subject.
The last thing Kelly ever expected was he’d be the answer to a question on the hugely popular quiz show “Jeopardy!”
Kelly was named in a clue during the Thanksgiving Day episode of the show, which challenges contestants to answer clues in the form of a question.
The $400 clue of the “-Ology” category was: “Robert L. Kelly began collecting arrowheads at 10 & is co-author of a standard text on this subject.”
The correct answer was, “What is archeology?”
Thanksgiving Surprise
Kelly lives in Laramie, but was spending Thanksgiving with family in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
“I think I was eating pumpkin pie after dinner” when a text message came across a group chat he shares with numerous siblings.
“I’m sitting there at the Thanksgiving table, and my phone dings, and it’s one of my sisters saying, ‘Rob was a clue on Jeopardy!,’” Kelly told Cowboy State Daily.
He said he had no idea how or why he was selected for a reference on the show, and wasn’t informed by the show’s producers.
“At first I thought, ‘This must be a joke,’” he said.
But it was the real thing.
Kelly couldn’t have known firsthand by watching the show himself. He and his wife have a television in their home, but no cable service. And they don’t watch regular television, either, so wouldn’t have caught his clue on their own.
“We only use our TV for Netflix,” he said.
However, his sister who sent out the group text had seen it on television from her home. And a while later, a second sister in another time zone saw it on television as well.
Kelly later saw it for himself on the quiz show’s website.
“It’s just weird to find yourself a clue on ‘Jeopardy!’ My friends have had a lot of fun with it,” Kelly said.
A request for comment from “Jeopardy!” producers wasn’t answered.
Retired University of Wyoming archeology professor Robert Kelly co-authored this college-level textbook, which led to him being named in a clue on the "Jeopardy!" quiz show. (Courtesy Robert Kelly) 
Robert Kelly was an archeology professor at the University of Wyoming from 1997 until his retirement in 2023. He was recently named in a clue on the nationally-syndicated quiz show "Jeopardy!" (Courtesy Robert Kelly)
Clue Was Accurate
According to previous reports published on the subject, the clues on “Jeopardy!” are crafted by a team of writers who research and fact-check the topics.
Kelly said whoever crafted the clue referencing him did their homework.
He is, in fact, the co-author of a college textbook titled simply “Archeology,” which is likely one of the most widely used textbooks on the subject in the country.
“It’s an entry-level, core textbook,” Kelly said.
The book, now in its seventh edition, was first written in 1979 by David Hurst Thomas, curator of the American Museum of Natural History. Kelly came onboard in 2004, and worked on the later editions.
He said the part about him starting to collect arrowheads are around age 10 was also accurate.
“I’ve been interested in archeology for as long as I can remember,” said Kelly, who grew up in Connecticut and also has a lifelong interest in Native American culture.
Kelly came to the University of Wyoming in 1997, and retired from there in 2023.
Even after retiring, he’s stayed active in field work. This summer, he spent time on a field project near Douglas at a site where Paleo-Indian hunters killed a mammoth about 13,000 years ago.
“I have said that’s the last field project that I will have direct responsibility for,” he said. “I will still go work on other people’s field projects, because I still love field work.”
Not A Household Name
Kelly would still like to know how and why he was chosen as a reference for a “Jeopardy!” clue.
He said that all three contestants on the show that day took on the challenge of the clue.
“The first two gave wrong answers, the third one answered correctly,” he said.
The contestant who got the answer right probably didn’t do so through name recognition, Kelly said.
“That’s the thing. I’m reading this and thinking, ‘It’s not like my name is Jane Goodall or anything like that,’” he said. “I’m pretty sure that those contestants didn’t think, ‘Oh yeah, Robert Kelly, I know him.’”
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
