Akron Beacon Journal

Trivia time: Test your knowledge of Akron with this pop quiz

By Mark J. Price, Akron Beacon Journal,

5 hours ago

Name the Ohio city that received international attention after being featured in an online trivia competition.

You guessed it: Akron.

Our city was recently the subject of a 24-hour challenge in the LearnedLeague , a global community of trivia fanatics.

Summit County natives Jessica Cherok and Rence Delino, who belong to the restricted-access group, collaborated on the 12-question quiz, which took them a couple of months to write.

“We knew we wanted there to be a rubber industry question, we knew there would be a LeBron James question,” Cherok said. “We kind of ran through all of those and figured out what the trivia angle would be, and what would make the most interesting questions.”

They weren’t trying to stump everyone. They wanted the quiz to be a showcase for Akron.

“It’s definitely pretty easy for locals who are involved,” said Cherok, who grew up in Green and is grants manager for the GAR Foundation in Akron. “The point is for people who are outside to know more about us and how cool we are.”

Delino, a former Ellet resident and Hoban graduate who is self-employed in the advertising industry in Denver, said they wanted out-of-towners to have a sporting chance. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be fun for anyone.

“Obviously, you could write a quiz on Akron that would be impossible for anyone not from Akron to take: ‘What are the cross streets of St. Vincent-St. Mary High School,’ ” he said. “If you don’t drive past it every day, you won’t know it.”

About the league

Shayne Bushfield, who uses the pseudonym Thorsten A. Integrity, founded the LearnedLeague in 1997 as an office contest in New York, and it’s grown to more than 30,000 players online.

The league season consists of 25 matches four times a year. Players access questions on the league’s official website, and compete head-to-head against another player on match days.

There’s a strategy beyond just knowing the answers. Participants must assign point values for each question and rate their opponents’ ability to answer it.

One-day challenges, such as the Akron quiz, are created by members known as “smiths,” and are posted just for fun. Delino and Cherok previously wrote quizzes about airliners and the video game Skyrim.

The league’s No. 1 rule is DO NOT CHEAT, and it’s based on the honor system.

“Violate this rule, and you’re weakening the integrity of the league itself,” the LearnedLeague website warns. “And, no offense, but you’re a scumbag.”

After no cheating, the No. 2 rule of LearnedLeague is DO NOT FORFEIT. Members must play every match day.

Famous participants

Over the years, the semi-secretive league has attracted a number of high-profile members, including “Jeopardy!” champion and host Ken Jennings, television producer David Benioff, columnist Anna Quindlen and former White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney.

Several other “Jeopardy!” winners are among the participants.

Prospective members must know someone to be admitted to the group, and there is a waiting list.

Cherok joined in 2017 after being invited by her former roommate at Ohio University . Shortly after joining, she invited Delino, who also went to OU.

“I love this quiz league,” Cherok said.

“It’s really fun,” Delino agreed.

They submitted the Akron quiz last fall after having the topic approved. The 24-hour challenge went live July 27.

“We had 730 people take it from around the world, which I thought was super cool,” Cherok said.

Only four people got every answer right. According to the results, the most difficult question involved a standup comedian. Questions about a poet and an astronaut also proved tough.

Want to take the quiz? Cherok and Delino have allowed us to reprint it today.

The answers are at the end, but please don’t peek until you’re finished.

Remember the first rule of LearnedLeague: DO NOT CHEAT.

The questions

Spelling does not count. For names, last name only is acceptable.

1. Akron has been known as the “Rubber Capital of the World” since the early 1900s, as four of the largest rubber companies in the world were founded here. Today, the only rubber company still headquartered in Akron is Goodyear, which is named after Charles Goodyear, the man who developed what process ?

2. If you know anything about Akron, it’s probably because of LeBron James. One of the many reasons we love him is his commitment to his hometown, including what school created in partnership with our public school system? The program helps students with low test scores and their families with things like uniforms, transportation, college tuition, and adult education, and has now expanded to include dedicated housing and a medical center.

3. At the 1851 Ohio Women’s Convention in Akron, an extemporaneous speech that later became known as the “Ain’t I a Woman” speech was given by what woman ? The phrase “ain’t I a woman” never actually appears in the original speech — it’s from a version written 12 years later by an abolitionist organizer who apparently thought it would be more impactful if it was in a more stereotypically Southern Black dialect. We strongly encourage you to look up the original version!

4. Since 1925, the Akron area has been the home to the Goodyear blimp, and until 2005, most of Goodyear’s blimps were named after winners of what competition ? The tradition started as Paul W. Litchfield, then-president and soon-to-be CEO, thought of blimps as “aerial yachts.”

a. Bonus question: Give the name of any blimp.

5. Music has evolved in Akron over the decades, from David Allan Coe to Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders to the Black Keys, and what band , headlined by the Mothersbaugh brothers? They became most famous from a 1980 hit whose video featured the band wearing yellow jumpsuits and their now-signature energy domes.

a. Bonus question: Name either of the Akronites in The Black Keys.

6. Dr. Bob and Bill W. created what organization in Akron in 1935? Today, millions of people around the world take part in local chapters of the organization and its many spinoffs.

a. Bonus question: In what cemetery is Dr. Bob buried?

7. This Pulitzer Prize-winning poet was the first African-American to become the U.S. Poet Laureate, in 1993. She also called Akron home and references the city throughout her poetry. What is her name ?

a. Bonus question: Name any of this person’s poetry collections.

8. One of the largest corporations in Akron is GOJO Industries, makers of what brand-name product ? Created in 1988, it took more than a decade for this product to become profitable for the company — but 2020 more than made up for it.

a. Bonus question: GOJO also held the original patent for what now-ubiquitous device, created when companies complained that employees were taking home lunch pails full of the product?

9. 90 years ago, “the greatest amateur racing event in the world” began in Dayton, Ohio — but since 1936, this event , where children (with the help of a parent) build the racing vehicle, has been held on a 1,175-foot-long racetrack on a former ski hill in Akron’s east side.

a. Bonus question: What’s the name of the racetrack?

10. This stand-up comedian , born and raised in Akron and an alumni of Archbishop Hoban High School and the University of Akron, began his career at Second City and became somewhat famous for his work alongside his then-wife, Cameron Esposito, in the Seeso show “Take My Wife.” Name him.

11. Founded in 1837, Akron’s newspaper of record with what two-word name , has shined light on and chronicled the events in and around Summit County. Along the way, the paper has won four Pulitzer prizes for coverage of the Vietnam War, the Kent State shootings, a potential takeover of Goodyear, and a 1990s race relations series.

12. When the space shuttle Challenger disaster occurred, one of the astronauts lost was from Akron. Among her many accolades, she was selected to be an astronaut in the first NASA selection that included women, and flew on Discovery’s maiden voyage, becoming the second American woman and first Jewish woman to fly in space. Today, Akron Public Schools has an elementary school and a planetarium at her alma mater high school named after her. Name her .