The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was keep. (non-admin close) there isn't really a policy-based reason to delete the article. Secret ^account 22:33, 19 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Frank Spangenberg (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) – (View log • AfD statistics)

(Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL)

Although the person received media coverage at the time of their appearance on a game show, there is no notability beyond the single event. Wikipedia:Recentism is factor, as there has been little/no coverage since the initial appearance on a game show. WP:BLP1E can also be applied.

Nomination follows reasons listed in other similar deletion discussions, including the following:

• "Winning...on a game show does not strike me as meeting the threshold for notability, even if it leads to a couple of additional appearances down the road."
• "It's a game show. It has winners. There are other game shows. They have winners. I don't think we need a directory of every successful game show contestant."
• "Winning [$xx,000] or temporarily holding the winnings record do not establish notability."
• "Clearly a figure of transient notability."

Article was nominated individually after initially being included in a bundeled AFD. Sottolacqua (talk) 14:36, 11 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Keep. Frank's notoriety for decades on the NYC subway beat as the Jeopardy!-winning transit cop, along with his distinguishing height, trademark mustache and soft-spoken manner made him one of the most memorable Jeopardy! contestants. His name frequently comes up on the show as one of the show's greats. His records were longstanding. He was one of the few champions chosen to be highlighted in a "where-are-they-now?"-type "Champion Update" interlude [1] on the Jeopardy! program. Your quotations above give unfair treatment to the subject as they give the impression that all he did was win money. That's not what fixed him in the minds of so many, and the same can be said of several other of your nominations. Robert K S (talk) 14:54, 11 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Comment—Appearing on a game show and being remembered for it by your coworkers does not equate to meeting notability guidelines for inclusion on Wikipedia. His ("memorable") physical characteristics are not part of the article and should not be used as a factor for determining whether or not the subject meets notability guidelines (and wouldn't be a valid argument, anyway). Appearing on a "where are they now" video on the show's official site also does not elevate the subject's status to meet notability standards here. Sottolacqua (talk) 17:38, 11 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

• Delete - Wikipedia is not the Guinness Book of Gameshow Trivia. Are we going to start memorializing lottery winners, too? —Carrite, Oct. 11, 2010.

Revisiting this after seeing the other Jeopardy winner pages, I note one NY Post cite, which I think can be dismissed under the aegis of NOT NEWS. —Carrite, Oct. 11, 2010.

Incidentally, Wikipedia does treat (not "memorialize") certain most notable lottery winners. Abraham Shakespeare is a significant example. I don't think it's too much to ask for some of the most noteworthy game show winners to be similarly treated. We are not talking about dozens of individuals. We are talking about only the most significant record-holders, or those people who are otherwise notable in other fields. Robert K S (talk) 20:15, 11 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

• Keep Spangenberg is commonly considered a Jeopardy legend. At least one source cited in the article explicitly describes him as such. This little bit from Bob Harris' book also attests to Spangenberg's importance to the show's history (although it's difficult to incorporate that into the article). BLP1E is not an issue, because Spangenberg participated in a whole bunch of Jeopardy tournaments over the years, on top of his original appearance. Zagalejo^^^ 05:48, 12 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]
  • Keep per Zagalejo. Harris mentions Spangenberg multiple times throughout the book, including at least one mention of Spangenberg among the Jeopardy! staff. Second choice is to merge to List of Jeopardy! contestants. RJaguar3 | u | t 05:27, 18 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]
• Note: This debate has been included in the list of Television-related deletion discussions. -- • Gene93k (talk) 18:14, 12 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]
• Note: This debate has been included in the list of People-related deletion discussions. -- • Gene93k (talk) 18:14, 12 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]
• Merge multiple contestants who have no other coverage into a list article, such as List of notable Jeopardy! contestants. No reason for each person to have his or her own article, based on my brief review of the evidence, but these appear to have non-trivial coverage in multiple reliable sources. Thus, if merged into a list, there's a clear potential for an FLC to come out of this. Jclemens (talk) 20:40, 12 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]
• Keep. Mentioned several times in Dupee's book, Harris's book, Vosburgh's book, and the Trebek/Barsocchini book. That's three different decades of published notability. 271828182 (talk) 18:49, 18 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion so a clearer consensus may be reached.
Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, -- Cirt (talk) 12:26, 19 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

• Keep There is coverage of several events after his initial appearance on the show so BLP1E does not apply. Pax:Vobiscum (talk) 17:17, 19 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.