Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Adam Thielen paid tribute to late ‘Jeopardy!’ host Alex Trebek with a pair of custom cleats during this week's "Monday Night Football" pregame.
Dan Gamache, the artist who designed the cleats, shared photos of the custom 'Jeopardy!' cleats on Twitter. One side featured a blue rectangle in the style of the screens where contestants famously write their responses during the last round of the game show.
“We will miss you Alex,” read a handwritten message on the cleats, along with a $19,000 wager, perhaps a reference to Thielen’s player number, 19.
The cleats also featured a detailed drawing of Trebek with a halo, along with the years of his life, 1940 to 2020, and the name ‘Trebek’ replaced ‘Adidas’ under the brand’s signature three stripes.
“For #MNF pregame tonight my guy @athielen19 will be honoring the legend Alex Trebek who passed last week,” the artist wrote on Twitter. “I feel like no matter where you were from I feel like Jeopardy was a part of all of our lives in some way.”
The Vikings’ official Twitter account also shared a photo of the cleats on Twitter with a sweet ‘Jeopardy!’ reference of their own.
“Cool cleats for $2000,” the caption read.
Trebek died Nov. 8 at age 80, one year and eight months after going public with his stage 4 pancreatic cancer diagnosis. His last days were peaceful, ‘Jeopardy!’ executive producer Mike Richards told Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb on TODAY earlier this month.
“He had a swing in his backyard that he loved,” he said. “Even in his book, he described that he wanted his final day to be sitting on his swing next to his wife, Jean, and kind of watching the horizon. And he got to do that.”
"He was coherent. He wasn’t in pain, and the fact that he had a nice final day, I think, makes all of us in the ‘Jeopardy!’ family feel much better," Richards added.
He also described the late TV personality as decent and “incredibly hard-working.”
"He cared about this show,” Richards said. “He cared about the importance of this show and that it helped people want to be smarter. He made that cool.”