A Northern Michigan University Quiz Bowl team recently won the annual ACRONYM popular culture tournament in Minneapolis, Minn. The NMU “A” team finished with a 9-1 record, placing first among 20 quiz bowl teams from across the country. NMU student Paul Flaminio was the top individual scorer out of 81 players, averaging 100 points per game.

“This was astonishingly high production for Paul,” said Michael Joy, NMU professor and Quiz Bowl adviser. “I would say it’s comparable to averaging 50 points a game in basketball over 10 straight games. He is one of the best popular culture players I’ve seen in my 20 years of quiz bowl experience. And that's in addition to his very strong knowledge of more traditional academic subjects. We're going to miss him next year." 

Flaminio is the only senior on NMU’s “A” team. He is joined by juniors Emily Burghardt, Paul LaPlant and Kendall Plapp.

The tournament questions revolved around such popular culture themes as film, music and sports. The first-place "trophy" was a Let's Have a Dance Party vinyl album from the 1960s.

For more information, contact Joy at mjoy@nmu.edu.