Latest in a series of "Where are they now?" features on members of the Colgate athletics family. Click Here for previous profiles.

HAMILTON – Ed Werner calls it his “tiger by the tail” moment.

The Colgate Board of Trustees member, 1971 graduate and former Raiders hockey defenseman helped develop Trivial Pursuit, a trivia board game that took The Eighties by storm and continues today.

The idea for Trivial Pursuit came into Werner's life through a fellow Colgate alum and former hockey teammate, John Haney '70. Haney's brother, Chris, lived in Montreal and was friends there with a sportswriter, Scott Abbott, who was what Werner called a “games aficionado.”

“They showed me a sheet that had a circle drawn on it, and they had some yellow legal pads with a bunch of questions on them,” Werner said of the initial meeting in Toronto. “They explained the concept to me and asked if I would get involved.”

Werner said he didn't really know what involved meant at the time. Having completed a brief professional hockey career in Europe, Werner was practicing law in his hometown of St. Catharines, Ontario, while also teaching college courses and serving on the local school board.

“I didn't know if I was acting as a lawyer or an inventor or a partner or what,” he said. “But I ended up putting together a corporation, putting together the financing and putting together some sales – and they worked on the game.

“They eventually gave up their jobs in Montreal and moved down to our area. Once they had done the research on the questions, they moved into my dining room. The idea was to take a weekend to go over all the questions and make the decisions on which ones would go in and which ones wouldn't.”

Six weeks later, with cases of beer and cigarette butts piled up everywhere, the project was complete.

“I suppose one could say the essence of the game was put together on my dining room table,” he said.

Quite the Investment
Werner said the incredible success of the game altered his life completely.

“Initially, I hoped I would make about $10,000,” he said. “Then once we signed at the bank to borrow the money, I hoped I wouldn't go bankrupt.”

The job of financing the project involved acquiring 40 shareholders to invest $1,000 each. Some bought more shares, and eventually the goal of $40,000 was reached from what he called the Three F's: family, friends and other fools.

“Each of them has now gotten back more than 1,000 times their original investment,” he said. “It was exciting times, to say the least.

“When it took off, it was like holding a tiger by the tail.”

By took off, Werner means 20 million games sold in North America during the peak year of 1984. The product to date remains a worldwide phenomenon because one of the beauties of Trivial Pursuit is that new and updated questions always alter the game and keep it fresh, keep it current.

“It became all consuming,” Werner said. “I quit my law practice because this took all my time. I was the founding chairman and the founding president of the corporation. Although we recently sold our rights to others, the game is still going strong today.”

Hockey Roots
Werner grew up in St. Catharines, right outside Niagara Falls. His arrival at Colgate was simple happenstance that the hockey coach at the time, Ron Ryan, hailed from the St. Catharines area and Ryan's father kept tabs on the local hockey scene.

“We had no idea about American universities back then, but it was a fairly straight pipeline for hockey players from that area to the States,” Werner said. “The recruiting in those days was more word-of-mouth than going to visit, and Ron Ryan's father knocked on the locker room door one time, asked for me and said, 'You want to go to college?'”

Sure, why not.

So Werner made his way to Hamilton, arriving in the fall of 1967. After playing out his freshman season – freshmen weren't eligible for varsity by NCAA rules in those days – Werner proceeded to mix his hockey play with several other collegiate activities: lacrosse, resident advisor, Delta Upsilon vice president, and skating and sailing instructor.

“There were so many things we did in addition to hockey,” Werner said. “It's so different from today. I don't think you can be a student-athlete today with the demands that are on the kids and do all these varied activities. It's a 12-month of the year job to be an athlete at Colgate today, and they still have to stay on top of their academics.

“I admire the kids. I really do.”

Father-Son Combo
One of those Colgate student-athletes Werner recently had an interest in was his son, Michael, who followed dad's footsteps and played for the Raiders from 2005-08. As a Board of Trustees member, Werner had the honor and distinct pleasure of presenting his son with his Colgate diploma.

“I think about Michael playing hockey and realize there are very few father-son or mother-daughter routines where you have two sets of varsity players,” Werner said. “We're probably an exception to have two hockey players, father and son, who played at Colgate.”

Werner was in Los Angeles for last month's Board of Trustees meeting, where approval was granted for construction of a new athletic facility to replace Starr Rink. The approval is contingent on the receipt of $25 million in gifts. So far, commitments toward the project total $20.8 million from alumni, families and friends.

Werner supports the new facility not just because of its benefit to hockey, but for what it means to the entire Colgate Athletics Department.

“Everybody in living memory played in Starr Rink; it's that old of a building,” he said. “But this isn't just about hockey; this is about all the sports. The minute you take hockey out of Starr Rink, you can use Starr Rink for all kinds of activities.

“Building this new facility is the dawn of a new era for everyone. It's a decision that had to be made and I'm delighted the Board did it.”

Still the Sportsman
Werner, 64, resides these days on a beautiful farm outside Niagara-on-the-Lake, which was the original capital of Upper Canada – known today as Ontario. He says the town recently was voted prettiest in Canada and second-prettiest in the world “by whoever votes on those kinds of things.”

“My place was an old peach orchard and we now grow grapes,” Werner said of his farm. “We turned it into a vineyard.”

His sons are in the winemaking business and he's still involved with sports, but these days it's more sailboat racing than skating.

“The start of a race gives me the same sense of excitement I used to get when listening to the anthem before a game,” Werner said.

Werner is in the Colgate records book for 72 hockey games played, recording seven goals and 29 assists. He's quick to point out that while he couldn't compete with his son academically, he does top him in the all-important Colgate career scoring list.

Michael went on to a successful hockey career in Australia, where he was awarded the MVP of his team and also won a national championship.

“My numbers are paltry because I was a defenseman,” Werner said. “What's sad is I keep plummeting because so many new players come along. Michael and I will sink down together through the records, but I will always be ahead of him.”

Werner easily recalls his favorite Colgate memory.

“It was Colgate that bought me my first pair of new skates,” he said. “I came from a pretty humble background, and going down to John's Shoe Shop and picking out a pair of new skates is something I'll never forget.”

Sounds like the answer to a Trivial Pursuit question. Perhaps the Colgate edition.