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Patrick Leonard Sajak (born October 26 , 1946 ) is the current host of the '' Wheel Of Fortune '' Game Show . He also hosts ''The Pat Sajak Baseball Hour'', a syndicated radio show. He is married to the former Lesly Brown , a photographer, and has two children. EARLY LIFE Sajak, son of a Polish - American trucking foreman, was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois . During his elementary years, he attended Goethe Elementary School , as well as Gary Elementary School. After he graduated from elementary school, he went on to Farragut High School and then Columbia College Chicago . CAREER Sajak won a random contest on ''. In 1981 , Merv Griffin , the designer of '' Jeopardy! '' and ''Wheel of Fortune,'' asked Pat if he would be interested in taking over the duties as host of ''Wheel of Fortune'' from Chuck Woolery . Pat accepted the postion. From 1983 to 1989 , Sajak hosted both the daytime (NBC) and nighttime (syndicated) versions of the ''Wheel of Fortune'' show. Because of contractual restrictions, Sajak left the daytime version in January 1989, but still hosts the nighttime version of the show still in syndication today. (Also in April 1989, the show moved from NBC Studios in Burbank , California to CBS Television City in Hollywood after Bob Goen hosted in July 1989.) In 1997 , as part of an April Fool's joke, Sajak hosted an episode of ''Jeopardy!'' and became a contestant along with the hostess Vanna White on ''Wheel of Fortune'', which was being hosted by ''Jeopardy!'''s Alex Trebek on that day. Sajak hosted a late-night talk show on CBS in 1989 that failed miserably (a typical fate for talk shows up against Johnny Carson ). He has, however, been a frequent guest host for CNN's '' Larry King Live '' when King himself was unable to attend. Sajak is also a regular substitute host for Regis Philbin on the syndicated '' Live With Regis And Kelly ''. Sajak has also hosted a program, ''Pat Sajak Weekend'', on the Fox News Channel . Sajak also is an External Director of Conservative publishing house Regnery , and is on the Board of Trustees at Hillsdale College in southern Michigan . He also has written for Human Events and served on the Board of Directors for the Claremont Institute . Pat was a major donor to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and sometimes posts political commentary on his official website. One of Sajak's philanthropies is an expansion of the Anne Arundel Medical Center in Annapolis, Maryland. It is named the ''Sajak Pavilion'' in honor of his donations. He is also part-owner of Annapolis radio station WNAV 1430, which broadcasts Naval Academy events and other local items of interest. He has also donated $100,000 for Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund. REFERENCES IN POPULAR CULTURE Pat Sajak has been referenced and parodied in many TV shows, movies, and Animated Television Series . In one episode of '' Rugrats ,"in which Chaz, Chuckie Finster 's father, won $10 billion, he (Sajak voiced the character as well) was outside his house holding up a check for that amount of money. Chaz asked, "Where's Vanna ?" after he exclaimed who he was. In the Kevin Smith film '' Mallrats '', Jason Lee 's character calls the host of a local dating show "Pat Sajak" as an insult. Sajak was also the idol of "Ed Grimley, Jr.," an eccentric character played by Martin Short on such programs as '' SCTV '' and '' Saturday Night Live ." A framed black-and-white photo of Sajak hung in the character's apartment. On an episode of '' Late Night With Conan O'Brien '', Pat Sajak was referenced as a part of the feature "Conan's Celebrity Survey." In this segment, O'Brien pretended that he had sent out surveys for celebrities to fill in, and that a part of this was to fill in the blanks of some phrases. It was said that John Edwards completed the phrase "Most people don't know that I'm actually..." with the name "Pat Sajak", toying with Pat Sajak's physical similarities with John Edwards Some people have noticed Pat Sajak resembles former Vice President Dan Quayle . Sajak joked about this in song on his short lived talk show A muppet by the name of Pat Playjacks was created on the children's show Sesame Street . The muppet, which looks very much like Pat Sajak, is a television game show host. EXTERNAL LINKS |
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