Welcome to the AARP National Spelling Bee website!
Congratulations to Larry Grossman, the winner of the 2008 AARP Magazine National Spelling Bee!
Cheyenne’s National Spelling Bee to be featured on national TV Friday
CHEYENNE -- AARP The Magazine’s National Spelling Bee held Saturday in Cheyenne, Wyo. is the subject of this week’s CBS Evening News’ Assignment America with Steve Hartman Friday, June 20.
“We hope everyone will tune in Friday night to watch the story of this national competition that was created and continues to be held right here in Cheyenne,” AARP Wyoming Director Rita Inoway said.
The AARP Bee was created in 1996 by a group of Cheyenne AARP members who wanted a fun way to challenge their peers to keep their minds sharp as they age. From the very beginning, it has been open to anyone age 50 or older, and over the years has attracted spellers from as far away as Miami, Florida and Anchorage, Alaska. It continues to be run primarily by a group of AARP members who volunteer their time throughout the year to put on this national event.
“We couldn’t hold this highly competitive event without the help of our Cheyenne volunteers and local sponsors,” Inoway said. “They are behind what makes this Bee so great, and I hope everyone in Cheyenne will tune in with some hometown pride Friday night to watch CBS Evening News’ story about the Bee.”
More information on the Bee is available at aarp.org/spellingbee or by calling the AARP Wyoming office toll-free at 1-866-663-3290.
The 2009 AARP National Spelling Bee is scheduled for Saturday, June 20, 2009 and registrations are being accepted now at aarp.org/spellingbee. Visit cbsnews.com to see what time CBS Evening News is on in your area.
Sign up for next year’s Bee! Register now for the 2009 AARP National Spelling Bee scheduled for Saturday, June 20, 2009 in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
Click here to see our poster!
2008 Oral Round finalists and the order in which they were eliminated (duplicate numbers indicate spellers eliminated in the same round)
1. Larry Grossman - Northwood, N.D. - Age 56 - WINNER!
2. Michael Petrina, Jr. - Arlington, Va. - Age 63
3. Scott Firebaugh - Knoxville, Tenn. - Age 54
4. Norman Zucker - Sebastopol, Calif. - Age 61
5. Bill Long - Salem, Ore. - Age 56
6. Randy Hilfman - Woodinville, Wash. - Age 58
7. Jane Wiggs - Jacksonville, Florida - Age 62
8. Joan Saxton - Sausalito, Calif. - Age 66
8. Rodney Murray - Middletown, Del. - Age 54
9. Kent Stockton - Riverton, Wyo. - Age 66
9. Sandra Marvin - Englewood, Colo. - Age 60
9. Nancy Friedlander - San Diego, Calif. - Age 61
9. Marlene Harry - Brownsburg, Ind. - Age 56
9. Kate Karp - Long Beach, Calif. - Age 59
10. Tony Suschil - Hudson, Ohio - Age 63
10. Pam Leininger - Durango, Colo. - Age 61
The 2008 Bee
And another AARP National Spelling Bee has come and gone. This year’s Bee had some special highlights… during the Friday night reception, members of the cast of the Cheyenne Little Theatre’s Melodrama performed a special script they had written just for the spellers (“What’s a 10-letter word that starts with gas….. wrong, it’s automobile”). Spellers got into the spirit of the event, cheering for the hero, and booing the villain. Our special thanks go to the cast and crew – that was a lot of fun.
Little America did an outstanding job of hosting our spellers. The food was excellent and the newly remodeled facility is beautiful.
But the real work began Saturday morning, when we all hunkered down to spell. Word Wizard Brian Greene softened everyone up with the first word “welcome”, but quickly got into more challenging fare such as tramontane, olefin, and losel. By the time we finished the written rounds, we knew everyone there was serious about spelling. You had to get at least 78 correct out of the 100 words to make it to the oral rounds, and that meant clearing words like chough, crwth, recce, and quoits.
Due to a tie for the fifteenth spot, 16 spellers made it, and began the uphill climb to the championship. They breezed past orgeat and tmesis, and conquered pterylae and eriophyid. Suddenly, we were down to the final four spellers. We began a round, and two of them missed their words. That meant a spell-off for third and fourth place. Two spell-off rounds later, and Norman Zucker was declared the fourth place winner, with Scott Firebaugh coming in third. Now only two competitors were left. Each one was given a word, and in a flash, it was over. Larry Grossman was crowned champion, and the best adult speller in the nation. Michael Petrina, Jr. chased him all the way, and came in second.
We had a very unusual footnote to the results this year. The top five finishers in the written rounds finished in the top five in the oral rounds. That hasn’t happened before… we’ll have to see if this was a fluke or the start of a trend.
As for me, it’s off to practice pronounciation for next year’s Bee.
Dave Lerner
Official Pronouncer Guy
AARP National Spelling Bee
2008 Sponsors
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