Sheffield Lake senior trivia team take home the grand prize

Sheffield Lake’s winning Mind Challenge for the New Majority trivia team poses with the trophy and check for $2,500. (Martin McConnell — Morning Journal)

Mind Challenge for the New Majority has a new winning team for the first time in three years.

The new winner hails from Sheffield Lake.

The team, made up of players from the city’s weekly senior coffee club at the Joyce E. Hanks Community Center, 4575 E. Lake Road in Sheffield Lake, recently took home the $2,500 grand prize.

The team placed first out of 98 different trivia teams in Northeast Ohio.

The City of Sheffield Lake has been a supporter of the Mind Challenge since it began in 2019, according to City Councilwoman Rosa Gee.

“Our former mayor (Dennis Bring) and Pat Hastings, our director of services, got an email from Mind Challenge about four or five years ago,” Gee said. “They immediately gave me the information because I deal with seniors, so I contacted the gentlemen in charge of Mind Challenge.”

Led by coach John Hnat, the Sheffield Lake team defeated Independence in the final round.

Cleveland Heights was ranked third and Mentor, the three-time defending tournament champion, was ranked fourth this year, according to Mind Challenge’s Phil Levine.

“We modeled the tournament after the NCAA basketball tournament with regions and brackets,” Levine said. “And it grew.

“This year, we had 98 teams. The winning team gets ($2,500) and goes to town, or however they want to distribute it.”

Originally a side job for Levine and partner Art Greenberg, the two retired radio executives said they now consider the project a full-time position.

The men have spent the past five years upping their challenge in the March Madness pattern with the goal of keeping seniors’ minds sharp.

“The tournament was designed to get seniors to use their minds and improve their socialization while having fun,” Levine said.

And, 2024 was a record year for the Mind Challenge, Greenberg said.

The tournament has drawn more than 650 players from area cities, and its growth shows no signs of slowing down, he said.

“This is not a Jeopardy thing,” Greenberg said. “A lot of seniors are a little reluctant at first.

“They think, ‘I can’t answer the questions myself,’ but it’s not. There are teams of four to six players. And then they can have alternates.”

For Sheffield Lake to walk away as the grand prize winner was a thrill, Hnat said.

He said he was exceptionally proud of the team and the collaboration they showed throughout the tournament.

Besides, it was nice to be the team that knocked off the reigning champion, he said.

“The first time (we went to the finals), we lost to Mentor, and then in the semifinals this year we beat them,” Hnat said. “I felt good about it.

“I am extremely pleased with this group.”