Early Life
A self-described "avid reader" as a child, who "was interested in everything", Stempel attended P.S. 89 in the Bronx. He was skipped ahead several classes in school, so much so that his mother worried he was being pushed too far. When he was seven, his father died and Stempel, his mother and his older sister Harriet, moved to what he describes as a "poorer part of the Bronx".
It was in the midst of the Depression, and the struggling family was on public assistance for years.
Twenty-One was not Stempel's first quiz show. At a very young age Stempel realized he had what he refers to as a "retentive memory", in that he could read a page about a subject and then, months later, summarize that page. He represented his elementary school, P.S. 6, on a radio quiz show, Americana History, where he remained undefeated for several weeks. He was part of the "Kid Wizards", a three-man team who represented the Bronx High School of Science in competitions against New York high schools, remaining undefeated throughout the year. He claims his IQ has been measured at 170:
"That, and two dollars, gets me in the subway." — Herb Stempel
Stempel graduated from the prestigious Bronx High School of Science in January 1944. He briefly attended classes at City College of New York (CCNY) before enlisting in the U.S. Army. He served in the 311th Infantry, 78th division, and was on the front lines in Europe for a month before the war ended. Stempel remained in the Army for the next seven years, attending counterintelligence School in Baltimore, Maryland and serving "as an agent" until 1952, when he began work in the United States Post Office as a clerk. He married his wife, Toby, in 1954 and returned to CCNY on the GI Bill.
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