Jeopardy! The Civil War Version

Mark Becker, JD, an Erie native, enlisted in the Army in 1975 before gaining admittance to West Point where he studied Mandarin Chinese. He served in command and staff positions in Explosive Ordnance Disposal and Special Forces (Green Beret) organizations where he studied Russian and planned for operations against the military forces of the Soviet Union. He received multiple awards, including the Bronze Star Medal for his service in. Following his military career, Mark worked as a federal employee, overseeing research and development programs charged with developing tools for Special Operations Forces. He has a law degree from the Wake Forest University School of Law and took and passed the North Carolina and Florida bar exams. Mark returned to the Flagship City in the spring of 2021, having departed 46 years, 2 months, and 25 days earlier. 

George Deutsch, B.S., Executive Director, Emeritus, of the Erie County Historical Society/Hagen History Center is a leader in historical preservation and multiple public history projects. In 2022, he concluded a five-year, $11 Million, building and exhibit construction project for the History Center. He has co-founded several historical organizations related to the Civil War and the War of 1812 in his hometown of Erie, Pennsylvania, including the Flagship Niagara League, which played a central role in reconstructing the U.S. Brig Niagara and creating the Erie Maritime Museum. He has taught history courses at the Chautauqua Institution in New York since 2005 and has lectured on both political and historical topics at Erie’s Jefferson Educational Society since 2010. For 30 years he has given numerous presentations on Civil War history across seven states and Washington, D.C. In 2023, Deutsch finished a three-year term on the Historical Marker Committee for the Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office. He continues to serve as a representative for the America250PA Commission. He has been published in numerous journals and also served as a consultant to National Geographic magazine for its Civil War sesquicentennial issue. Deutsch was honored twice by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission and received the Local History Award in 2003 from the Erie County Historical Society. He earned a degree in history from Mercyhurst University and was also educated at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. He is currently writing a new book on the famous Civil War regiment, the 83rd Pennsylvania Infantry from northwestern Pennsylvania.

Rick Tome, B.S., is a member of the Hagen History Center and is a frequent presenter for the Erie Civil War Round Table and has volunteered as a 7^th and 8^th grade religious education instructor at Our Lady of Peace Parish for the past decade. Tome, a lifelong Erie, Pennsylvania resident, earned his bachelor’s degree in general science with a minor in secondary education from Gannon University in 1983. He taught briefly in the Erie, General McLane, and Millcreek School districts in the 1980s. He spent most of his career at St. Vincent Hospital in patient care and as the initial Guest Relations Coordinator. Now retired, Tome spends time golfing, traveling, reading, and cultivating a passion for the history of the American Civil War.

Deac Manross, M.S., has been a student of the Civil War since the age of 10. For over 65 years, he has been reading extensively and touring almost every Civil War battlefield in the eastern and western theaters. He was a Civil War re-enactor for 10 years with horse-drawn artillery, portraying both Union and Confederate gunners on the battlefields of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania; New Market, Virginia; Resaca, Georgia; Perrysville, Kentucky; and many others. Many of his relatives from the Edinboro/Waterford, Pennsylvania area served in the local 83rd Pennsylvania and 145th Pennsylvania regiments. He has also worked closely with the Edinboro Historical Society in researching historical markers. His professional life was spent first as a college professor of Biology at Alliance College and then beginning in 1981 as an early employee of Apple Computer and then Steve Job’s second start-up, NeXT Computer. He received his undergraduate degree from the College of William and Mary in 1972 and earned his Master of Science degree in molecular genetics at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania (now PennWest Edinboro) in 1975.  Retired now, he enjoys sailing, traveling, hiking, raising bees, and making maple syrup with his wife.