Eudaemonic
The Toledo Blade reported the result on 9 June 1960 under "Oak Ridge Boy Spelling Bee Winner". The Spartanburg Herald took the obvious angle the next day: "'Eudaemonic' Is Happy Word For Top Speller".
The word is Greek — eudaimonia, the flourishing that Aristotle made the centre of his ethics — and its English spelling preserves the diphthong that a speller working by ear would never guess. It is a word for competitors who have studied Greek transliteration, which is exactly the point at that level of the bee.
The third attempt
He was sponsored by the Knoxville News Sentinel and came from Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The record notes a twentieth place in 1959, and the 1960 win is described as his third try at the national finals.
Repeat appearances are the defining feature of serious bee careers. A first national final teaches a child what the room is like; the second teaches what the word lists actually contain; by the third, a well-prepared competitor is working from experience that no amount of study at home can supply. Nearly every champion in this collection arrived with at least one previous national appearance behind them.
The runner-up on the dictionary
The detail that survives from the 1960 final belongs to the child who lost. The runner-up, Betty Jean Altschul, had to stand on a dictionary to reach the microphone.
It is a good image of what the competition was in that era: a national contest staged for adults, with the furniture built to adult height, and children of eight and nine competing against thirteen-year-olds on identical terms. Two months later, on 4 August 1960, the Sarasota Journal ran a follow-up headed "Spelling Feldman's Secret" — the summer feature that asks a champion to explain his method, and one of the few such pieces in this collection.
What is documented — and what is not
Documented: a win at the 1960 National Spelling Bee on eudaemonic, aged thirteen, from Oak Ridge, Tennessee, sponsored by the Knoxville News Sentinel; a twentieth place at the 1959 bee; the 1960 win as his third attempt; runner-up Betty Jean Altschul standing on a dictionary to reach the microphone; and an August 1960 follow-up piece on his method.
Not documented in the sources used here: his date of birth; his school and grade; the contents of the method described in the August feature; his education and career; and anything at all about his adult life. This page records a competitive career and nothing beyond it.
How the preparation worked
There were no coaching businesses in 1960, no published word lists beyond the official booklet, and no way to drill against past finals except by remembering them. What a competitor had was a dictionary, a family willing to read from it for hours, and whatever system the child devised.
That is why the August follow-up is the most interesting document in this record even though its contents are not available here. A local paper understood that the how mattered more than the what, and went back two months after the story had died to ask. The modern bee has an entire literature on method, written largely by former champions; in 1960 the whole of it fitted into one summer newspaper feature about a thirteen-year-old from Tennessee.
| Person | Country | Milestone | Age / Stat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Henry Feldman | United States | Winning the 1960 National Spelling Bee | Age 12 |
| Arvind Mahankali | United States | Won the 2013 Scripps National Spelling Bee at 13 | Age 13 |
| Kerry Close | United States | Won the 2006 Scripps National Spelling Bee at 13 | Age 13 |
| Hugh Tosteson García | Puerto Rico (United States) | National Spelling Bee champion 1975 | Age 14 |
| Roy Seligman | Bahamas | First speller from the Bahamas to reach the Scripps National Spelling Bee… | — |
What is documented — and what is not
✓ Documented
- Won the 1960 National Spelling Bee on eudaemonic, aged thirteen, from Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
- Sponsored by the Knoxville News Sentinel; placed twentieth in 1959.
- Runner-up Betty Jean Altschul stood on a dictionary to reach the microphone.
- The Sarasota Journal published a follow-up on his method on 4 August 1960.
? Unverified, disputed or wrong
- His date of birth, school and grade are not published in the sources used here.
- The contents of the August 1960 feature on his method were not read for this page.
- Nothing is documented about his education, career or adult life.
- The claim that 1960 was his third national attempt is carried from the research record.
Questions people ask about Henry Feldman
What word did Henry Feldman win on?
Eudaemonic, at the 1960 National Spelling Bee.
How old was he?
Thirteen, which implies a birth year around 1946 or 1947. No source used here gives a date of birth.
Was it his first attempt?
No. He placed twentieth in 1959, and the 1960 win is recorded as his third try at the national finals.
Who sponsored him?
The Knoxville News Sentinel.
Who was the runner-up?
Betty Jean Altschul, who had to stand on a dictionary to reach the microphone.
Where is Henry Feldman now?
No source used here reports on his adult life, and this page makes no claim about where he is now.
Is Henry Feldman on Wikipedia?
There is no separate article about him. His name leads to Wikipedia's article on the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
Quick quiz: how well do you know Henry’s story?
Which word won the 1960 National Spelling Bee?
Where had he finished the previous year?
What did the runner-up have to do to reach the microphone?
Sources
- Oak Ridge Boy Spelling Bee Winner — Toledo Blade, 1960-06-09
- 'Eudaemonic' Is Happy Word For Top Speller — Spartanburg Herald, 1960-06-10
- Spelling Feldman's Secret — Sarasota Journal, 1960-08-04
Checked by the Geniuses.club editorial team. Ages are given as of September 2026.
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