Denver has sent the most champions to the Scripps National Spelling Bee ...Middle East

Jacques Bailly took a razor blade to the dictionary in 1991, revolutionizing the mechanics of the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Before then, the Scripps Bee pronouncers who bestowed tricky words on the brainiacs on stage had to flip through a dictionary looking for answers whenever a contestant requested the definition or language of origin.

To streamline that practice, Bailly cut out dictionary pages featuring the chosen words so the pronouncer he was assisting had all the information at their fingertips — a pre-internet feat that helped solidify his promotion to chief pronouncer more than 20 years ago.

Bailly, who grew up in Denver, has become quite the spellebrity during his storied tenure as the Bee’s pronouncer. He’ll be enunciating the words once again at this week’s 100th anniversary of the Scripps National Spelling Bee outside Washington, D.C.

Two Colorado middle-schoolers will be among the 243 spellers competing in Tuesday’s preliminary rounds with dreams of making the finals on Thursday.

“I have the best fan club. For a week, I’m this rock star to these kids,” said Bailly, who is a professor of Latin, Greek and ancient philosophy at the University of Vermont. “They all want my autograph.”

Bailly was once in their shoes. He won the Scripps Bee in 1980 while attending St. Vincent de Paul Catholic School in Denver, correctly spelling “elucubrate.”

He was in good company with plenty of healthy competition to keep him on his toes.

“There was a culture of spelling that was very alive and well in Denver at that time,” he said.

Denver, in fact, plays a prominent role in Scripps Bee history, having sponsored the most champions, according to organizers. The Denver-based Colorado State Spelling Bee — once sponsored by the Rocky Mountain News, now backed by The Denver Post — advanced seven future champions to the Scripps Bee.

Those winners are:

Last year, Westminster eighth-grader Aditi Muthukumar came in fifth at the national bee after winning the Post-sponsored bee. In 2022, Aurora 12-year-old Vikram Raju won the state contest in Denver and came in second at the Scripps Bee.

Vikram’s brother, Vedanth Raju, is following in his brother’s footsteps, representing Colorado at the 2025 Scripps Bee after winning the state bee this year. Another Colorado contender, Superior eighth-grader Blanche Li, will compete after winning the Boulder Valley Regional Spelling Bee.

What about the Mile High City generates strong spellers? Is it the altitude? Something in the water? Sunshine exposure?

It might just be a little M-A-G-I-C.

As seen on TV

A young Molly Dieveney saw her neighbor, Jacques Bailly, on the morning news after his big win in 1980, and suddenly the allure of spelling bee fame was too strong to ignore.

“I got to stay home from school and watch him,” she said. “And I thought, ‘Well, that is really cool. I want to be on TV.’ ”

So the fourth-grader at Denver’s Notre Dame Catholic School sought out her best bet for television stardom: Bailly’s mom.

Florence Bailly agreed to take Molly under her wing.

“She was just a phenomenal person in my life and an influence and force, and she loved words and the Bee,” said Molly Baker, as she’s now known.

Florence Bailly welcomed the little girl into her home a few days a week after school, feeding her snacks and study guides. Baker spent her fifth-grade year devouring the guides Jacques’s mom and her own mother put together by hand, absorbing languages of origin and definitions and suffixes and prefixes.

“I totally enjoyed it,” Baker said. “It gave me something to do. I was one of five kids in my family, so it was a great way to do something different and be somewhere else after school, and none of my friends did it. It was a great way to get attention.”

Baker said she’s not surprised so many champions were the product of Denver. There was a culture she attributed to a strong spelling program in the Archdiocese of Denver’s Catholic schools, which held their own spelling bee, the winners of which got to compete at the state level before making their way to the Scripps stage.

“I remember it being an obvious thing and no surprise that the Colorado spellers were so competitive every year,” she said.

Once Baker clinched her spot at the Scripps Bee in her sixth-grade year, she became a part of the Bee hive — a community that’s hard to shake.

“You had a week with some pretty dorky 12-and-13-year-olds, and they made it relaxed and fun and you felt celebrated,” she said.

As the oral competition got underway and her competitors left the stage one by one, Baker’s excitement soared when she realized she had made it far enough to walk away with a prize. She knew which place correlated with which prize — a new TV, an encyclopedia set, new dictionaries — and she began counting down until the big prize was hers.

“Psoriasis” landed young Molly — big glasses, small frame, a reversible skirt she flipped inside-out for the two-day oral competition — the championship in 1982.

“I looked like a tiny underdog,” Baker said. “When you win, there’s just elation and release.”

Following her win, scheduling conflicts meant Baker had to choose: a trip to the White House to meet President Ronald Reagan or a spot on the national news. There was no question for Baker, who had a ball chitchatting with Jane Pauley on the “Today” show.

Baker worked at the Bee for two years in college, escorting forlorn children to the crying room. She went on to work in investment banking on Wall Street, then came back to Denver, where she worked as a reporter at the Rocky Mountain News and eventually made her way to the Wall Street Journal.

“From the Bee, I knew what it looked like to be really committed to things… and to recognize that you’re surrounded by other people who are working just as hard and have committed just as much time as you,” she said.

As part of the 100th anniversary of the Bee, Scripps invited past champions to attend this week’s festivities. Baker is among those who RSVP’d.

“It was such a big, important part of my life,” she said. “If there’s a chance to overlap with anybody who I would have been contemporaries with or share stories with other people who have had the same experience, it would be really special. It’s a unique club to be a member of.”

‘A hoot’

Vedanth Raju was feeling a mix of emotions as he prepared to head to D.C. for the big Bee.

“I’m excited to meet a lot of new spellers and learn a lot of new words, and I’m really proud of myself for how far I’ve come because the national bee is a huge deal, but I’m also really nervous because I’ve been preparing for a long time and I’d be really sad if I got out,” said Vedanth, a 12-year-old who attends Aurora Quest K-8 school.

Vedanth watched his big brother, Vikram, place second at the Scripps Bee a couple of years ago, so he knows the hard work that goes into greatness.

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He’s upped his studying routine to five to six hours on weekdays and eight to 11 hours on weekends. Unlike his analog predecessors, Vedanth’s studying is primarily online.

Throughout the year, Vedanth talks with his bee buddies through video chat and instant messaging, but the in-person meetup means a ton of fun in the flesh.

“I’m excited to meet the whole community,” Vedanth said. “There are a lot of spellers, and we all keep in touch.”

For a glimpse of the nation’s best spellers, viewers can tune in at 6 p.m. Thursday on the ION network for the Scripps Bee’s finals.

The Bee is a bit more of a spectacle now than it was back when Baker and Bailly took the stage.

Baker said there was no confetti, no balloons and the audience was much smaller back in her day.

But the thrill? That’s timeless.

“It’s just a hoot,” Bailly said. “It’s really fun. They study so hard and learn so much. It’s such an incredible privilege to inspire these kids to learn. It’s really just a part of the meaning of my life.”

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