Oldest living National Spelling Bee champion reflects on his win 70 years later

By HOLLY RAMER and RODRIQUE NGOWI
Associated Press

EAST GREENWICH, R.I. (AP) — As contestants from the latest Scripps National Spelling Bee head home, the oldest living champion is reflecting on his experience and the effect it had on him. William Cashore was 14 when he won the 1954 competition. Now 84, he still remembers both the word that knocked the runner-up out and the one he spelled correctly to win. Those words were uncinated and transept, respectively. Cashore went on to become a doctor and said peers often asked him to proofread their work without knowing he was a spelling champion. He says the spelling bee boosted his self-confidence and gave him a sense of the importance of accuracy.