University of Massachusetts Boston women’s basketball player Myrna Tangar (Randolph, MA) was the winner of the Showcase Showdown on the CBS Television daytime game show, The Price is Right, on January 4. The program will be broadcast on local Boston CBS affiliate WBZ-TV Channel 4 on February 12 at 11:00 a.m. Tangar’s bid of $25,000 on a showcase that included a 2007 Ford Mustang, a portable compact disc player as well as a 1950’s-style juke box was $4,000 less than the actual retail value of the prize. Her opponent’s bid was $8,000 short of the actual retail value, thus making Tangar’s bid the closest and the show’s winner.
“Everybody (her UMass Boston teammates) started jumping on stage and I think one of the girls almost took out Bob Barker,” said Tangar in describing the euphoria after her winning bid. “It was insane, it was surreal.” Coach Shawn Renee Polk concurred, “It was insane, pure excitement. It was like the buzzer-beater (against Plymouth State on January 9) the other night, that’s exactly what it felt like.”
“I walked out in awe,” Tangar said. “I called my Mom and she didn’t believe me until Coach (Shawn Renee Polk) talked to her.”
Polk had arranged for the Price is Right tickets in October as something for the team to do on their off day following three games in California. The Beacons had gone 1-2 on the trip with losses to Pomona-Pitzer College and North Park University, but finished the trip with a win over Life Pacific College and made the trip to Los Angeles the following day to attend the show. Following a two-hour wait in line, the team found itself inside the studio and the fun started immediately as Tangar was selected as one of the Price is Right dancers. “She’s a nut, she was dancing in the audience and I think that’s why they picked her out,” said Coach Polk. “She was going bananas at that point. She was in the corner doing her own little thing.”
Her enthusiasm must have caught the show’s eye, because before she knew it, she was asked to, “Come on down!” by announcer Rich Fields. Polk was hoping that one of her players would be selected. “I knew someone from our group would more than likely get picked because we were making so much noise while we were waiting and everyone was talking to us,” said Polk. “When she was picked I wasn’t surprised by it.”
Tangar’s bid on the first item wasn’t the winner, but the next item for bid was a wine cabinet. Tangar’s bid of $1,100 proved to be the winning figure as she made Bob Barker’s acquaintance on stage. “My first thought was, ‘Don’t get sick and not to faint’,” said Tangar. She then played the match game and correctly matched prices for a treadmill, a large electric piano and a dinette set in addition to $500 cash that she could use to change one of her answers, but she stuck with her guesses and pocketed the money. Next up, the big wheel.
Tangar’s spin was the second whirl of the three contestants and she stuck with her initial spin of 60 cents, after the first competitor went over the magic dollar total. The final opponent also went over a dollar to thrust Tangar into the final showcase showdown. “We all (the team) were screaming for her to stay (on 60 cents),” explained Polk. “When she went in to the showcase, I just had a funny feeling she was going to win the whole thing. It couldn’t have happened to a better individual. She’s humble and she really appreciates it.” The game show became just another contest for the junior. “I had to block everybody out,” explained Tangar. “It’s like a game situation and I was just focusing on the game and listening to my teammates suggestions (of prices).”
All tolled, Tangar walked away with the Mustang, jukebox, treadmill, dinette set, portable CD player, $500 and a piano and memories she will never forget.
“You have to be there,” Tangar explained. “Even being there, I still don’t believe it happened. It was a team effort.”