NEW YORK — For anyone who looked at the Fanatics Games leaderboard after the first day, there was only one question to ask: Who the hell is Matt Dennish?
Fanatics Games championship leaderboard:
- Tom Brady, 399.1
- Matt Dennish, 325
- Eli Manning, 314.5
Well, depending on how things go over the next two days at Fanatics Fest, Dennish could be the answer to an age-old question: Can an average Joe beat the Pros?
Dennish is a 39-year-old high school teacher at his alma mater, Red Lion High School in York, Pennsylvania. He was one of 50 average fans who got the chance to compete against the pros for the top prize of $1 million.
And he's clearly one of the best athletes in the competition.
Dennish, who stands 6-foot-6, was a standout cross-country and track runner and a basketball player in high school. He ran a 4:08 mile his freshman year at East Carolina, and he said his recent accomplishments included hitting a half-court shot at a Philadelphia 76ers game and working himself down to a two handicap on the golf course.
By standing in second place after the opening day Friday, Dennish beat out Dwight Howard, Rob Gronkowski, Denny Hamlin, Russell Wilson, C.J. Stroud, Bryce Young and Julian Edelman.
Contestants are scored in eight contests. The lowest two numbers are dropped. The winner will take home $1 million. Second place gets a 2025 Ferrari 296 GTB or $400,000, and third place lands a 2003-04 LeBron James rookie chrome refractor, last valued at $250,000.
Dennish came into Friday's competition most nervous about the WWE Superstar entrance since he isn't a fan of wrestling.
"A friend who is a fan convinced me to do Joe Hendry," Dennish told cllct. "I got a belt that our high school women's wrestling team bought and took off my shirt."
Dennish got 70 total points in the WWE event, good for 10th-best score of the day.
The MLB pitching accuracy was next. Contestants are given six pitches to score as many points as they can by hitting targets. The top and bottom corners are worth five points. The middle strike zone is one, and all the rest are three. Dennish shined, hitting four five-pointers, a three and a one. No one did better.
Next he hit the NHL washer-dryer puck shooting contest, an area he knew would be difficult. He's not a hockey guy. Given 12 shots, he failed to knock in one, only lifting the puck successfully once.
In the NFL QB skills, Dennish was impressive. He went 3-for-5 in the 10-yard toss and the 20-yard toss and missed the golden ball, a 30-yard toss, by a foot or two.
The top three best contestants in this skill were not surprisingly: 1. Stroud, 2. Brady and 3 (tie). Russell Wilson and Eli Manning. Dennish came in a respectable 11th.
Dennish also finished 11th overall in the UFC striking challenge, hitting the punching bag for a total of 75.5 points.
The FIFA goal-scoring was a strategy game for Dennish. He hit six out of eight in the bottom corners for five points each, but then got greedy by trying the top corners for 10 points and missed them all. He came in sixth. Streamer Adin Ross finished with Friday's best score.
In the last event, the Dick's closest-to-the-pin golf contest, Dennish knew he would be among the best. And he was right.
"It's basically all I do these days," he said.
The challenge? The contestants had five chances to get the ball on the green at a 105-yard par-3 hole, simulated from Oakmont Country Club, the site of last week's U.S. Open. One point for the green, two points for within 15 yards. Dennish came away with a respectable four points, placing three on the green and one within 15 feet.
Brady finished first, and Dennish was fourth, one spot ahead of Manning.
After competing, Dennish sat around eating some pizza and reloading the scores. Before he headed home on his train back to Pennsylvania, he saw his position between two legendary quarterbacks.
He plans to play golf Saturday to take his mind off the chances of winning. There are a lot of talented competitors still to come over the next couple days. That list includes Jayden Daniels, Travis Hunter, James Harden, Joe Burrow, Dez Bryant, Logan Paul and others.
But what happens if he sticks in second place?
"I have to take the $400,000," Dennish said. "I can't fit in a Ferrari!"
Darren Rovell is the founder of cllct and one of the country's leading reporters on the collectibles market. He previously worked for ESPN, CNBC and The Action Network.