History and Sonora Smart Dodd
Founded Father's Day 1910 in Washington state, inspired by her widower father who raised 6 kids.
Q1.In which US city did Sonora Smart Dodd organize the first Father's Day celebration?Tap to reveal
Answer: Spokane, Washington
That first celebration took place on June 19, 1910, and Spokane still bills itself as the birthplace of the holiday.
Q2.On which Sunday of June is Father's Day observed in the United States?Tap to reveal
Answer: The third Sunday
Mother's Day, by contrast, is fixed on the second Sunday of May.
Q3.Sonora Smart Dodd's father, William Jackson Smart, was a veteran of which war?Tap to reveal
Answer: The American Civil War
After his wife died, Smart raised his six children on his own on a farm in eastern Washington, which is what moved his daughter to honor him.
Q4.Dodd got the idea for Father's Day after sitting through a church sermon in 1909 honoring which other holiday?Tap to reveal
Answer: Mother's Day
Anna Jarvis had held the first official Mother's Day observance only a year earlier, in 1908, in Grafton, West Virginia.
Q5.Which US president signed the 1972 law that made Father's Day a permanent national holiday?Tap to reveal
Answer: Richard Nixon
Lyndon Johnson had issued a presidential proclamation for the day in 1966, but it took an act of Congress six years later to make it permanent.
Q6.Which flower did Sonora Smart Dodd promote as the official symbol of Father's Day?Tap to reveal
Answer: The rose
Tradition held that you wore a red rose for a living father and a white one for a father who had died, echoing the carnation custom of Mother's Day.
Q7.Two years before Dodd's Spokane event, a one-off Father's Day church service was held in 1908 in which West Virginia town?Tap to reveal
Answer: Fairmont
Grace Golden Clayton organized it to honor the hundreds of fathers killed in the Monongah mining disaster of December 1907.
Q8.In Spain, Italy and Portugal, Father's Day falls on March 19, the feast day of which saint?Tap to reveal
Answer: Saint Joseph
Joseph is honored as the earthly father of Jesus, which is why many Catholic countries never adopted the June date.
Famous fathers in history
George Washington (no children of his own), Abraham Lincoln (4 sons), Ben Franklin (3 kids including the famous illegitimate son William).
Q1.Which king of Macedon was the father of Alexander the Great?Tap to reveal
Answer: Philip II
Philip hired the philosopher Aristotle to tutor the teenage Alexander.
Q2.Which Tudor king was the father of Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I?Tap to reveal
Answer: Henry VIII
All three of his legitimate children ruled England in turn, and the Tudor dynasty ended when Elizabeth died childless in 1603.
Q3.Which US president was the father of John Quincy Adams, the sixth president?Tap to reveal
Answer: John Adams
They were the first father and son to both hold the presidency, a feat matched only by George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush.
Q4.Which child prodigy was paraded around the royal courts of Europe by his father Leopold, himself a court musician in Salzburg?Tap to reveal
Answer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Leopold published an influential violin textbook in 1756, the very year Wolfgang was born.
Q5.Which Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher was the father of the emperor Commodus?Tap to reveal
Answer: Marcus Aurelius
Commodus was the first Roman emperor born while his father was already reigning, and his rule is often blamed for ending the era of the so-called Five Good Emperors.
Q6.Which Baroque composer fathered twenty children, including the composers Carl Philipp Emanuel and Johann Christian?Tap to reveal
Answer: Johann Sebastian Bach
Only ten of the twenty survived to adulthood, which was not unusual in eighteenth-century Germany.
Q7.Which Mughal emperor built the Taj Mahal and was later deposed and imprisoned by his own son Aurangzeb?Tap to reveal
Answer: Shah Jahan
He spent the last eight years of his life confined in Agra Fort, and after his death he was buried beside his wife in the Taj Mahal.
Q8.Which Italian astronomer was the son of Vincenzo, a lutenist and music theorist who experimented with the mathematics of vibrating strings?Tap to reveal
Answer: Galileo Galilei
Vincenzo's habit of testing musical theory with real experiments is often cited as an early influence on his son's scientific method.
Famous pop culture dads
Homer Simpson, Vito Corleone, Mufasa, Atticus Finch, Indiana Jones's dad (Henry Jones Sr.).
Q1.In The Simpsons, what is the name of Bart, Lisa and Maggie's father?Tap to reveal
Answer: Homer Simpson
Homer works as a safety inspector at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, a job he is spectacularly unsuited for.
Q2.Which Star Wars villain reveals to Luke Skywalker that he is his father?Tap to reveal
Answer: Darth Vader
The reveal comes in The Empire Strikes Back, and the actual line is 'No, I am your father', not the often misquoted 'Luke, I am your father'.
Q3.In Finding Nemo, what kind of fish is Marlin, the anxious father searching for his son?Tap to reveal
Answer: A clownfish
Marlin's search takes him from the Great Barrier Reef all the way to a dentist's office in Sydney.
Q4.In The Godfather, what is the first name of the Corleone family patriarch played by Marlon Brando?Tap to reveal
Answer: Vito
Robert De Niro played the young Vito in The Godfather Part II, making Vito the first character to win Oscars for two different actors.
Q5.Atticus Finch, the widowed lawyer raising Scout and Jem, is the moral center of which 1960 novel?Tap to reveal
Answer: To Kill a Mockingbird
Gregory Peck won the Best Actor Oscar for playing Atticus in the 1962 film adaptation.
Q6.In Modern Family, what is the name of the relentlessly upbeat Dunphy father played by Ty Burrell?Tap to reveal
Answer: Phil Dunphy
Burrell won two Emmys for the role, and Phil's self-published parenting book Phil's-osophy became a running gag on the show.
Q7.Which actor voiced Mufasa, Simba's father, in Disney's original 1994 animated film The Lion King?Tap to reveal
Answer: James Earl Jones
Jones was the only member of the original voice cast to return for the 2019 remake.
Q8.In Pixar's The Incredibles, what is the civilian name of the superhero dad Mr. Incredible?Tap to reveal
Answer: Bob Parr
Craig T. Nelson voiced Bob in both films, and the family's surname is a pun on being merely 'par' or average when their powers are hidden.
Sports dads and family legacies
Manning family (Archie, Peyton, Eli, Cooper, Arch), the Currys (Dell, Steph, Seth), other multi-generation athletes.
Q1.Former NFL quarterback Archie Manning is the father of which two Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks?Tap to reveal
Answer: Peyton and Eli Manning
Archie spent most of his career with the New Orleans Saints and never played a single playoff game, while his sons appeared in 39 postseason games between them.
Q2.Which former Cincinnati Reds outfielder became a teammate of his son on the 1990 Seattle Mariners, making them the first father and son to play together in Major League Baseball?Tap to reveal
Answer: Ken Griffey Sr.
On September 14, 1990, the two Griffeys hit back-to-back home runs, something no other father and son has ever done in an MLB game.
Q3.In October 2024, LeBron James and his son Bronny became the first father and son to play together in an NBA game, for which team?Tap to reveal
Answer: Los Angeles Lakers
The Lakers took Bronny with the 55th pick of the 2024 draft, fifteen months after he suffered a cardiac arrest during a USC practice in July 2023.
Q4.Which 2016 Formula One world champion is the son of Keke, the 1982 world champion?Tap to reveal
Answer: Nico Rosberg
The Rosbergs joined Graham and Damon Hill as the only father-and-son pairs to both win the Formula One drivers' title.
Q5.Which hockey legend played on the same NHL team as his sons Mark and Marty with the 1979-80 Hartford Whalers?Tap to reveal
Answer: Gordie Howe
Howe was 51 years old that season and still managed 15 goals in 80 games before finally retiring.
Q6.Dell Curry, father of NBA stars Stephen and Seth, spent most of his playing career with which team?Tap to reveal
Answer: Charlotte Hornets
Dell was a three-point specialist who won the NBA Sixth Man of the Year award in 1994, long before his elder son redefined long-range shooting.
Hosting Father's Day trivia
Father's Day trivia works at BBQs. Run rounds on history + sports + pop culture dads.
Trivio.NET has Father's Day packs in the Holidays & Events category.
Frequently Asked Questions
When did Father's Day become an official US holiday?
1972 — President Nixon signed it into law. Mother's Day became official 1914.
Who founded Father's Day?
Sonora Smart Dodd in 1910 — inspired by her father who raised 6 kids alone.
Where can I find Father's Day trivia packs?
Trivio.NET's Holidays & Events category has Father's Day packs.
What's the most-asked Father's Day trivia?
When was it officially federal? (1972 — much later than Mother's Day in 1914.)
