. >> reporter: like rashan. >> he flies airplanes. >> reporter: derrick ward, news4. >> and he will bered. >>> well, after more than 20,000 contestants, and 200,000 questions, mac is moving on. he's now retired as host of "it's academic" after a career that spanned decades. news4's jim handly caught up with him to talk about how the show changed over the years. >> reporter: he walked the halls for over 50 years. mac mcgary is an institution at nbc, the man armed with the envelopes filled with the questions he's posed to thousands of students over the years. >> but the oldest students on the show would now be in their late 60s. i remember them as 18. >> reporter: he's called out to famous faces and names to come on down over the decades. >> good evening, welcome to "it's academic." >> come on up here. >> we've had astronauts on the program, john glenn. we've had perry mason on the program. >> reporter: and hillary clinton, she was -- >> she was an alternate. >> reporter: the questions that mac and altman productions comes up have questions that can stump the students that we kont see or