|
NewsFlash
This website maintained by
|
CoinopTODAY.com
I mourn for the loss of Tim Jackson. May GOD BLESS YOU and take care of you. I just woke up and it's 4:53 am this morning. I was having a vivid dream about a very close childhood friend of mine who died. In my dream I was talking to some coin op business people as I normally do, and I was aware of his death but there was no acknowledgment of it in any way. ( I just knew) Then all of the sudden I stood up and found myself running towards an empty room and as I shut the door behind me I started to openly cry out loud, very loud, and mourn for his death. My crying gets louder and louder and is heard by my coin op friends and then they come to me and stand on the other side of the door and ask me if I am all right. But I do not respond to them because I am simply crying and feeling for the loss of my friend. Then I woke up just minutes ago and I realized that I have been sitting with information and feelings about a friend of mine in our coin op industry.Last week I was talking to an industry friend and he told that Tim Jackson (formerly with ROMSTAR, SNK, CAPCOM, FIVE STAR, and APPLE INDUSTRIES) who said he was in the hospital on his deathbed. I thought that maybe the information of Tim being in the hospital was likely but I was not convinced that such a young guy like Tim would be on his deathbed. There was no confirmation of that information at that time. Then just yesterday I found out that indeed Tim Jackson had just passed away! I have a fair amount of history with Tim Jackson as many of us that are receiving this email probably do. For many operators it was maybe simply seeing and talking with Tim Jackson at one of the many hundreds of distributor OPEN HOUSES that he attended over the years. For others it might have been a meeting or having a conversation with him at one of the many hundreds of AMOA / ASI / or IAAPA National Trade Shows that Tim worked. And for many guys like me, it was a combination of all of those plus getting the weekly or monthly calls from Tim in regards to the products he was promoting and selling. I did not know Tim Jackson nearly as well as many of the BIG MANUFACTURERS or DISTRIBUTORS out there that are probably reading this EMAIL, but I can tell you that Tim and I had a good relationship. I say that because I always thought Tim was an excellent sales person, he would always call you when he said he would, he would follow up on his calls and he was one of those rare sales people that was PERSISTENT but never so in an obnoxious way, but sometimes just on the edge of it at times. Yet that is what made Tim Jackson, Tim Jackson. His LOVE for the COIN OP INDUSTRY was unabated, and only his devotion and love for his children superceded his devotion to coin op. I feel for Tim Jackson. I feel for him because when our industry seriously declined and faltered 5 years ago there was no place for him as a industry sales representative. Tim was a highly paid sales representative who did an outstanding job when our industry was strong enough to support the quantity of purchases and interest in coin op products coming from the video game manufacturers. Without a doubt the character of our industry will be defined by the many hundreds of stories of the "good ole days" of coin op during the 80's and early 90's. Equally we can define certain people who we will remember that had unique characteristics about them that made up that era in time and made that era so colorful and exciting. Tim Jackson will always be remembered as one of my most memorable characters of an era in time when coin operated video games reined the world market. I clearly remember the first time I encountered Tim Jackson back in 1987. I was so proud of myself that year because I came just back from Japan having helped license a game called Mission XX and was thinking how lucky I was to have such a great game to exclusively distribute throughout the United States only to be outclassed by a better game that many of you may recall called SKY SHARK! I remember Tim Jackson getting the support of all the big distributors in the US and having incredible success with that game. I remember seeing him get into one of Romstar's beautiful BMW cars with Yusuki-san and driving around from each local distributor trade show as "fat cats" enjoying the fruits of such a high selling game. I was really jealous of Tim Jackson. I remember we then licensed Air Wolf for the US market only to be out classed yet again by Twin Cobra! As so many other Romstar games like Arknoid, and Bubble Bobble that Tim got to sell! I was so aggravated by ROMSTAR and their connection to Taito and SNK! There was Tim Jackson having the time of his life and enjoying the coin op industry from the prospective of a high paid manufacturer rep and having the opportunity to hang out with wealthy distributors and operators from around the country while I toiled away in my little office making phone calls directly to operators around the country trying to sell what I could against his better games! Oh how I envied Tim Jackson! In the later years of late 1990's it became evident that the industry was changing and so did Tim Jackson. Working with Apple and JVL products Tim and I would talk about distribution and how the market had changed so much. In the end of his long standing run in coin op, an industry he so dearly loved, when the company(s) he worked for could no longer sell the quantities of products it took to keep him employed for the money he was so used to getting and needing, the industry in a sense had to let him go. Sadly, there was not a manufacturer that felt they could justify paying Tim enough to make up for cost of doing business in our industry at that time. So it was a very frustrated Tim Jackson that was left out of coin op when sales declined, and all those that knew him sadly saw him leave. I knew Tim was very unhappy in his jobs that came to him outside of the coin op world. Tim and I talked from time to time as I suspect many of you may have as well since he left years ago. Like Tim, there was a part of us that knew the days of coin op had passed us up and would likely never return. Tim Jackson made a lot of money in coin op at one time. But those glory days have faded and passed its' prime. It was really tough on Tim to have to leave our industry, and I suspect for many people who considered Tim as a potential employee it must have been equally hard to decide not to hire him because of his sales style and the costs of doing business. Tim Jackson, you will be fondly remembered by me for the rest of my life on Earth. I mourn your death and cry for you. I share and celebrate your wonderful past experiences during the heyday of coin op. I suspect that your health and attitude on life was greatly affected by your last years in coin op, I know it saddened you greatly as a man who like most men, identify themselves by their work and their accomplishments. I wish I got to tell you many more things about how I admired you and thought so highly of you as a sales representative and person throughout your career in coin op. Because I believe in SPIRIT I know you can feel that energy coming from me and so it is probably no coincidence that my dream this morning inspired me to write this about you and send it out there into the coin op world. May you find happiness, love and acceptance in Spirit World for who you are Tim Jackson..a hard working coin op industry man whose heart and soul has always been clearly evident. You were a man on Earth who dearly cared about your children and always wanted to be a part of their lives by "BEING THERE" for them whenever possible. And I know you loved the coin op industry and called it "your home." I mourn for the loss of Tim Jackson. May GOD BLESS YOU and take care of you. With all the best, Brad Brown President Worldwide Video Check out our website - www.wwidevideo.com 2006-11-15 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||
First Look
