RIP Koz. This is very sad news.

I've known John for almost 20 years now when we were both on rgp. Very rough around the edges when he posted online that's for sure. But in real life he was the kindest and most generous person. He would always stop and talk life and pinball whenever our paths crossed. Back in 2005 he saw my daughter (11 years old at the time) playing pinball and tearing it up. He took to her skills and they became friends as well. He took the time to write an article about her in the 2005 issue of Pingame Journal.

RIP Koz. I will end this the same way you always ended your posts on rgp.

Pinlicious (...there is no spoon)

Very shocking hearing this. He was definitely a major voice in the pinball scene in Michigan. We brought 11 games to his show in 2011 and 3 the next. His shows were professionally done and he marketed them well. He will be missed.

Wow....can't believe it...

Wow.....what's going on?

I remember him from many years ago too. Met him a couple times.

Very sad - RIP.

I hadn't seen or spoken to Koz much in recent years, but would see him from time to time at shows. But met him through RGP probably 20 years ago. He definitely had a love for the hobby. RIP Koz.

Very sad to hear this. Anyone who was on the RGP knows how vocal KOZ was and when I was a newbie back in the RGP days he helped me obtain my first NIB machine. Back then people were not buying NIB games for their home like they do today so it was a pretty big deal for me. He had connections in the hobby and was very helpful hooking me up with a distributor. Even took the time to talk to me over the phone about it. I'll never forget meeting him for the first time at the Expo because he was a giant of a man and I bet he could have shoulder pressed a pinball machine if he wanted to.

RIP brother

I never really liked the guy.... until I saw him helping a kid play pinball at one of your PATZ after parties... and then I had a great deal of respect for him.

Was on pretty good terms with him til we had a disagreement over something pretty stupid a few years ago on Facebook and he blocked me. Sure wish I’d made an attempt to mend that fence.

RIP Koz!

Sad news indeed....., RIP Koz !

John

KOZ was a larger than life person. Once you got past all of the rough edges, which wasn't easy, he was a kind-hearted good soul. He basically checked out of the hobby over the past 3-4 years to raise his young children. He would show up every once in awhile in one of our basements, talk about his family, pinball, etc. Fatherhood had really mellowed him out a bit. Please keep Natalie and their three children in your thoughts and prayers.

Today was another one of those gut checks that reminds you what is important.

RIP Koz, you will not be forgotten.

JohnKosmal (resized).png

I last seen him last spring. We met in Perry Mi. and he bought a T3 from me. I always got along with him. RIP John

I can't make sense of any of this news today.

Yeesh.

I knew Koz from the beginning of my collecting days.

Does anyone know what happened to him?

RIP, KOZ. I had a lot of fun at your MPE events over the years and enjoyed shooting the breeze with you while there. I liked that you were a fellow Classics advocate, too. You will be missed.

Very sad news I got to know KOZ through The Michigan Pinball Expo and was able to play pinball with him in a local league. I remember having a great time volunteering at MPE and playing in the Pinbrawl tournaments. A lot of us made great memories at the MPE events. My wife, parents, friends, and a few cousins had been at MPE event's over the years and we always had a blast.

RIP KOZ

RIP KOZ

Rip pinlicious

This is how I remember him. I've always been scared of him at shows. Just looked like he would start whopping ass at the drop of a hat. He should have been in the WWF.

KOZ (resized).jpg

Holy crap - Known him a long time. Tried buying games from him, but he always got me over a barrel.

My condolences.

My condolences to John and his loved ones. RIP

LTG : (

RIP Koz...very sad news for all

This news blindsided me. Rest in Peace KOZ, and my sincere condolences to his family and friends.

Passed away in his sleep.

RIP KOZ

My condolences to family and friends.

Condolences to his family.Rest in peace KOZ.

Fun fact about Kosmal. The factory high score initials on MMR and AFMR are the same, "KOZ" which was a nod to John.

Damn. RIP and condolences to friends and family.

RIP

RIP KOZ

I was helping Koz set up some games at one of the MPE shows . There were half a dozen old beat up games that some worked some did not . I asked Koz who brought this junk ? Koz - thoes are mine ! Me - Ha , thanks for bringing them ! RIP Koz

Sorry to hear this. The first pin show I ever attended was the last MPE. I didn’t know KOZ personally, but I know he was a big part of the Michigan pinball community. And, as gearheaddropping suggested, I am praying for Natalie and their children during this tough time.

Rest In Peace Koz. A unique individual who openly shared a wealth of knowledge.

Crap. Lost two great pinballers this week. Man I don’t even know what to say. All I can think to say is that KOZ went out of his way to help me get a game out of my vehicle and set it up at the Michigan pinball Expo many years ago when Steve Ritchie was a guest speaker there. I also remember him putting some amazing scores on PAPA tournament tickets years ago when not many people even showed up for the tournaments.
My thought are with his family.

RIP Koz

CRAZY! Wow, this one hurts. He was such a loud voice back in my early days on RGP. RIP Pinlicious.
There is no spoon...

Probably the only dude I’d never fight, rip koz

i heard the news a couple hours back, all i can say is that i am truly devastated.. i should have touched base with him more often,. i know the man since pinball expo of the year 2000.. he was dragging in a RFM whitewood into his hotelroom, i saw that happening and we talked like 2 pinball people does.. quite a while. that was the start of a long time friendship, unfortunally i live on the other side of the ocean, in europe.. netherlands.. and he in michigan, but we always get along whenever we cross paths, thank you John for all your kindness, my dear condolences to the family.. you are amazing my Friend! Rest in Peace buddy, until we meet again on the other side..

Wow, this is hard to believe. I have so many good memories with KOZ, just really hard to believe he’s gone. I still have one of the giant trophies he use to award for Expo Brawl and some of the “best of show” trophies as well. His Michigan Pinball Expo tournaments were amazing, and I always looked so forward to those shows. For those who never met him, KOZ was a great guy, down to earth, great pinball player and supporter of the pinball community, he will surely be missed...

Very sad to hear this.

I met KOZ for the first time many years ago (2004) on a trip to Michigan. He introduced me to several Michigan players and collectors and opened up a new world for me and changed my entire outlook of the pinball hobby. Several of those people I met, I still consider pinball friends to this day.

Any time I would travel up to Michigan, KOZ and I would meet and he would teach me new skills and strategies. (I have detailed emails he sent me describing what skills and strategies to work on that I have saved in a folder called “Pinlicious Rants”

He later invited me to play on his expo pinbrawl team and it was a huge honor for me. It was my first venture into competitive pinball and it meant a lot to me to have someone of that skill level ask me to play with him. (Someone mentioned the Valinor mode he reached at expo-I remember being there for that)

I was also proud to play with him and achieve the status of Golden Horseshoe wizard mode on Fast Draw at one of the early PATZ shows. That whole trip was a very fond memory.

Although KOZ and I fell out of touch over the past several years (he had a new family, and I was not traveling as much), I will always consider him an extremely influential person in my pinball life and was glad to have been his friend.

RIP and my deepest sympathies to KOZ’s family and loved ones.

Sincerely
Jeff

Turbo check out those guns of him moving that viper I doubt Natalie his wife reads pinside but we were friends since 1989 she would really love the shout outs keep them coming if you look up John or nat on Facebook you will see a few pics of his children 4 and under he has focused on them last 4 years big loss to his family good to see the love keep the pics comming crew.

Just plain nuts
God speed to KOZ
what a cunt of a day this is turning out to be

Hard for me to post. We were pretty tight through the years. He taught me a lot about pinball and upped my game, he also taught me about life stuff and was there for me as a good friend through a split up between me and my ex and was always great to my kids since they were born.
He always had my back no matter what.
He and my brother were the only 2 that could beat me at arm wrestling....strong man!
Gonna miss him....

No way- not koz! I never got to meet him in person but we went back on forth on RGP 20 years ago. I always respected and admired his convictions. He was a straight shooter and did not waste words... or time. I'll miss ya John

He was a big personality on RGP back in my days starting out. He always had an opinion and seemed to know what he was talking about and was passionate. I and many others respected his opinions

RIP Pinlicious ........... There is no spoon

Only two good ways to die, fighting or sleeping

RIP KOZ, you were one of the good ones

Same here! You'd have thought that dude would have been immortal.

Damn sad news...

My condolences to his family. Words seem pretty inadequate right now.

.

Immortal in my pinball history for sure. "There is no spoon."

RIP KOZ

So sad to hear this about Koz / John. He was always a good friend to me and like others my first introduction to him was out of his big heart / big passion for pinball and an act of kindness. Gosh maybe 15 years ago I reached out to Koz when he ran Pinbrawl at Expo and said I wanted to have my son who was probably 10 years old to compete as a father / son team with me and wondering if that was ok and if he had anyone who hook us up as partners who wouldn't mind a young kid as a teammate. He said absolutely he would love to help and found us Brian and Ethan (probably 12 at the time) Blonder as another father son team to play with. We had an amazing time and made great friends beyond Pinbrawl with Brian and Ethan because of Koz's extra effort to make it a great experience and welcome us with open arms to his tournament.

He was an incredible promoter / cheerleader for the hobby and we will miss his presence even though he has stepped back a bit in the last few years to be with his growing family. Over the years as a distributor and he as a promotor he was always looking for any way to expand the hobby and he couldn't hide his exuberance of the hobby when he spoke. He supported the MI pinball community with his show he started from scratch and that's no small feat.

Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't share my favorite Koz story. We sat next to each other one year at Expo in the Stern seminar. I have no idea why but Koz was just out of it that day - looking a little rough and he fell asleep. Like dead asleep. So Gary Stern starts talking and we are in the 2nd row and he starts snoring. Now Koz was a big guy and he was snoring so loud that Gary was looking over at times and about 2-3 rows of people were losing their shit that Koz was literally disrupting Gary's speech with big honking snores. I kept waking him up primarily because I knew he was a known person in the hobby and I wanted to protect him from any embarrassment he was sleeping and somewhat disrupting the seminar. It was like trying to wake a bear in hibernation... First off he was so big to even make a difference to wake him up I was literally punching him in the arm. He'd grumble loud raise his head then go back to sleep. I think the people around us found me trying to wake him more funny than him snoring. Then all of a sudden after 15 - 20 minutes of this he shakes himself awake in one big burst stands up, his chair get tossed aside and he rumbles out in the middle whoever was speaking. Doesn't say a word to me and just leaves in a disruptive manner. I saw him later or the next day and told him how loud he was, teasing him, etc... and he just didn't give a shit. That was Koz. He was a gentle giant and a giant in the hobby for sure. Your enormous personality will be missed my friend.

Joe