I'm incredibly sad that my friend Dean is gone. I got to visit him and Sam last week to say goodbye and it was heartbreaking. It has been an absolute pleasure and blessing, though, to have had Dean with us these past 13+ years after his near-fatal heart attack in 2009 (An EB or two on life, if you will). I never worked with Dean, but I competed with him and against him regularly. A lot, lol. He was already an awesome tournament player when I met him at Lyons Classic Pinball back in 2004. He would drive 90+ minutes *each way* every week to play in our very first season of the Mile High Pinball League that year and he and his family continued to play regularly in our league up until just a few weeks ago in Season 35. He was always so very nice and happy and mellow when he played that DNO and I coined his nickname, “The Grim Reaper”, as an ironic homage to his sunny disposition. It *stuck*, like all good nicknames do, and Dean was proudly “The Reaper” from that moment on; he even had a jersey made with “REAPER” on the back, lol. Back in the day, the big three were PAPA, Expo, and Cali Extreme (and later, Pinburgh) and Dean would play in all of these tournaments with us. He was a regular member of our Colorado Crew™ that travelled back then, along with DNO, and Mateo and K-Mac, and Ffej, and Trailer Tom, and Zen, and Higgins et al. Truly, some of the very best memories in my life were at these tournaments. Dean made the “A” finals of the very first new Pinburgh in 2011 and would go on to attend *all* 9 modern Pinbughs with us; making the “B” finals in 2013, 2015, and 2018. At the PAPA World Championships, he made the cut for finals in the “B” Division at PAPA 13, PAPA 14, PAPA 16, PAPA 19 and PAPA 20. We all spent so much time together at these PAPAs, trying to help each other figure out the games and how best to put together a winning ticket. Dean’s rule knowledge was vast and indispensable. Dean won the Classics Grand Championships in 2013 at Cali Extreme (which reminds me that Dean was also an excellent classic video game player, too. He could complete all the Tempest levels, which blew me away). At Expo, Dean was an original member of the “Colorado Silverball Gang” along with DNO, Mateo, and Ffej, who competed against the best teams in the old KOZ/Josh Pinbrawls. The following year, Dean played on my Pinbrawl team, “Very skilled for a child” with then four year old Escher; we finished 2nd in the “B” Division. Dean is the only player in MHPL league history to win both the “A” Division and “B” Division championships (the latter coming during his recovery from his massive heart attack back in 2009 as he worked his way back into shape). Dean won the Rocky Mountain Pinball Showdown once and 11 monthlies at Lyons Classic Pinball ranging from 2006 thru 2018. According to the IFPA, Dean and I played against one another in *244 different* pinball tournaments!! I knew we played together A LOT, but that number was still surprising when I looked it up. Beyond the tournaments, Dean was a huge contributor to the Colorado pinball scene – he brought a ton of games each year to the RMPS show and when Denver hosted the IFPA 11 World Championships, he brought a bunch of games to that, too, and donated a TON of time to help with the setup/breakdown and organization of that hugely successful event. When I ran some tournaments in my barn a few years ago, he brought his spider-man home pin that he was working on for Stern, so that everyone could try it out. He always kept The Beatles at LCP loaded with his latest code he was working on long before it was officially released and as Kevin mentioned above, his 4th of July parties (and later New Years’) were epic when he and Sam graciously opened their home to our always-growing pinball community. It sounds like a cliché, but he really was the nicest guy you could ever hope to meet and be friends with. I’m sad AF that he’s gone, but I know that I will never ever forget him. He loved the things that we all love here and he put his heart and soul into creating some of my favorite games. I will always think fondly of Dean whenever I play Congo, and Roadshow, and Safecracker and The Beatles, and the Star Wars homepin, and Godzilla, and 007 and so many others that he helped with. By the way, when you put your initials into Roadshow for a high score as “ADG”, you will hear Red say in a callout: “Not that guy again”, and every time I hear those words now, I will have a smile on my face and a tear in my eye as I remember my wonderful friend. Rest in Peace, Reaper!
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