(Topic ID: 206864)

Williams People

By o-din

6 years ago


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    There are 133 posts in this topic. You are on page 1 of 3.
    #1 6 years ago

    I thought it would be cool to make a list of all the people that made Williams so great. I then figured out it was a big list and would be a good idea to get some help so it would be more complete. Feel free to include any employees including that Christmas dude. I'll start it with the early days.

    George Molentin
    Sam Stern
    Harry Mabs
    Roy Parker

    And the man that did the hiring,

    Harry Williams

    #2 6 years ago

    A little later on.
    Steve Kordek
    Norm Clark
    Art Stenholm

    #3 6 years ago

    The people that bought their pins, until they didn't.

    #4 6 years ago

    Then along came the mystery artist who graced many early 60s game with his style.

    And Jerry Kelley and Christian Marche that brought us the pointy people among others.

    #5 6 years ago

    Roger Sharpe

    #6 6 years ago

    Him too

    #7 6 years ago

    Missing is sound designer Brian L Schmidt. He started composing for Williams in 1987. Designer of BSMT2000 arcade game sound chip (I have that in my DE Maverick) Primary architect for the XBOX sound system and more.

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    #8 6 years ago

    There are quite a few missing. I thought this thread would be on fire when I woke up. People need to get their Starbucks on!

    Gary Stern worked for Williams. Heck, his dad owned the company for a while. Who can name the current Stern employees that at one time worked for Williams?

    #9 6 years ago

    The obvious one - Steve Ritchie comes to mind.

    #10 6 years ago

    ^I was wondering when Steve would be brought up.

    Later on, Pat Lawlor designed many of the 90s Williams big sellers too, in particular TAF.

    #11 6 years ago
    Quoted from SunKing:

    The obvious one - Steve Ritchie comes to mind.

    I was playing a bunch of Getaway when I brainstormed this thread.

    #12 6 years ago

    Lyman F. Sheats and Dwight Sullivan both worked for Williams.

    #13 6 years ago

    Larry DeMar

    #14 6 years ago

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    #16 6 years ago

    10K inspections by Christmas

    #17 6 years ago

    Was'nt there a famous inspector ? #20 or something.

    #18 6 years ago

    Some of the unsung heroes from the 70s-

    Chris Otis
    Gordon Horlick
    Lloyd Rognan
    Randy Pfeiffer
    Ron Crouse
    Constantino Mitchell
    Jeanine Mitchell
    Tony Kraemer
    Paul Dussault
    John Jung
    Louis Raynaud

    #19 6 years ago

    Paul Faris?

    #20 6 years ago

    Of course! And I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Barry Oursler yet.

    #21 6 years ago

    My favorite Williams is FT, concept by Mark Ritchie, Pat McMahon, Python Anghelo.

    #22 6 years ago

    Here's a good one.

    The Sterns worked for Williams and Harry Williams worked for Stern.

    #23 6 years ago

    Duncan Brown.

    #24 6 years ago

    Looks good to me!

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    #25 6 years ago

    The 80s were a busy time at Williams and since I'm not so busy at work, I'm combing IPDB and finding lots of familiar names and some not so familiar.

    Edward Tomaszewski
    Tony Ramunni
    Tim Elliott
    Jack Mittel
    Kristina Donofrio
    Peter Perry
    Pat McMahon
    Tony Pugh
    Robin Seaver
    Dan Forden
    Rehman Merchant
    Joe Joos Jr.
    Dan Forden
    Ed Suchocki
    Mark Sprenger
    John Krutsch
    Ed Boon
    Steve Epstein
    Doug Watson
    Chris Granner
    Ed Suchocki
    Bill Pfutzenreuter
    Brian Dolatowski
    John Kotlarik
    Claude Fernandez
    Larry Day

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    #26 6 years ago
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    #27 6 years ago

    Nice! Which one's Christmas? ^^^^

    #28 6 years ago

    Eugene Jarvis. Did pinball code but is best known as a video game designer (Defender, Robotron: 2084)

    Ed Boon is also best known as co-creator of Mortal Kombat, but programmed for pinball and was the voice of Rudy in FunHouse.

    Mark Ritchie designed SlugFest, the pitch-and-bat that took plenty of tokens in exchange for a few baseball cards.

    #29 6 years ago

    Kind of a shame when a company forgets part of it's own history.

    http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?gid=4817

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    #30 6 years ago
    Quoted from AlexF:

    Steve Kordek

    The man that is probably most responsible for Williams thriving for most of the latter half of the 20th century and going out of pinball on top.

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    #31 6 years ago

    Hey I currently own the two titles he is squeezed between. Makes me wish I would have talked to him when I had the chance.

    #32 6 years ago
    Quoted from AlexF:

    Makes me wish I would have talked to him when I had the chance.

    He could have answered a lot of questions I'm sure. Like who was the mystery artist of the 60s? But now, we may never know.

    #33 6 years ago

    Thank you to these two for the fine job. I guess they never made it to Stern. What a shame for pinball and human kind.

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    #34 6 years ago

    Ah yes, the forgotten art of pinball quality control!

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    #35 6 years ago

    Chris Granner for the killer music!

    http://www.cgmusic.net/archives.html

    #36 6 years ago

    I'm going to sound like a dork, but I'm actually really liking the idea of pics of all the nobodies that have inspection stickers etc

    I shouldn't say nobodies....the hard working lesser knowns that made the machines we love

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    #37 6 years ago

    This is still the saddest picture in pinball for me. Steve Kordek with the last machine off the line.

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    #38 6 years ago

    I'm surprised to see Bally employees or contractors (Paul Faris and 1960s mystery artist) being nominated. I think this list should be limited to those who "made Williams pinballs great" and would only apply to Bally-branded pinballs after 1989.

    But I'll add Joe Dillon to the list.
    .................David Marston

    #39 6 years ago
    Quoted from dmarston:

    I'm surprised to see Bally employees or contractors (Paul Faris and 1960s mystery artist) being nominated.

    Well, the mystery artist did quite a few games for Williams in the 60s before the merger and they were great. And correct me if I'm wrong, but Paul Faris worked on Grand Lizard before the companies joined too. I figure it's OK to include them even if they worked for other companies at the same time. Case in point- Roy Parker.

    I couldn't find a pic of these two gentlemen when they worked together at Williams, but this one will do.

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    #41 6 years ago

    Who's that guy with his hands in his pockets?

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    #42 6 years ago
    Quoted from o-din:

    Who's that guy with his hands in his pockets?

    HEY! I know that arcade! Pat is a nice dude. Dont know the guy with the pockets though....

    #43 6 years ago

    Brian Eddy.

    Quoted from o-din:

    Who's that guy with his hands in his pockets?

    #44 6 years ago

    I'm pretty sure it's the GREATEST pinball designer of a time Brian Eddy.

    #45 6 years ago

    Surprised it took this long. He was only responsible for designing some of the most popular games of the 90s.

    #46 6 years ago

    Quite a history this company had.

    From one innovative man that brought us features like the tilt in the early part of the 20th century, to hiring all the great talent they could find, and trying to modernize and making great games all along the way, and then making pinball fully relevant and fun in the 90s once again.

    #47 6 years ago
    Quoted from chad:

    Was'nt there a famous inspector ? #20 or something.

    Inspector 12

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    #48 6 years ago

    My god the history and combined talent. I realize I’m just a young’n and all....but is there even the slightest chance in hell of Williams in its different current form returning to pinball?? I mean cmon, the money might be there for a return. Sure would be nice to see Williams name plate (proudly made in Chicago Illinois) on a new pin again. I kno, I’m dreaming. Can’t a guy dream?

    #49 6 years ago

    Highly unlikely as they have found a niche in the lucrative gambling game industry, which is kind of ironic as their early pinball machines were known as gambling games as well.

    #50 6 years ago

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    There are 133 posts in this topic. You are on page 1 of 3.

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