The man that led the arcade distribution in the USA, Bill Cravens, passed away

[TarkanX]

Coin-op Legend Bill Cravens Passes Away

I’m quite surprised that there hasn’t been a single thread or mention of him on SRK, Bill Cravens passed away last month; without his efforts, SF2 might never have been in the United States, as well as a slew of other arcade games.

Here is an article about one of his sons speaking about the arcade scene:

Q&A: Betson's Cravens On The Future Of U.S. Arcades

Can you share a bit about your father’s legacy, and how his name got into the Street Fighter arcade game?

RC: My father?s story is a very long one. He got into the industry selling Wurlitzer Jukeboxes and he never got out. He was very passionate about the people that make up our business, and was determined to make sure that arcade games would not go away. Since he Joined in the 60s, he saw many booms and busts, and he was always at the right time during the booms.

He helped sell one of the first Pong machines and helped Nolan Bushnell find some key people to help out with Chuck E. Cheese. He spent a few years with Nintendo before they went pure consumer and that landed him at Capcom. He introduced Street Fighter, Bionic Comando, Ghosts and Goblins, Final Fight, and many others.

Not many folks know this, but Final Fight was supposed to be Street Fighter II in the US. He made them change the name, and one of his last decisions at Capcom was to release (the real) Street Fighter II for the U.S. market.

He would go back to Osaka (Capcom headquarters) often, and the designers (especially Street Fighter director Yoshiki Okamoto) really enjoyed his sense of humor. To honor him, they put his image and name in the background of the UK Stage (aka the Birdie stage) of Street Fighter.

Probably the most important thing he did was bring Golden Tee 3D to market. This was a time in our industry where games were really falling off. Incredible Technologies was in bad financial shape and they needed someone to sell the game for them and everyone turned them down - everyone.

My father had been involved in a lawsuit against IT a couple of years before and they approached him as a last resort. When everyone else said ?A golf game? No thanks,? my father turned to my brother and said, ?We are going to sell three thousand of these!? My brother and everyone else said he was nuts. He was, they sold about 10,000 or so in the first year.

[Superking]

They weren’t kidding, he IS in SF1. lol

[Logos]

Damn, that’s crazy. Thanks for the information.

[Juggy]

I’d hit it.

[Rioting_Soul]

Wow. That’s an amazing person. So sad that I only knew of him after his death, even though we have him to thank for being able to play SF2.

[umthrfkr]

damn…

[System_1]

Such sad news. My fun and exciting times in the arcades were helped made possible by this man (Bill Cravens). May he rest in peace.

[dereklearnslow]

What an awesome person to not even know about until after he passed.

R.I.P.

EDIT: And after reading some of those articles, this would have been the perfect guy to help bring arcades back from the poor state they are in now. Truly sad.

[Corner-Trap]

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[Silks]

Obviously a crucial part in the second golden era of arcades by bringing SF2 to us in the US. My happiest memories of the arcade revolve around those days. RIP

[woof]

;A; .…