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It
is a game played on every
continent and every nation.
It is the mechanized child
of the planet’s
most popular sport played
with little men skewered
onto sticks and placed
into a desk-sized playing
field with a walnut sized
ball.
The
game is foosball, sometimes
called table soccer. But
what happens when one
game is all you have left?
“In
one word...WOW!”
- Jim Waterman, foosball.com
About
the Story…
This
is the story of American
foosball.
Already
popular in Europe during
the 1960’s, the
game was introduced to
America by an American
service man that borrowed
the German word for soccer,
fussball, and named his
first table “Foosball
Match”. The game
was advertised in magazines
such as LIFE and Esquire
and soon over 10, 000
tables were being shipped
throughout the United
States.
As
the game’s popularity
grew, manufacturers quickly
pounced on the opportunity
to manufacture tables.
Players frequented arcades
and high schools created
teams and sponsored tournaments.
Gamblers traveled around
the southwest looking
for foosball, money, beer
and fights.
It
was the blind leading
blind, until a Missoula,
Montana tavern owner named
Lee Peppard held a $1500
tournament in 1972. Peppard,
a recent college graduate
looking for a business
opportunity, quickly recognized
the appeal of the game
and started what would
later become Tournament
Soccer. And in doing so,
ushered in the Golden
Era of foosball.
Foosball
quickly became a national
phenomenon and the 8th
largest sport in the world.
Around this same time,
a young teenager playing
the game while working
at a local arcade noticed
posters for foosball tournaments.
Unable to play other sports
due to his small size,
Johnny Horton quickly
became addicted to the
game. At the age of 15,
he also recognized the
appeal of the game, quit
school and went on the
road in pursuit of his
dream to become a world
champion as a teenager.
Raised by his grandmother,
he recalls her last words
as he ran out the front
door, “If you don’t
win, don’t come
home.”
Meanwhile,
on a kitchen table in
Dallas, Texas, a bearded
engineer was designing
what would later become
the most dominate foosball
table in America and most
of the world, Tornado.
Bob Furr would later co-found
Tornado Table Soccer and
hired a young rodeo cowboy
that had fell in love
with this table.
Scott
Moreland, now stricken
with Multiple Sclerosis,
worked for Tornado during
the 1970’s when
Tornado was merely a Texas
based operation. Scott
watched as Lee Peppard
and the Tournament Soccer
promotional machine gave
away huge purses including
hundred of thousands of
dollars, corvettes, porches
and trucks. But his loyalty
to Tornado and the “Texas
Style” never wavered
and he waited patiently
for his table’s
turn in the limelight.
The
mid to late 1970’s
saw Tournament Soccer
dominate the nation’s
foosball scene. Other
foosball companies were
unable to compete with
the promotions that Lee
and his team offered.
Kids traveled the country
in their vans following
the Tournament Soccer
tour, living off foosball
and Mountain Dew. The
foosball phenomenon was
featured on ABC News,
Sports Illustrated and
60 Minutes.
Around
1979, with foosball at
its peak, another product
began appearing at the
local arcades and barrooms:
video games. Game distributors
quickly realized that
they could place two to
three video games in the
place of one foosball
table, eliminate the need
for constant maintenance,
and make several times
more money.
In
1980, it was the beginning
of the end for Tournament
Soccer. Pac-Man and Space
Invaders stormed across
the United States literally
pushing all the foosball
tables off to the side.
Table-sells dramatically
dropped. Interest in the
game waned. Finally, sensing
the end of foosball, Jim
Wiswell, one of the games
greatest and most popular
players, committed suicide
and all-but drove the
final nail into Tournament
Soccer’s coffin.
Following
the death of Wiswell,
in 1981, Peppard, looking
for a way to save his
company, partnered with
the video game manufacturer,
ATARI, for a $400,000
Tournament Games Spectacular
to be held in Chicago.
The first of its kind
tournament would feature
the foosball world championships
along with air hockey,
pool, darts and video
games.
A
smaller than anticipated
turnout created a prize
money shortage. Players
threatened to sue to get
their winnings. ATARI
withdrew support. The
Illinois State Attorney
General began an investigation
into fraud. Bankruptcy
followed. Foosball was
dead.
This
was the last Tournament
Soccer tournament. The
last tournament of the
Golden Era and a little
kid’s last chance
to fulfill his dream,
so he could go back home
to his grandmother and
say, “I won.”
This
is a story about foosball’s
struggle to survive. This
is a story about having
something to lean on when
every thing else has gone
wrong. This is a story
about what happens when
all you have left is a
game. This is foosball.
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