( o ntmued fro m pag 8)
Player Loti
panies that Peppard be allowed to
stay afloat. For any of them to
demand timely payment would
apparently only have caused
Peppard's bankruptcy . And since
Peppard's debt to each of these com-
panies was already very great
indeed, none of the three was in a
position to do anything which would
compromise Peppard's ability to pay
back what he already owed.
It was a diffrent story with some of
the other creditors, however. One-
time creditors, which had no vested
interest in .the continued viability of
Peppard'sTG I, had to be first on the
list to be paid . Such was the case
with •he hotel which wanted an iron -
clad guarantee that it would get paid,
the decorating company which
wanted its cash up front, and the
retail chain which was supposed to
supply some of the prizes .
The hotel ended up getting a co-
signer who figures he is now stuck
with about a $20,000 hotel bill. The
decorating company got its money
up front from Peppard. And the retail
c hain , Video Concepts, which was
supposed to be paid by Peppard
within 30 days of delivery of the
goods, did not deliver any goods
because news of the tournament
colla ps e reac hed them before any
de live ries were made.
And then there was a third tier of
c r ditors - the players.
Pl ayer s
TGJ' P ppo rd
Atori' Ballo u/.
10
Over the years, Peppard culti-
vated a lord/ serf relationship with his
players. Through his pro tour of big
money foosball tournaments all over
the country , he had attracted a
d dicat ed core of journeymen foos -
ballers who would follow his tourna-
ments from one city to the next to
clean up on the prize money.
No matter"where his tournaments
we re held , because the prize money
was there, the same names would
come up as big winners- Johnny
Loti , Doug Furry , Dan Kaiser ,
Mic hael Bowers, Lori Schran z, Tom
Spear, Faye McWilliams , Steve
Simon , and Ricky Martin. There
were other , of course, and they all
became touring pros , supporting
themselves on their tournament
winnings and/ or bets from challenge
mat c hes with lesser skilled players.
And thos at the top of the heap
were given an opportunity for some-
thing more , a job. Many of the big
tournament winners ended up at one
time or another during their foosball
pl a ying c areers as Peppard ' s
employees. They went on the road,
staging exhibitions in hopes of
stimulating player interest in the
sport and Peppard's product.
What is noteworthy here is that ,
unlike other promotional companies
where employees of the sponsoring
firm are ineligible from winning any
prize money, the pros in Peppard's
employ were encouraged to
compete in the tournaments , to
sha rpen their skills and to win for
themselves even more money.
And many of those who were not
employed by Peppard were, never-
theless, equally dependent upon his
big money tournaments to support
themselves. As a result , when
Peppard's cash squeeze got tighter ,
it was easy for the tables to turn to
the point where the players felt
indebted to the man and the
company that had been supporting
them all these years with his tourna-
ments. The players became potential
secondary creditors - like U .S .
Billiards , Sutra , and Arachnid -
because they too had a vested
interest in the continued viability of
Peppard's promotional scheme.
Rubber chec k
Then the video game boom hit ,
and one of the first casualties was
foosball . The bottom dropped out of
the market. Fewer and fewer players
were playing the game; and , as a
result , fewer and fewer operators
were buying the tables, and that
made it increasingly difficult for
Peppard to make good on his ever-
inc reasing debts.
Still , he forged ahead with a
$150,000 regional tournament in
Portland, Oregon in April , 1980, and
players were issued {apparently for
the first time) rubber checks.
Then a month later, at a $100,000
regional tournament in Chicago ,
Peppard again issued rubber c hecks
to players.
And again, two months later at a
$25,000 satellite tournament in Los
Angeles, more players were issued
bad checks.
The situation was critical. Peppard
explained to the players that the ba d
checks were a temporary condition ,
an unanticipated cash flow problem
that would be worked out shortly .
And he apparently promis d to
make good on the checks within 30
days.
According to Johnny Loti , one of
the foosball players, Peppard "didn 't
pay the players in the time frame he
originally told them. I don't believe it
was because he was blatantly lying or
misrepresenting," said Loll. "It 's just
that he wasn't able to ."
Loti went on to say that , bv the
(C ontinued on page 16)
PLAY METER , Februar 1, 1982