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Horton won the title in open
doubles with partner Mike Green. also
of Tampa. Horton and his partner Tina
Rhoton of Denver. Colorado. captured
the mixed doubles championship. In
the open singles category. Bacon won
the match.
A new world's record of speed was
set by Dave Gummeson of Minneapo-
lis. Minnesota. when he blasted his pull
shot past the dynameter (an elec-
tronic device designed to record the
speed of the forward 's shot) at 28.8
miles per hour or about 500 inches per
second. The previous record. set in Salt
Lake City in July was 28.2 miles per
hour.
Joe Dechene. a player from Con-
necticut. designed the dynameter.
The best forwards and goalies
were Cindy Head and Tina Rhoton in
the Women's Division and Don Chali-
foux and Tony Bacon in the Men's
Division. Sportsmanship honors went
to Kathy Brainard and Bob Maloney
Johnny Horton won the 1985 Player of
the Year award.
During the championship. the
United States Table Soccer Association
(USTSA) directors voted unanimously
to be the tenth nation to join the Inter-
national Confederation of Table
Soccer. Goals of the group include
standardizaiton of rules and equip-
ment as well as a push for recognition
by the International Olympic commit-
tee. Sidi Airouss. Belgian player and
director of the International Con-
federation of Table Soccer. attended
the tournament as well as two repre-
sentatives from Luxembourg. As a
result of meetings during the tourna-
ment the 1986 Dynamo Tour will
include two S 15.000 European stops.
one in Belgium and one in Luxem-
bourg. currently set for next Septem-
ber.
The USTSA will sponsor the 1985-86
International Table Soccer League
this fall. Details are available from
USTSA E. 3227 22nd Ave .. Spokane.
Washington 99223. Telephone 509/
534-4580.
•
Henderson opens
distributorship
Anyone who bought a seat for the
roller coaster ride called the coin-op
games industry knows that all have
been hit hard. Even the largest dis-
tributing chains. with substantial cash
backing. have been unable to keep
their heads above water It seems
strange. then. that one of the most
12
experienced distributing people in
the industry decided to pick 1985 as
the year to open his own distributing
company. Strange. that is. until Steve
Henderson tells you why he recently
opened Operators Distributing. Inc. in
his home town of High Point. North
Carolina.
In many ways. the beginning of
1985 was one of the worst times for dis-
tributors. To Henderson. a ten-year
industry veteran. it signalled oppor-
tunity.
" I asked operators why they
weren't buying through their local dis-
tributors and I got some very interest-
ing answers." Henderson said.
Henderson knows plenty of opera-
tors who will give him answers. He
started in the industry in route service
in 1975 for J.H. Matthews of High Point.
In 1980 he moved to Raleigh to work
with Palmetto State Distributing. Then.
in 1983. he left North Carolina to open
a Shreveport. Louisiana. branch of
Dallas based Southwest Vending .
Henderson later took over the Okla-
homa City branch of Southwest Vend-
Ing and managed most of the com-
pany's distributor operations from
there .
"In order to recover from the losses
from bad accounts. distributors were
increasing their prices:· Henderson
continued . "Operators I talked with
tdld me they felt it was necessary to
find other sources.
"The point is. they hadn't stopped
buying equipment . They just weren't
buying it from the traditional distribu-
tor network any more "
In fact. Henderson discovered. the
only operators who were making
money were the ones who were
buying new equipment. "They were
buying. They were just doing it very
carefully ," he explained . "They
waited for test earnings reports and
talked to other operators. They bought
kits. too. to upgrade old inventory. And
they learned to be as selective about
kits as they were about dedicated
games."
Armed with that kind of informa-
tion. and believing that the industry
was well on its way to emerging from
its recession . Henderson returned
home from Oklahoma City in January
to start up Operators Distributing. Inc
By May. his philosophy of offering only
well tested games at fair prices was
producing so well he was able to
move to newer and larger facilities.
" I figured if I could survive the first
year. I'd have made it through the tail
end of the industry depression:· he
concluded "I guess it helps that I know
PLAY METER. November 1 . 1965