Play Meter

Coinman of the Month
DON VAN BRACKEL
This month's Coinman, Don Van Brackel, has
been the president for the A.M. O.A. during its 30th
anniversary year.
It's been a hectic year for him-in some ways it's
been a year filled with rewarding experiences, but
in other ways it's been fiUed with absolute futility.
He's traveled around the country presenting the
A.M. O.A.'s audio-visual package to the various
state associations, and in the process has rubbed
shoulders with hundreds of other operators (an
experience that was as rewarding for him as it was
for others). But then there were those countless
meetings with the Copyright Office and the
Copyright Royalty Tribunal and the performing
rights societies over the compulsory jukebox
copyright law. And therein must lie his frustrations
for the past year.
Don himself has been in the industry for 22 years,
since he was 18. Through various acquisitions,
expansions, and just plain good business sense he
has developed A. Van Brackel & Sons into a large
operation with 2200 pieces of equipment, though
14
some of those pieces are vending machines. Music,
as you wiU find out in this interview, plays a big
part in his route (he operates 475 jukeboxes); but he
has a fuU complement of pinbaU macMnes (385),
pool tables (275), and video and arcade games.
In all, A. Van Brackel & Sons, which is
headquartered in Defiance, Ohio, employs 44
people in Defiance and its three other offices-Lima
and Forest, Ohio, and Adrian, Michigan.
His wife's name is Donnie, and his four children
could be neatly assembled under the name "AU
Jays." There's Julie, 18 (who's in college); Joe, 16;
Jennifer, 15; and Jean, 10. A member of the
Defiance Rotary Club and the Elks Lodge, Don is
also a former member on the Defiance city school
board. He 's a member of his state association (The
Ohio Music ' and Amusement Association). His
favorite pasttimes are boating and snow mobiling.
What, he was asked, does a newcomer need if he
plans to get into this business?
His reply: "A strong personality and a
tremendous amount of financial backing."
PLAY METER , November, 1978