RIP Randy Chase

[Izulde]

Randy's son posted on the WS boards that he passed away.


Hi everyone,

I am Jonathan Chase, Randy's son. My dad passed away on February 20th, suddenly and without warning, at the age of 56. I know he absolutely loved the basketball sim, he'd tell me about his Ducks team all the time and the experiments he'd run with them. He kept records of everything, in fact the day he passed he left his log open with notes about the current season and what kind of recruiting he planned for next year.

I really don't know the community here or how many of you knew my dad, but I thought I should let you know. If any of you happen to be in Portland, OR we'll be having a big party for my dad on the 22nd. Send an E-mail to Jonathan <AT> Jonathan Chase <dot> net for the details. My dad passed away getting ready for a party, he was feeling great and in a very good mood, so I think I need to give him a good one.

Thanks for giving him such pleasure with this game, I know he truly enjoyed it and, as a game designer himself, he was impressed with it.

-Jonathan Chase (Portland, OR)

Man, I loved the Doonesbury Election Game.

This really sucks. :(

[M GO BLUE!!!]

The son has the right idea. RIP (Rest in Party!)

[Gary Gorski]

This is very sad news - I had gotten to know Randy over the past couple of years. He really enjoyed my college basketball game and we spent tons of time trading emails and posts about the game. We talked on the phone about possibly working together at some point in the future - he had some fantastic design things he had done with Power Politics. I was always very flattered that someone with his reputation and programming skill was taken in with one of my games.

If you ever had the chance to talk with Randy you know what a great guy he was. He was just a genuinely nice guy - talked about all kids of things like his experiences in the gaming industry all the way to his son's band and other interests of his family. I'm just kind of rambling on but this is just a total shock to me right now and it sucks that such a really, really good guy had to go so young.

[Shaun Sullivan]

This is horrible news. I loved the guy. We traded emails and had conversations all the way back to the Front Page Sports: Football days.

You will be missed buddy.

Shaun

[stevew]

Power Politics was such an awesome game for its time. RIP

[kcchief19]

I was a huge Power Politics fan too. Very sad to hear. Sounds like he was a great guy to be so involved with what Gary and Shaun were doing. RIP

[RainMaker]

I didn't know him but played Power Politics a ton when I was young. Game was well ahead of its time.

[Tim Tellean]

Randy was truly a class act, he will be sorely missed by all.

[Tim Tellean]

Reprinted from Wolverine Studios forum:
<hr style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" size="1"> <!-- / icon and title --> <!-- message --> Hi everyone,

I'm using my dad's account to post here, seems better than creating a new one. He had all sorts of basketball files spread across two computers, I plan to consolidate them and post what I can online for you guys to look through. There are game / season logs he kept which will be easy to put up, and if I can figure out how all that mod stuff works maybe I can put his files online so others can play with the custom stuff he built. I don't know how all that works or what file types to look for but if nothing else maybe I can zip the whole mess into one or two files and let someone else figure out what's what.

I thought I'd tell you a little more about my dad. About three years ago he made a sports fan out of me. I never liked sports; I watched the Blazer's in the early 90's and I watched the Super Bowl for several years, but mostly for the ads. In 2006 I saw my dad sit down every Saturday to watch a football game where everybody wore crazy green uniforms and he really enjoyed it, so I sat down to watch with him. He taught me about the Oregon Ducks and the game of football and by the end of the season I was hooked. The NFL is okay but College Football was what my dad really loved, it was his favorite because it's so open and fun and far less predictable.

We watched the games every Saturday and I became a hardcore fan, a beaver-taunting shout-at-the-TV swear-at-the-BCS-Polls football fan. The 2007 season made us very close, to the point where my mom would have to leave the house on game day because she couldn't deal with us. My little brother Eric, who's 14, even got matching Ducks shirts and we all wore them together. I'll never forget the day Dennis Dixon and the Ducks beat USC in 2007 and my dad giving me a high-five with a huge grin on his face. The 2008 season was great too and we had a blast this last year, capped with a huge win in the Civil War and the dramatic win at the Holiday Bowl.

My dad also loved the Ducks Basketball team, heck you have to really love something to spend as much time simming them as he did with this game! We watched the last Elite Eight trip and had a good time, after the tournament was over he said "Well we didn't win it all but we stayed close when we played the (eventual) champions better than just about anyone in the tournament."

He had many passions, in the past he was a DJ, journalist (software reviewer), programmer, game designer, writer, technical writer, and he also really knew his way around a pool table. I could go on all night about the things he loved, from his massive record collection to the ridiculous hours he spent creating his games to the excitement he showed when I became a musician and started working at this thing he loved so much, music.

I'll share one other story and then give you all a break.

My dad loved jigsaw puzzles, to the point where he moved a big table and lamps into our living room behind the couch so he could work on them while he ate or watched TV with us. He'd even get a bowl of ice cream and sit there at the table reading a book and working on a puzzle before bed. He'd do mystery puzzles with Eric and they'd look for hidden messages or try to solve poorly-written mystery stories with them. Since no one wants to do the same puzzle twice, and puzzles are expensive, he started asking around on Craigslist to see if anyone wanted to swap puzzles with him. It grew into a small group and then a larger one, and the Portland Puzzle Exchange was born.

My mom is a CNA teacher and every month or two he'd use her classroom after hours, all these puzzle enthusiasts from around town would meet and trade puzzles. My dad's rule was "Everybody leaves with more puzzles than they came with." In the end he had so many puzzles that he would put them in big plastic tubs and fill his entire minivan with them, with even more left at home!

February 20th was just 11 days after his 56th birthday, and it was the one-year birthday of the Puzzle Exchange. To celebrate they were having a party at the classroom in the evening. My dad was excited about it all day, a friend even stopped by and she commented on how happy he was and how much he must enjoy his puzzle group. That day he told me that someone was baking a cake and that they were up to 40 people on the mailing list (but the actual turnout was more in the 15-20 range most months).

He took his puzzles to the classroom early to unload them, then went back when my mom finished her class for the day. He visited with her and then she left to meet someone at our house while he set up for his party. He even called just to say hello, and then he hung up signs in the window and on the front of his van so everyone would know where to park and where to find the party.

He wasn't there alone for more than 15 minutes but when the other people arrived for the party he was on the floor. We rushed down there to find the paramedics working on him but it was his time to go, and he was gone. He wasn't sick or feeling bad or anything, in fact he'd been to the doctor not that long ago and his health was okay. He was having a great day and very excited about his party.

It's been incredibly difficult for all of us, especially my mom. I have been trying to keep things together, calling people, slowly sorting through his office and computers, and organizing the party I'm having for him next Sunday. We never imagined this could happen, it came without warning and the new world we're living in his very strange. I get things done during the day, but at night when everyone goes to bed its different.

We were down here in the basement together, me in my room here and him down the hall in his office. We'd go out on the deck and talk about football, basketball, politics or the news while he smoked or I'd sit in his office and we'd chat. Sometimes he'd come out to watch me play a football game on the Xbox or just lean against the wall outside my door and we'd talk before we both went to bed late at night. Night was when it was just the two of us down here in our own little world, and its nights like this that are the hardest. I'm lucky if I can get to sleep even an hour before the sun comes up.

Well I better let you all get back to your basketball talk, but I will try to post some of his files online. If anyone has suggestions on how to locate his mod-related files or share his custom creations with the rest of you please let me know.

Thanks for listening,
-Jonathan Chase (Portland, OR)

[Icy]

Really sad news, he was really involved in the basketball game community. He will be really missed.