Players Committee advocates
Note: This page lists sourced Players Committee (PC) Advocate / Player Advocate names and roles from dated primary or archived pages. It does not invent biographies, exact term dates, or legal names behind forum handles. Uncertain spans are labeled. Parent narrative: History of the Players Committee.
The Players Committee advocates (also called Player Advocates / the Advocate Council on early PC sites) were volunteer leaders named by Decipher and later by the PC to support organized play, rules, design, tournaments, and community liaison after Decipher's print end-of-life.
Origin (Decipher call for volunteers): Decipher's Star Wars Announcement page invited players to volunteer for the players' committee (contact listed on that page) alongside Decipher and Lucas Licensing contacts, and linked the 01.25.02 "The Star Wars Players' Committee" announcement.[1] The Player Advocates / Players' Committee structure therefore begins in Decipher's public call for volunteers and the January 2002 committee announcement—not as an independent later invention. Details of that handoff also appear on History of the Players Committee.
First team (Decipher announcement, 25 January 2002)
Warren Holland (Chairman & CEO, Decipher), in a letter dated 25 January 2002 on Decipher's "The Star Wars Players' Committee" page, announced the first team of Star Wars Player Advocates selected from volunteer emails after the license announcement. The page states Advocates would meet Decipher in Norfolk the following week, receive the volunteer email list, work with Game Players Network on communications, handle prize shipping after 30 April 2002, and teased a forthcoming virtual-card pool.[2]
| Name | Role (as listed) |
|---|---|
| Michael Girard | Player support |
| John Arendt | Tournament support |
| Joe Helfrich | Rules support (listed with Greg Anderson) |
| Greg Anderson | Rules support (listed with Joe Helfrich) |
| Eric Olson | Gameplay support (listed with Doug Taylor) |
| Doug Taylor | Gameplay support (listed with Eric Olson) |
Person stubs for each of the six are linked above. Contemporary GPN interviewed Doug Taylor (Game Play Design) on 19 April 2002.[3] Josh Radke appears soon after as Player Relations & Marketing Advocate (Virtual Card Set #1 announce, 5 March 2002) but was not on this first six-person list.[4]
Advocate Council on swccgpc.com (2002)
The early official PC site at swccgpc.com published an Advocate Council roster.[5]
| Name | Role (as listed) |
|---|---|
| Greg Anderson | Rules Advocate |
| Jim Colson | Volunteer Coordination Advocate / Shadow Squadron Leader |
| Andrew Howard | Tournament Support Advocate |
| Eric Olson | Card Design Advocate |
| Josh Radke | Player Relations Advocate |
| Jason Robinette | Marketing Advocate |
| Doug Taylor | Card Design Advocate |
Contemporary homepage news (Wayback capture 6 November 2002) notes Josh "Red 84" Radke as PC Player Relations Advocate welcoming Andrew Howard as Tournament Support Advocate, replacing former Tournament Advocate John Arendt.[6]
Advocate Council updates (2004-2006)
Later council.htm captures show roster changes while keeping several continuing Advocates.[7][8] A PHP-Nuke Content page (pid=3, heading Advocates) on the same site continues that named roster into mid-2006.[9]
Snapshot ~June 2004
| Name | Role (as listed) |
|---|---|
| Greg Anderson | Rules Advocate |
| Jim Colson | Volunteer Coordination Advocate / Shadow Squadron Leader |
| Mitch Velasco | Tournament Support Advocate |
| (Vacant) | Card Design Advocate |
| (Vacant) | Player Relations and Marketing Advocate |
| Jason Robinette | Marketing Advocate |
| Doug Taylor | Card Design Advocate |
Snapshot ~August 2005
| Name | Role (as listed) |
|---|---|
| Greg Anderson | Rules Advocate |
| Jim Colson | Volunteer Coordination Advocate / Shadow Squadron Leader |
| Michael Carr | Tournament Support Advocate |
| Scott Lingrell | Card Design Advocate |
| Kevin Brownell | Player Relations and Marketing Advocate |
| Jason Robinette | Marketing Advocate |
| Doug Taylor | Card Design Advocate |
| Nick Kolnik | Marketing and Tournaments Advocate |
Snapshot ~May–June 2006
Official site Content page (pid=3) titled Advocates, intro "Welcome to the SWCCGPC Advocate Council". Page stamp Published on: 2006-05-01; Wayback capture 17 June 2006.[9] The eight names and roles match the ~August 2005 council.htm snapshot (continuity); this page adds Location fields and short "What I Do" blurbs (not reproduced in full here).
| Name | Role (as listed) | Location (as listed) |
|---|---|---|
| Greg Anderson | Rules Advocate | Northeast |
| Jim Colson | Volunteer Coordination Advocate/Shadow Squadron Leader | Huntsville, AL |
| Michael Carr | Tournament Support Advocate | Strasburg, PA |
| Scott Lingrell | Card Design Advocate | Fairless Hills, PA |
| Kevin Brownell | Player Relations and Marketing Advocate | Chicago, IL |
| Jason Robinette | Marketing Advocate | New York, NY |
| Doug Taylor | Card Design Advocate | Seattle, WA |
| Nick Kolnik | Marketing and Tournaments Advocate | St. Paul, MN |
Snapshot ~August 2008 (Encyclopedia Volunteer Information)
The PHP-Nuke Encyclopedia module on swccgpc.com includes a Volunteer Information category (eid=7) that publishes named Advocate Council, Key Volunteers, and Flight Leaders contacts. The locked Wayback capture of the Encyclopedia index is 31 August 2008; that index embeds the Volunteer roster in full.[10] This closes the prior "about pages omit names" gap for ~August 2008 specifically; it does not by itself prove continuous tenure from the 2006 Content pid=3 roster.
Hub page: swccgpc.com Encyclopedia.
Advocate Council (as listed)
| Name (handle) | Role (as listed) |
|---|---|
| Tamas Papp (Yoda007) | Communications Advocate |
| Scott Lingrell (CRingwell) | Design Advocate |
| Doug Taylor (DougRed4) | Design Advocate |
| Michael Erisman (mserisman) | Marketing Advocate |
| Jim Colson (ShadowLeader) | Prize Support Advocate |
| Chuck Sonnenburg (Sonn) | Rules Advocate |
| Henry Dunn (WampaX) | Tournament Advocate |
Key Volunteers (as listed)
| Name (handle) | Role (as listed) |
|---|---|
| Evan Fitzgerald (PapaLorax) | Website Admin |
| Chris Menzel (Shadow14) | European Tournament Coordinator |
| Cedric Simon (simone89) | Tournament Committee Lead |
| Brandon Schele (Schele) | Competitive Balance Team Lead |
| Mike Tomashewski (Shewski) | Player Created Card Team Co-Lead |
| Lee Edwards (Terron) | Player Created Card Team Co-Lead |
Flight Leaders (regional tournament contacts)
The same capture lists Flight Leaders by region (system-name labels with geographic coverage). Regions marked TBD on the page are omitted from the table below; named rows are reproduced as listed (handle then name).[10]
| Region label (coverage) | Handle | Name (as listed) |
|---|---|---|
| Alderaan (California, Hawaii) | imrahil327 | Chris Schoenthal |
| Bespin (Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota) | deadbody | Garrett Larson |
| Chandrila (Italy) | DDM | David Destefanis |
| Coruscant (New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania) | noscreenname | Steve Jones |
| Death Star (Online) | Psychobabble | Jeremy Jose |
| Dagobah (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi) | rancor34 | John Yakulevich |
| Dantooine (Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas) | mr007agent | Michael Richards |
| Endor (Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming) | Shadow 13 | Ryan French |
| Hoth:North Ridge (Alaska, Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Northwest Territory, Saskatchewan, Yukon) | silee | Simon Lee |
| Kashyyyk (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont) | WiseMarsellus | Tom Hollingworth |
| Mon Calamari (Australia, New Zealand) | LCJK | Lee Clarke |
| Naboo (United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland) | Darren Pilbeam | Darren Pilbeam |
| Ralltiir (Germany, Switzerland, Austria) | Shadow 14 | Chris Menzel |
| Ryloth (Netherlands) | FlorisV | Paul van Hoorne |
| Sullust (Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Greece, Turkey) | Yoda007 | Tamas Papp |
| Tatooine (Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah) | CategoryOneGames.com | Scott Church |
| Tierfon (Belgium) | irol / Lambrecht Anagend | Stefaan / Kris Van Beurden |
| Toola (Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Iceland) | Thomas Caspersen | Thomas Caspersen |
| Yavin 4 (Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virgina, Washington D.C., West Virginia) | aglets | Tim Simon |
TBD on the capture (not tabled): Concord Dawn - France; Corellia - Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin; Hoth:Ice Plains - New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec; Ithor - Spain, Portugal; Ord Mantell - Japan; Outer Rim - Countries not listed.
Spelling note: The capture types the Yavin 4 coverage string with "Virgina"; the table preserves that spelling from the HTML.[10]
Remaining mid-era gap (after Aug 2008 into early starwarsccg.org)
Public named Advocate Council lists are still thin between this ~August 2008 Encyclopedia Volunteer snapshot and the ~October 2014 starwarsccg.org About handles block in the sources used here. Contemporary about / "Who We Are" pages from 2008–2010 describe the PC historically but often omit a named Advocate roster in the archived HTML checked for this page.[11][12]
Do not silently equate 2006 Content pid=3 roles with 2008 Encyclopedia titles (several role labels and people change across those captures).
Current Advocates block (~October 2014)
A starwarsccg.org About page capture lists a "Current Advocates" section. Several entries use forum handles rather than legal names; the Lead Advocate slot is labeled only "Advocate" in the archived markup (appears placeholder). Bios on that capture are mostly empty "About..." stubs.[13]
| Name / handle (as listed) | Role (as listed) | Later name resolution (org chart only where proven) |
|---|---|---|
| Advocate (as labeled) | Lead Advocate | Later org charts name Scott Lingrell as Lead Advocate with forum handle advocate (see 2021 / 2024 sections). The 2014 page itself does not print that legal name.[14][15] |
| Shewski | Design Advocate | Unresolved on this page (not on checked org-chart Advocate header rows) |
| imrahil327 | Tournament Advocate | Chris Schoenthal (Tournament Advocate on 2021 and 2024 org charts)[14][15] |
| raith | Marketing Advocate | Unresolved on this page (not on checked org-chart Advocate header rows) |
| darkjediknight11 | Communications Advocate | Keith Brown (Communications Advocate on 2021 and 2024 org charts)[14][15] |
| LukesBionicHand | Rules Advocate | Unresolved on this page (not on checked org-chart Advocate header rows) |
| ShadowLeader | Collecting Advocate | Unresolved on this page (not on checked org-chart Advocate header rows) |
| DougRed4 | Historical Advocate | Unresolved as a legal-name identity from the org charts cited here (see note below) |
Note: DougRed4 matches the early contact local-part used for Doug Taylor on Decipher's first-Advocates page (dougred4); this page does not treat that as proven identity continuity beyond the handle string without a primary statement equating them on the 2014 page, and the PC org charts cited below do not list DougRed4 / Doug Taylor on the Advocate header rows.[2][13][14][15]
PC organization chart Advocates (2021)
The public PC organization chart PDF (CreationDate 8 July 2021; Wayback capture of https://res.starwarsccg.org/orgchart/orgchart.pdf on 5 October 2021) lists a Lead Advocate and six role Advocates with legal names and forum handles.[14]
| Name | Role (as listed) | Handle (as listed) | Role contact (as listed) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scott Lingrell | Lead Advocate | advocate | (personal address on chart; omitted here) |
| Greg Zinn | Rules Advocate | Gergall | rules@starwarsccg.org |
| Matt Carulli | Special Projects & Multimedia Advocate | quickdraw3457 | multimedia@starwarsccg.org |
| Jared Napolitano | Marketing Advocate | Jnapolit31 | marketing@starwarsccg.org |
| Chris Kelly | Design Advocate | chriskelly | design@starwarsccg.org |
| Chris Schoenthal | Tournament Advocate | imrahil327 | tournaments@starwarsccg.org |
| Keith Brown | Communications Advocate | darkjediknight11 | communications@starwarsccg.org |
Also on the same chart (not labeled Advocate on the Advocate header row): Casey Anis — Legal (handle spideyguy0); Chris Gogolen — PC Store Manager (handle gogolen). Mentioned here only as related org-chart roles; this page does not inflate them as Advocates.[14]
PC organization chart Advocates (2024 / current)
A later public org chart PDF (CreationDate 6 May 2024; live https://res.starwarsccg.org/orgchart/orgchart.pdf as of the snapshot used for this page) again lists Lead Advocate Scott Lingrell and six role Advocates.[15]
| Name | Role (as listed) | Handle (as listed) | Role contact (as listed) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scott Lingrell | Lead Advocate | advocate | (personal address on chart; omitted here) |
| Greg Zinn | Rules Advocate | Gergall | rules@starwarsccg.org |
| Jared Napolitano | Marketing Advocate | Jnapolit31 | marketing@starwarsccg.org |
| Chris Kelly | Design Advocate | chriskelly | design@starwarsccg.org |
| Mike Kessling | Production Advocate | Kessling | production@starwarsccg.org |
| Chris Schoenthal | Tournament Advocate | imrahil327 | tournaments@starwarsccg.org |
| Keith Brown | Communications Advocate | darkjediknight11 | communications@starwarsccg.org |
Turnover vs 2021 Advocate row
- Present 2021, absent from 2024 Advocate header row: Matt Carulli (Special Projects & Multimedia Advocate).[14][15]
- Added on 2024 Advocate header row vs 2021: Mike Kessling (Production Advocate).[14][15]
- Continuous on both Advocate header rows: Lead Scott Lingrell; Greg Zinn (Rules); Jared Napolitano (Marketing); Chris Kelly (Design); Chris Schoenthal (Tournament); Keith Brown (Communications).[14][15]
Wayback CDX for this PDF path showed only the 20211005 capture in the check used here; the May 2024 file is cited from the live res.starwarsccg.org URL plus its PDF CreationDate.[14][15]
Gaps
- Exact start/end dates for most Advocate terms beyond the dated captures above.
- Named roster coverage after the ~August 2008 Encyclopedia Volunteer snapshot into ~2014 About handles remains thin in checked IA samples (about pages often omit names).
- Legal names behind remaining 2014 forum handles not proven by the org charts cited here: raith, LukesBionicHand. (Aug 2008 Encyclopedia Volunteer Information lists Mike Tomashewski as Shewski, Jim Colson as ShadowLeader, and Doug Taylor as DougRed4—those three handles are evidenced for 2008, not automatically for 2014 continuity.)
- Continuity of 2014 roles into 2021/2024 for handles that changed (e.g. Design: Shewski on 2014 About vs Chris Kelly / chriskelly on org charts)—do not invent overlap without a dated primary.
- Whether every Decipher "support" label maps 1:1 onto later "Advocate" titles (roles evolved; cite each era's own wording).
- Person stubs not yet created for every mid-era name (Colson, Robinette, Velasco, Carr, Brownell, Kolnik, and unresolved 2014 handles).
See also
- History of the Players Committee
- Players Committee
- Doug Taylor · Josh Radke · Michael Girard · John Arendt · Joe Helfrich · Greg Anderson · Eric Olson · Andrew Howard
- Scott Lingrell · Greg Zinn · Matt Carulli · Jared Napolitano · Chris Kelly · Chris Schoenthal · Keith Brown · Mike Kessling
- starwarsccg.org
- Current PC organization chart PDF
Sources
- Decipher Star Wars Announcement (volunteer call) (Wayback, 1 June 2002)
- Decipher Players' Committee announcement (Wayback, 11 June 2002; letter 25 January 2002)
- GPN Interview With The Advocates, Part 1 (Doug Taylor) (posted 19 April 2002)
- Virtual Card Set #1 is Away! (Wayback; signed Josh "Red 84" Radke, 5 March 2002)
- swccgpc.com homepage (Wayback, 6 November 2002)
- council.htm (Wayback, 9 December 2002)
- council.htm (Wayback, 3 June 2004)
- council.htm (Wayback, 29 August 2005)
- Advocates (Content pid=3) (published 2006-05-01; Wayback, 17 June 2006)
- swccgpc.com about (Wayback, 25 September 2008)
- starwarsccg.org about (Wayback, 6 July 2009)
- starwarsccg.org about (Wayback, 9 October 2014)
- PC organization chart PDF (Wayback, 5 October 2021; PDF CreationDate 8 July 2021)
- PC organization chart PDF (live; PDF CreationDate 6 May 2024 for the snapshot used here)
References
- ↑ The Star Wars Announcement, decipher.com (Wayback, 1 June 2002)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 The Star Wars Players' Committee, decipher.com (Wayback, 11 June 2002; letter dated 25 January 2002)
- ↑ Interview With The Advocates, Part 1: Doug Taylor, Game Players Network, Duane Bruun, posted 19 April 2002 (Wayback, 20 January 2003)
- ↑ Virtual Card Set #1 is Away!, decipher.com (Wayback; signed 5 March 2002)
- ↑ Advocate Council, swccgpc.com (Wayback, 9 December 2002)
- ↑ The SWCCG Player's Committee, swccgpc.com (Wayback, 6 November 2002)
- ↑ Advocate Council, swccgpc.com (Wayback, 3 June 2004)
- ↑ Advocate Council, swccgpc.com (Wayback, 29 August 2005)
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Advocates, swccgpc.com Content pid=3 (published 2006-05-01; Wayback capture 17 June 2006)
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Encyclopedia, swccgpc.com modules.php?name=Encyclopedia (Wayback, 31 August 2008; Volunteer Information / eid=7 content embedded on index)
- ↑ Who We Are / about, swccgpc.com (Wayback, 25 September 2008)
- ↑ about, starwarsccg.org (Wayback, 6 July 2009)
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 About, starwarsccg.org (Wayback, 9 October 2014)
- ↑ 14.00 14.01 14.02 14.03 14.04 14.05 14.06 14.07 14.08 14.09 PC Organization Chart PDF, CreationDate 8 July 2021; Wayback capture 5 October 2021 of https://res.starwarsccg.org/orgchart/orgchart.pdf (only CDX hit for this path in the check used here)
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 15.5 15.6 15.7 15.8 PC Organization Chart PDF, CreationDate 6 May 2024; live https://res.starwarsccg.org/orgchart/orgchart.pdf (snapshot used for this page)