James Ray
James Ray was a Decipher-era Squadron Member, listed as Gold 76 from Mentor, Oh. The published fan table marks the slot Retired after Decipher's SWCCG run.
Born in 1950, he holds a PhD in Chemistry from Cornell. He became a tournament director in mid-1997 and joined the squadron months later, ran family-supported tournaments east of Cleveland, and helped Ryan Patterson start out.[1]
In their own words
I am most likely one of the older squadron members in age, coming into this world in 1950. I have a PhD in Chemistry from Cornell University, where I met Kathy McCracken, who now writes for Decipher as Major Rakal(It's such a small world!!). We currently live in Mentor, Ohio, a Cleveland suburb located to the city's east, on the southern shores of Lake Erie.
We, my wife Cheryl, and two boys, Anthony and Nathan, first enjoyed Decipher's Star Trek CCG, before Star Wars CCG was introduced. Finally, the temptation was overwhelming and that first Star Wars CCG starter deck was purchased. The males of our family quickly migrated to the Star Wars CCG universe, but Cheryl, bless her heart, still provides a tremendous amount of assistance during our Star Wars CCG tournaments, for which I am truly grateful.
It has almost become a family Christmas tradition to buy a few boxes of either the latest Star Wars or Star Trek (yes, we still collect them too) CCG boosters as a family present, divide the commons/uncommons evenly, then spread the rares over the dining room table and draft with great excitement.
My road to becoming a squadron member is a common one traveled by many others. Despite frequent trips to Decipher's web site a few years ago, no local sanctioned Star Wars CCG tournaments could be found, and we were traveling 2-3 hours to play. I became a sanctioned tournament director in mid-1997 in the hopes of recruiting more local sanctioned TDs, and joined the squadron ranks a few months later. Fortunately, there are now several sanctioned Star Wars CCG TDs and an additional Squadron member (Ryan Patterson) in the area, though I can't take credit for the increase. Our next goal is to have a local representative at a Star Wars CCG world championship in the near future, and we are working on the means to accomplish the goal. Certainly, one of the means is to foster a robust, vibrant environment that mentors the beginners and challenges the veterans.
Take care one and all. And, of course, May The Force Be With You, Always.[1]
Service
| Dates | Service |
|---|---|
| August 1999 – January 2001 | Squadron Member Gold 76, Corellia region; Mentor, OH[2]; Decipher profile page[1][3] |
| From mid-1997 | Tournament director; ran tournaments east of Cleveland[1] |
Decipher recruited volunteer Squadron Members in the 1990s to promote SWCCG locally (tournaments, demos, player support). "FL" is printed on some slots in the surviving tables.
See also
- Squadron Members · Anagrams · Creators of SWCCG · Radio Free Decipher
- Corellian Engineering Corporation (fan site)
External links
- Decipher SWCCG Squadron Members (Players Committee reprint). Preserved copy: Internet Archive
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Star Wars CCG Squadrons: Gold 76 profile, decipher.com. Preserved copy: Internet Archive
- ↑ Star Wars CCG Squadrons: Corellia, decipher.com (listings August 1999 – January 2001). Preserved copy: Internet Archive
- ↑ Squadron Members, geocities.ws/plarathas (Corellian Engineering Corporation fan site). Preserved copy: Internet Archive