Andy – part 6
“American
Dream Tuesday’s” – The Blake interview
It was
just one day after I met with Chris, Courtney, Chad and Ashley when I
found myself back at Token to interview Andy’s best friend – Blake.
Courtney had shared that this was a must do interview as the two of
them were close. She also told me that Blake was devastated by Andy’s
passing and to be prepared for that. I messaged him first thing
Monday morning and he was eager to talk about his friend. He followed
that message with a friend request to me on Facebook which I
gratefully accepted – friends of Andy’s were turning out to be the
best people I had ever met. We sat down at a table near the door
because the comfortable coach area was already occupied by some folks
playing board games. It was just before 6pm when I walked in on
Monday October 22nd.
It was chilly out and I was happy to get inside where Token was
already hopping. Young families with toddlers, a baby or 2. Lots of
young couples. Everyone was having fun. The wait staff was on their
game and the usual laid back, not too loud vibe was in play. I made a
mental note to visit more – it was nice, really nice. I shook hands
with Blake, said hello and just before we began the interview I got
an email notification on my phone. It was from Donny Gillies, the
famous graphic artist – or better known in the Pinball world as
“Dirty Donny”. My wife’s custom “sparky” for her Metallica
machine was in the works and Donny had messaged me to let me know.
Andy would have flipped. If you’re not a Pinhead, you won’t
understand. That’s OK, Andy would have. I briefly explained to Blake
my role in writing this story and started with the interview anxious
to learn even more about Andy.
Blake began “So I met Andy around 2013-14, because a friend of mine wanted to buy a pinball machine. He saw an ad on Craigslist for a Bally Judge Dredd and took me along because I already owned a Whirlwind pinball and could help him with the purchase. Little did I know the seller was Andrew Henderson. Andy spent a ton of time answering my buddy’s questions, pointing out what was wrong with the game, etc. His focus was obviously on my buddy because he was the buyer. About a month later i got a call from Andy. “Hey man.Remember me the JD guy? Want to come over and play some pinball?”I went over and he and I became fast friends overnight.
Blake observed “We had so much in common and, there was of course pinball. At the time I remember Andy had this amazing quality Stern Spiderman, a Stern AC/DC and a Williams Whitewater too. We played that Spiderman for 4 straight hours! As I played the score just went up and up. I was really blowing that machine up. So much so that Andy started texting Darin – hey this guy just crossed 100mm on SM! By the end of the night it was like I had known Andy my whole life. I just felt comfortable with him. He told me the story of how he got started in pinball. He was actually an arcade guy to begin with and owned a really nice killer instinct cabinet arcade. He found a perfect quality Hyperball (me: not really a pinball) and traded his way into it.” As he told Blake “it was so nice, I had to trade”. Finally Andy had a shot at a “real” pinball when a Sega Harley Davidson came on the market. Andy worked it out to get rid of the Hyperball and bring the Sega machine home. He finally had his first pinball.
As I listened to Blake share this story the irony was not lost on me. Here we are celebrating the life of the nicest person I have ever met, who finances his pinball adventure by selling an arcade titled “killer instinct” for a Hyperball game that all pinheads know is not even a pinball machine. An ironic start for a guy we all associate with the Pinball hobby we love.
Blake continued “Andy shared with me that his interest in pinball started at a young age as he played as a kid” his interest seemed to lie in tweaking his games, modding them, repairing them,etc. Mine were on the gameplay side. I liked to play first, to know and exploit the rules, etc. We made a great team because we complimented each other well. Andy literally treated me like family.The first time I met Ida and her mom, I was made to feel the same. Andy was of course invited to my wedding. As usual he waited until late in the evening before going up to the DJ for a special request.He did not want to inconvenience the guest by asking to play a specific song when it wasn’t his place. He came up to me and said“Dude, check it out” and as I listened the opening of the Who’s Pinball Wizard came blaring from the speakers.
I paused
the interview for a moment as I had just received a text from my Mom
in upstate NY. My Dad (who has Andy’s disease) had been transported
by ambulance from a regional hospital to a larger facility and was
just being transferred to ICU. I shared that with Blake and he was
immediately emotional about it – shared how sorry he was. Andy sure
knew how to pick friends. Blake had empathy in spades
I
asked Blake to share one of his favorite Pinball memories of Andy. He
didn’t hesitate “One of my favorite memories of Andy was our 2017
trip to Southern Fried Gaming Expo in Atlanta where we played Time
Fantasy for 3.5 hours. He loved that game, loved the aesthetic, loved
the shots, and loved the 3 pops in the middle. It was a Barry Oursler
game and if it was for sale, Andy would have bought it on The spot.
We spent 3 full days down there and i remember those as very special
days for him and me. What i appreciated was that they were whole days
together. Not just a few hours but long days of enjoying each other’s
company, shooting the breeze, eating great food and playing pinball
nonstop. By the time Sunday came and it was time to leave, we were
all Pinballed out. We had played for almost 11 hours during the
event. We decided we would fuel up for the trip home by stopping at
“Rise-N-Dine” and having a huge breakfast! So we did. Get
there around 9am which was early for us. Andy was thrilled. After
all, he wasn’t just a pinball guy. He was an avowed “foody”
too. Andy would travel for the right meal. So here we were every one
of us ordering the same Rise-N-Dine “Pierogi Omelet”. Andy
loved it, we all loved it. “Holy crap that omelet was amazing
dude” – I can still hear Andy saying it like it was yesterday.
When I shifted the topic to Andy’s illness. Blake began to
get serious. He has an infectious smile. It was now gone. “I
remember Andy talking to me about not feeling well. I asked him to go
get himself checked out. I had no real reason to worry though. Andy
had a physical job for a living. He was fit. No worries. I just
didn’t put 2 and 2 together – if anything it just seemed odd that
my physically fit friend was sick in any major way. About 3 weeks
later Andy shared that tests were run and he received the news that
his platelets were extremely low. He told me as if he was bummed out
by it – all the medical bills would cut into pinball funds. He
wasn’t angry or sad in any way. He went for regular treatments during
this time but for me it never became real, never became a threat
until he was hospitalized at UT. Then it got both real and scary for
me. I don’t think it impacted Andy the same way – he was always so
darn positive, always looking forward.” We did visit Andy once
while he was at UT. It was only an hour and there was a whirlwind of
activity around him. Nurses were coming and going, tests and blood
being drawn. Andy was trying to eat his 5 Guys burger and fries while
all of this was going on … Blake paused for a few long seconds.
As he
paused, I instantly knew what had just hit him. I spoke first and
asked if that was the last time he saw Andy in person. Through tears
he said “Yes”
I asked
Blake the same tough question I had asked the others. Tell me about
the call. The one in June where Andy shared about his pending heart
surgery. Blake took a deep breath “Andy called me around lunch time
and I missed his call. I called him back. The first thing he said to
me was that he loved me. I nervously asked him what was going on –
how was he doing. He said not very good and that he might not make
it. I told him to keep on fighting. Like he had been. For Ida, for
his family, for his friends. In that moment everything became so much
more real. It exposed the frailty of life to me in an instant. There
was a possibility that I might lose my best friend. There was a
chance that Tuesday would never be the same. But I also thought to
myself that the outcome wasn’t up to me. I wasn’t the one dealing the
cards. It was clearly out of my hands. We said our goodbyes. I told
him I loved him and we hung up. My wife reminded me that Andy would
not want me to worry about him, to be upset or depressed and I knew
she was right but to be honest, I was terrified for Andy.”
I asked
Blake the impact of losing Andy. “I never cried so much in my
entire life before that day. Just 2 weeks before Andy and I had
spoken. As usual, he had a plan, there was a treatment and he was on
the path to recovery. He just had to do a “few things” and he
would be ready for his transplant. We talked a bit and even at that
time told each other we loved each other and said goodbye. I was the
last time I talked with Andy. When I got the call that he had passed,
“It hurt more than I’m able to share”.
I thought
to myself that almost everybody I’ve talked to had said the same
thing and wondered how Blake’s story would be different. I quickly
discovered, it was different.
Blake
asked me … “you’ve probably heard about American Dream
Tuesdays, right?” I asked him to repeat himself because it was
now a little loud in Token and because the juxtaposition of the words
didn’t fit in my head. Blake repeated ‘Yea, Andy and I had American
Dream Tuesdays”. I heard him that time and obviously curious and
spurred on by his mile-wide smile at the time, I asked him to
explain. He went on “For a full 3 years, on almost every Tuesday,
Andy and I met to have Pizza, a few beers and play pinball. I think
it was me that coined the phrase American Dream Tuesday but Andy was
all in on the concept and we rarely missed unless we were out of town
or a family event came up. I’ll bet over those 3 years we got
together more than a hundred Tuesday’s. You see, Andy loved Pizza. NY
style pizza to be exact. I was the first to introduce him to Gavino’s
and then Elidios Pizza. Andy and I would have endless conversations
about the finer details and qualities of each that would go something
like this “… but that Elidios sauce is so good” or “the crust
is neck and neck on both of them” and “the components of Gavinos
should in theory make a better pizza than Elidio’s but there is
something about Elidios that is really special – hard to put your
finger on it” Andy really knew pizza. Andy was a foody for sure!
We’d leave the restaurant and head to Andy’s or my place to play
Pinball only to look up at the clock with one of us usually saying
“Crap, it’s 11:00pm and we’ve got to work tomorrow”.
Andy’s
impact to me is deep and forever. I’ve had some of my friends who’ve
met Andy a few times say they never heard Andy say anything negative
about anything or anyone – ever. I can attest to that. It’s the way
he lived his life. And that kind of life is rare. It’s uncommon and
when we see it, we are amazed by it. Andy was respectful, always
respectful of people. He was an awesome father to Ida. Andy wasn’t
raised in the south but he was a southern gentleman with a New
England accent. Andy was special. Such a bright light in my world is
gone. For me Tuesday will never be the same again. I lost my best
friend. He was always there to help. We moved from our home of 13
years a while back. Andy offered to help. By the time he could get
there, we had completely emptied the house except for the last 2
things. The two most precious things to me in the world – my
Whirlwind Pinball and my cat “Miss-Tee”. It was fitting that
these 2 things are what I entrusted to Andy to help move. I told him
so as we left the empty house. Shared with him how important they
were to me. He said, like Andy would always say “No problem man”
I asked
Blake to share anything at all that he wanted to about Andy before we
finished. I told you in the introduction that Blake is articulate. I
was right. The following came straight off the cuff. No hesitation.
“Andy made me realize how much a friend can mean to you. How
valuable the human element is to life. Time is limited. You can
choose several roads. Andy thought that people and relationships were
most important. He showed me that this was the high road. It was also
the harder one. Andy taught me be a better friend and showed me that
the harder road was worth it.”
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