Some thoughts about John 'FlashG' Gordon

Watching Arturo Sanchez’s stream Sunday evening post chess tournament, I found out John ‘FlashG’ Gordon passed away earlier this month. It was really tough for me to do anything else after that.

Many people shared stories during the tribute stream as well as online. I’ll riff on here. Obviously, I’m pushing back today’s scheduled post for later when I get into a better frame of mind.

I was fortunate to meet John a couple of times in person at Evolution, before and after 2013. Before 2013 I knew him in the community as the guy who once was featured in Electronic Gaming Monthly (or one of the prime gaming magazines) from back in the day. From New York but rooted for the San Francisco Giants, our common bond aside from fighting games.

The magazines highlighted some players who were doing well in the arcades because they won Evolution or the East Coast Championships or had some unfathomable winning streak. The magazine had the obvious names that have become legendary: Alex Valle, Ricki Ortiz, John, Justin and a few others.

2013, when I thought about leaving the community to just focus on my career and get my life back on track, I got the idea of my most ambitious project: write a book about the Daigo Parry. The 10-year anniversary was coming up and there was almost no fanfare. When I quizzed 10 people at a NorCal tourney about “a certain anniversary approaching,” only 1 got it. It was there that I knew I had to write the book.

Of course there were two people that I would have loved to interview: Daigo Umehara and Justin, anyone else would have been gravy. But things were gravitating where I had to interview John. In terms of importance, it was right up there at the top. Initially I thought John must have known something about being at Cal Poly for the moment. I watched the moment from several points of view about 100 times each trying to look for things that didn’t stand out, perhaps he could point them out.

I set up the interview with him and asked him initially if he was there, the litmus test that really was a bad marker on my part. When I was doing interviews with people prior to talking to John, it was 50-50 on people actually being in the venue for the moment. And I’ll say, props to those people who admitted to not being there. When you see the moment and Seth Killian pointing the camcorder to the darkened crowd cheering out of their seats, anyone could have just said they were there. I mean, with only that as footage of the audience, who would have known?

At the time I was writing the book, I was still a sports reporter for my hometown newspaper. Because a lot of people I interviewed were not in California or going to Evolution 2013, the majority of the interviews I did were at the newsroom where I worked.

I had to pass off the interviews as something for the newspaper instead of a side project, which was easier than I thought it would be. Most other people in the newsroom were wrapping up for the day when I started my shift.

When I was getting ready to interview John, I had in my notes to talk about his friendship with Justin and what he saw in the moment.

John was one of the best interviews for the book. It didn’t bring me to tears — that came later when I interviewed Seth Killian — but it made me realize he was more than just the guy who was good at Second Impact or got some ink in the biggest magazines. He was a friend to many, a mentor to many. And that vibe came through when I talked to him and later to Justin. It didn’t matter that he wasn’t there at Cal Poly.

There was a time pre-YouTube, if you can believe it. In those days, fighting game footage was copied from the original feed to a tape, which got copied at about 90 percent quality to another tape, and down to 85 percent and on and on until the video became a blur. John told me of the time before Evolution 2002 he got footage of Tokido absolutely destroying people with Urien in Third Strike. The footage was sick but it was worrying on a competitive level because Justin, who was using Alex, was getting ready for the big 5-on-5 showcase event.

I still remember how John retold the conversation he had with Justin, in the same cadence, about how he knew he had to get Justin to switch to a different character. Justin asked John how he could beat Tokido’s Urien.

“Um … don’t get knocked down and don’t get hit and don’t get close and don’t play Alex. Switch to Chun Li.”

I started laughing so hard in the newsroom where I did the interview over the phone, almost worried I was gonna get busted by management. It was one of those “are you saying that just to say that?” moments. But he was 100 percent real. Gamewise, it was the right call. He knew Justin could take an overpowering character to new heights.

In that vibe, it was pure genuine. On social media, people shared the same thoughts. Genuine guy. He was the person who championed those wanting to do great things.

Interviewing John in that one hour was a window into a lot of the fighting game scene that I didn’t know about. It was amazing. It also gave me the confidence to get the project done, and he rooted me on.

I think this is all I can muster, his passing is one of those that makes you just want to pause and pick things back up later. Rest in peace.