Gamasutra brings word that Bill Cravens recently passed away. You've probably never heard of him, but Bill, an arcade cabinet retaile, played a big part in the "golden era" of the arcades.

If you ever played Pong, Super Punch Out, Final Fight or Street Fighter in your local arcade, it's probably because Cravens sold it to them during his long tenure selling and distributing arcade cabinets for companies like Capcom and Nintendo. Perhaps the best indicator of how important Cravens was to the industry is that he's immortalised on the garage door of a Streetfighter stage (above), an honour you don't normally see being bestowed upon a retailer.

Bill's son Ryan:

In the arcade industry, the names that are famous amongst the players are Jarvis, Suzuki, Okamoto and more. Very rarely do you hear the names of the people that sell the games and get them out to the bars and arcades. He was much more than an oddity in a video game. He is an icon of the industry that helped bring the industry back after the arcade crash of the early 80s and the slump in the 90s.

Cravens is survived by his wife, daughter-in-law and two sons, who are also in the coin-op distribution business. Rest in Peace, Bill. Luke Plunkett

Coin-op Legend Bill Cravens Passes Away [Gamasutra]

Send an email to the author of this post at plunkett@kotaku.com.