(Photo Credit: David Greedy/Getty Images)
Who would’ve thought? Everytime you pick up your control to play a game of 2K think of this man. The man that brought video games to the world.
Born in Brooklyn, New York no one could have imagined Gerald “Jerry” Anderson Lawson would help give the world never-ending entertainment.
Growing up in Queens, Lawson began the hustle by fixing televisions. He eventually went to Queens College and City College of New York, but never got a chance to finish. I mean when you rub shoulders with Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak – founders of Apple you’re in pretty good shape. He was party of the Silicon Valley’s Homebrew Computer Club where he was only one of two black members.
So why was he so special?
Lawson created the first game console that used cartridges. It was called the Fairchild Channel F, and it led the way for some of our favorite consoles including the Nintendo NES, Sega Genesis, and other favorites. It came out before the Atari and had games such as Space War and Blackjack.
He was also the first major African-American person to be involved in the video game industry.
Lawson passed away on April 9, 2011.
Watch an interview with Lawson below.