BIO IN PROGRESS

Host, broadcast analyst, life-long gamer and over 16 years of esports experience. Scott “SirScoots” Smith is one of the most iconic faces of the industry and earned a well-deserved place in the Esports Awards Lifetime Achievement Class of 2019.

Scott’s first contact with esports started in 1999 when Counter-Strike was released. At that time he was really into the game and ended up joining a team called Unitary Guerrilla Platoon (UGP) at the age of 34 years old.  

As one of the veterans in the industry, SirScoots has been covering the industry news since its beginnings, as he was one of the owners of the iconic coverage website, GotFrag and GotFragTV, where he spent many years. After some time, the company was purchased by the MLG and after some years working at the MLG, he decided to move on and chase new adventures in the industry.

BIO IN PROGRESS

Born in the late 70s, Marcus “djWHEAT” Graham is one of the pioneers in the live streaming and esports scene and considered by many the “father of the esports commentators”, earning his place in the Esports Awards Lifetime Achievement Class of 2019.

“djWHEAT” has been in the industry since the 90s and, although in his beginnings he was mostly involved with Quake III Arena, as a player and a commentator, he is most known for his cast and content production around Starcraft 2, working on a great number of live events and online shows for Twitch, Blizzard, Riot, Hi-Rez, Skybound, WCG, MLG, Dreamhack, Valve, and more. 

He grew up in Nebraska, where he graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. After graduating he combined his work in IT Management with his passion for esports, dedicating his free time to his Quake III team. He was the leader of Clan 519 under the name Styles519.

In 1997, when he could not attend a Quake III event in Sweden, he decided to broadcast the updates through a platform called RealAudio to an online audience thus commencing the start of everything. With time, his following started growing and this platform wasn’t big enough anymore, so he moved to SHOUTcast, which allowed him to have 1.000 listeners at the same time. He started to broadcast through this platform 7 days a week for 4 years, and then, in 2002, he was invited to live comment the World Cyber Games in Korea, in that moment everything changed and he got a lot of recognition in the scene. After that, Team Sportscast Network (TSN) arrived at an agreement with him, making Graham their new Quake broadcaster which would lead him to work later at DirecTV in the Championship Gaming Series around 2005 for two years.

After three years out of the scene, in 2009, djWHEAT started his streaming career through different streaming platforms with his programmes dedicated to the gaming scene until he landed in Twitch. In 2011, due to his success, the company made him an offer to join the team where he has remained ever since. Currently, he is the Head of Creator Development at Twitch, bringing the new generation of creators and Twitch together to continue to shape the esports industry, cast and produce unique content. 

After more than 20 years in the industry, Ralf Reichert has made a huge impact in helping shape and make the esports industry bigger and better. For this reason, he has earned his place in the Esports Awards Lifetime Achievement Class of 2019.

Reichert’s story in esports started a long time ago, with his passion for competing in video games, football or any other sport. Once at the university, he got his esports career started. Together with his brother and some friends, in 1997 they founded SK Gaming, which has become one of the most well-recognised organisations in the esports industry today. Starting as a player and team leader he was able to play in some of the most prestigious international tournaments at the time, however, over the years he made the transition to the management side of the organisation.

In the 2000s, after making a name for himself in the industry and the community due to the success of SK Gaming, he met a group of young entrepreneurs from Cologne and decided to start a new adventure to improve the esports scene, therefore, they founded ESL Gaming, an independent esports league organiser and one of the largest companies in the industry nowadays.

As one of the rockstars of the industry, Hector “H3CZ” Rodriguez has been one of the first ones in the scene to combine esports and content creation as business models to grow the influence of Optic Gaming inside and outside the esports industry. For having always been in the vanguard of esports, H3CZ has earned his place in the Esports Awards Lifetime Achievement Class of 2019.

Rodríguez, born in 1980, started to be recognised in the esports scene in 2007 when he became CEO of Optic Gaming, under his leadership, the organisation had its focus not only on the competitive scene but also on combining it with the production of content dedicated to its fans. Under his management and this strategy, Optic was able to earn thousands of followers and become one of the most influential organisations in the industry.