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By HurricaneSports.com CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Miami football is a family and Hurricanes football players are members of a unique brotherhood that spans decades. But for seniors and, the bond runs much deeper than most. Growing up in the Richmond Heights area of Miami, Johnson and Redwine were two of the brightest stars shining for their local park football program. 'Me and Redwine, we played at the same park for the Richmond Giants and we grew up in the same neighborhood,' Johnson said. 'We just didn't go to the same middle school, but we've known each other from a while back.
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Redwine was on a lighter pound than I was, but you knew all the best players in the park. I heard Redwine's name after every game about being one of the hardest hitters at the park.
I knew Redwine from growing up.' The duo finally paired up as teammates in high school, sparking the start of a long-lasting friendship while starring for Miami Killian High School. 'You never have to worry when we are with each other,' Johnson said. 'Even just growing up, it's the same type of thing. We weren't as close as we are now, but we always had each other's back. It takes a village to raise someone and he was part of that village for me just like I was for him.' Johnson was a four-time all county selection at safety for the Cougars and was selected to play in the US Army All-American Bowl before heading to Miami to further his education and football career.
Redwine starred at cornerback for Killian and appeared to be headed to Louisville after his senior year, but a visit to Miami just before National Signing Day ended with a scholarship offer to join Johnson and the Hurricanes in Coral Gables. 'God puts people in your life and we actually took the same path to get where we are,' Johnson said. 'We had to overcome the same type of circumstances, go to the same high school and same coaching and we both made it to the University of Miami and we are going through it now.
He's my roommate now at the college level. Everything is meant for a reason.' Their friendship grows stronger every day and has branched out to the point where their lives are intertwined beyond the football field. 'Being around each other so much, we know everything about each other,' Redwine said. 'It's all out on the table with us. There isn't really anything that we don't know about each other.
We're friends, our girlfriends are friends, we are roommates. It seems like everything we have is all connected.' The connections and similarities between Redwine and Johnson are nearly endless. Both grew up in the same neighborhood, played for the same park, starred together at the same high school and became standouts at the University of Miami. 'We actually have the same birthday, too,' Redwine said. 'It's crazy all of the stuff that has come together with us. I know he has my back on the field and I know I have his.
It's just fun being out there together.' The duo arrived at Miami ahead of the 2015 season and both were contributors on special teams, as well as in reserve duty on defense. Their roles grew as sophomores and each played meaningful snaps for the Canes on defense in 2016. 'We came in as part of the same class and our class was really tight all around,' Redwine said.
'Obviously, we were close before, but our class was very tight and we were part of that and as time progressed and we both started playing a lot that helped with our chemistry.' Johnson entered 2017 as Miami's most experienced returning safety, while Redwine was facing the challenge of moving to safety after working at cornerback in his first 24 games as a Hurricane. Naturally, Johnson helped his friend and teammate learn the nuances of his new position. 'Coming from cornerback to safety and seeing a familiar face in the safety room probably gave him some comfort,' Johnson said. 'Then with me being his roommate, we were able to talk about how coach Ephraim Banda likes to do things and go over the playbook together and what checks we will be making as safeties. I think that helped make it an easy transition for Redwine.'
The two spent the entire spring pushing each other, with Johnson cementing his status as a starter and Redwine climbing the depth chart. After an impressive fall camp, both were set to form Miami's starting safety tandem as juniors. 'We both help each other and push each other,' Redwine said. 'It's a daily competition, even going back to Killian, the DBs always do competition drills. Everything is designed to make each other better and we are bringing that here.
We are always pushing each other and going hard to make each other better.' Johnson went on to earn Second Team All-America honors after an incredible junior season in which he led Miami with 96 tackles, four interceptions, three forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries. His 2017 success has led to well-deserved Preseason All-America accolades from the Associated Press, as well as being named to the watch lists for the Bednarik Award, Thorpe Award and Nagurski Trophy. It also has motivated Redwine to try and have a breakout senior season in 2018. 'I have a lot of confidence in myself,' Redwine said.
'I know what I am able to do and I'm excited to show it. It's great that he was able to have such a great season last year and set himself up for all this recognition going into this season. Now's it's time for me to take the next step and make a name for myself and prove that I'm not a second-tier guy.
We both can push and compete at the top.' The 6-foot-1, 205 lb., Redwine was blessed with great speed and athleticism, while Johnson, who measures in at 5-foot-11 and 195 lbs., is known as a ferocious hitter with outstanding instincts. 'He knows I'm probably a little bit more athletic and faster, but he's an excellent tackler, a sure tackler and he's tough,' Redwine said. 'We both have our strengths and weaknesses, but everything seems to compliment each other really well.' 'For me and Redwine, we both can do the same type of things, but we both have things we could work on,' Johnson said. 'That's why we are always pushing each other and motivating each other to work and get better.' While both players have let their play on the field speak for itself, they also know they need to be more vocal off the field as leaders if they want to accomplish all of their goals in 2018.
'We just have to take the next step in our game and bring leadership to the team; not just the DBs or even the defense, but even offensive guys, too,' Redwine said. 'We want to make sure our leadership helps bring everybody together so we can have a great season.' The duo of Johnson and Redwine has already accomplished a lot at Miami, but they still have plenty left to do and they are excited to be able to help one another reach their goals together.
'It means everything to us to get to play one more year together,' Johnson said. 'That's why we came back.
We want to get our degrees and win a national championship. We believe that we can do it and the team believes that we can do it. Me and Redwine have been talking about it all the time. The bond is there and we are sticking with each other and looking forward to our senior year.'
Occupation designer, video game designer, voice actor Years active 1974–present Employer Stern Pinball, Steve Ritchie Productions Known for, Website Steven Scott Ritchie (born February 13, 1950) is an American and holding the record for best-selling pinball designer in history, and has been called 'The Master of Flow' by pinball aficionados due to the emphasis in his designs on ball speed, loops, and long smooth shots. As of 2017, Ritchie suffers from and has had his hearing slowly reduced over the years. Steve is the older brother of fellow pinball designer. Contents. The Atari years After serving a stint in and in the from 1968-1972, Ritchie joined in 1974 and was employee number fifty and first worked on the assembly line as an electro-mechanical technician.
Two years later, he was promoted to work at their fledgling pinball division, where he worked on his first game, Airborne Avenger. Ritchie earned the license to make a Superman pinball based on the comic book, but in the final stages of production of the table, he received an offer from, a major pinball company, that Ritchie could not refuse. The Williams years Ritchie moved to Chicago, Illinois, the home of Williams' headquarters. His first game for the company, Flash (released in 1979), was noted for its revolutionary figure-8 design and the first pinball game to feature bright Flash Lamps. It would go on to be his best-selling pinball game, having sold 19,505 units.
1980 would be the year for Ritchie, when he designed (the first electronic pinball to feature multi-ball, as well as Lane Change), and eight months later, he designed, which was noted for having the first two-level playfield and the patented 'Magna-Save' feature (in which magnets help prevent outlane drains). After 1981's Hyperball, Ritchie took a break from designing pinball games to design video games at his newly formed company, King Video Design. Devastator was the first microprocessor video game and it was a spectacular 3D flying-shooting game with remarkable graphics.
Ritchie pioneered automated conversion of video-taped color images into objects in the video game system. After that, he returned to pinball with 1986's, which was based on a true story about him being chased by the police in his Porsche. High Speed's bill of materials was higher than other games, and some rival Williams designers nicknamed it 'High Cost'.
The cost increase was minimal, and the game sold 17,080 units. It was the major title that revitalized the entire pinball market. After that, he released F-14 Tomcat in 1987, and in 1989, he released the sequel to 1980's Black Knight, Black Knight 2000, which was acclaimed for having perhaps one of the best musical soundtracks ever for a pinball game (composed by himself, and ). It was also one of the first games to feature a 'Wizard Mode', called 'The King's Ransom'. Next up was Rollergames (based on the TV show of the same name which was cancelled well before game production), it was a game with a loud and rowdy soundtrack and the first solid state game to feature mainstream advertising. Ritchie designed, which featured the voice and likeness of. T2 was the first game by Williams to use a dot-matrix display (although 's beat it to the market, because T2 had a longer production schedule, and management at Williams felt that other games needed it first.) After T2, he designed in 1992, a sequel to 1986's High Speed.
In 1993, Ritchie released a widebody game, which many pinball fans consider to be Ritchie's best game. For the game, Ritchie enlisted the entire cast of, including, and to reprise their roles. The game would sell 11,728 units. It was the last pinball machine to sell in the 5-digits. After he was finished with 1995's, Ritchie left Williams, feeling that he could better serve Williams/Bally/Midway by producing video games at the newly acquired.
1996 was the beginning of the decline of pinball with gradually diminishing sales, eventually leading to the extinction of all pinball manufacturers except. Video games and other contributions Steve Ritchie returned to Atari Games in 1996 as a senior staff producer. There, he would design and produce the racing game California Speed, which sold 7,856 units for total sales of about $40 million, on a budget of $2 million, with a crew of 16 video programmers and artists. Ritchie is also known to be an avid fan of PC games, motocross racing, and a dedicated dirt and street motorcyclist as well.
He was also on the design team for Williams'. He was a voice actor for many of his own games, as well as Williams and 's video games. He is best known for playing the voice of in the series ( MKII, MK3, UMK3, MKT, MK:SM), along with coming up with the name of Mortal Kombat, which was just called 'Combat' before his suggestion. Ritchie was also the voice of the Black Knight in both Black Knight and Black Knight 2000, the Demon in No Fear, the announcer in Midway's High Impact Football, the monotoned voice of Firepower, and other small parts in many Williams, Midway and Stern games. The Stern years After designing and selling a few redemption games, he formed Steve Ritchie Productions (SRP) in 2002, and returned to pinball design contracting with Stern Pinball to distribute his games. For his first game for Stern, he once again enlisted Arnold Schwarzenegger to lend his voice and likeness to the game, and also re-assembled the same team who worked with him on the T2 pinball, including software programmer Dwight Sullivan and music composer. After T3, Ritchie released Elvis, which was released in time for the 50th anniversary of 's first song recording.
Ritchie's third game for Stern was. World Poker Tour was the first game to use Stern's new hardware, S.A.M., which is the successor to their older Whitestar platform. He has recently revealed in an interview that he was forced by Gary Stern to design the game. After completing 24, a pinball machine based on the, Ritchie was laid off from Stern along with most of the company's other pinball designers. A March 3, 2011 press release from Stern reported that Steve had returned to Stern to design the next generation of pinball machines.
His first game released after returning to Stern was. In March 2012, Ritchie conducted a comprehensive audio interview with about his life and career, with focus on the AC/DC pinball game. In September 2013, Stern announced Ritchie's newest Pinball game, Star Trek, based on the current line of movies. Steve Ritchie's games Atari.
Airborne Avenger (1977). Superman (1979). (1997). (1998) Williams. Stellar Wars (1979). (1980). (1980).
Hyperball (1981). (1986).
(1987). (1989).
Rollergames (1990). (1991). (1992). (1993; part of WMS' series). (1995) Midway Atari.
(1989; co-designed with Dennis Nordman and Jim Patla). Ritchie did parts of the game, after original designer Dennis Nordman was severely injured in an off-road motorcycle accident. Stern / Steve Ritchie Productions. (2003). Elvis (2004). (2006). (2007).
'24', based on (2009). (2012).
Star Trek (2013). Game of Thrones (2015).
Star Wars (2017) Voice work. (1993) - Shao Kahn.
(1995) - Shao Kahn. (2005) - Shao Kahn, Additional voices References.