As announced at the inaugural ESI Hall of Fame at the Natural History Museum on Thursday September 20th, Esports Insider has inducted the first three members.

The ESI Hall of Fame is intended to recognise and celebrate individuals that have contributed to and moulded the esports industry as we know it. We have partnered with Ginx Esports TV for year one of this project, and they’ve produced and delivered all of the video content seen below.

At Esports Insider we feel it’s our duty to identify such individuals, since we’ve a finger on the pulse of the industry, and give them the recognition they deserve. We are delighted to welcome the following inaugural Hall of Famers; henceforth they will be joined each year by three more similarly experienced and deserving industry titans.

Michal ‘CARMAC’ Blicharz

Like most of us, CARMAC started out in esports as an innocent gamer. At first finding himself utterly fascinated with Unreal Tournament, he soon started hosting his own competitions and worked a number of roles from journalist, to host, caster, and editor.

CARMAC strives to help esports be as entertaining and competitive as possible, and that shines in his actions and his words. Currently working as the VP of Pro Gaming at ESL, he was the first member to be inducted into the ESI Hall of Fame and was, of course, met with emphatic applause that surrounded the Museum.

Jason Lake

Jason Lake is synonymous with the organisation compLexity Gaming because, simply, he built it from the ground up. With humble beginnings dating to back to CounterStrike 1.6 in 2003, compLexity has grown to be one of the more prominent homes for top teams in a multitude of esports titles.

From the highest highs to the lowest lows, Lake has been there, done that, and got the t-shirt – but he’s still here, still grinding and still as passionate as ever. He has fought through a number of hardships and faced much adversity to get compLexity to where it is today. He even managed to get the Dallas Cowboys to invest in the organisation, and we’ve no doubt there’s plenty more to come from both Lake and compLexity.

Chris Puckett

Chris Puckett has been the voice of esports to many over the last decade. Starting out as a competitor, he decided to lend his voice for numerous titles: whether it’s Halo, Call of Duty, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, or Overwatch. His efforts didn’t stop there, he started to see success by assisting with the running of tournaments with a little company called MLG. Without Puckett, the tournament organiser and production company may not have grown to the heights it has since experienced.

Since Puckett’s mother dropped him off in New York in 2004, many fans and players have grown accustom to him running the show – some even believe an event isn’t complete unless he’s present and doing his thing. Being the third and final member to be announced at the inaugural awards ceremony, everybody agreed that he has a rightful place among our other amazing inductees.

Sam Cooke, Managing Director and Co-founder at Esports Insider, said of the inaugural Hall of Fame ceremony: “We couldn’t be more pleased with how the evening and inaugural ceremony went. To have such an event at the Natural History Museum no less is testament to how far esports has come as an industry, and it’s those people who’ve got it here are those that the Hall of Fame is all about.

“We are incredibly proud to have brought in three esports stalwarts in Chris, Carmac and Jason, and we look forward to inducting more in 2019 and beyond. We’ve major plans for next year too, and we will be looking for community input and feedback ahead of the 2019 additions so keep an eye out for that in the new year!”

Want to find out more about the ESI Hall of Fame?

We’ll be sharing plenty of highlights and recaps from our flagship event, ESI London, over the coming days so be sure to keep an eye on Esports Insider!