R.I.P
Oh my God… just clicked on this thread a few minutes ago, and I am in shock and very sad.
A few memories of our relationship and just thoughts and feelings below…
sk and I played a good bit online dating back a while, and I was really surprised when I met him in person at the that Spring Fighter event down at NYU as I had no idea he lived in the NYC area. I played him in casuals and I thought he was really good, and then when I heard someone address him as “sk” I was like oh shit, well that makes sense. I thought he was just the purist, most genuine guy. If you met sk and talked to him for a minute, you know what I mean. His personality is (was… fuck) not like, to use examples others will know, that of Yipes or Mike Ross or something… but he was just as memorable as someone like those guys to me because I can’t imagine a more valuable - or rare - quality than to know that what you see is what you get with someone… and sk had that quality as much as anybody. Absolutely zero pretense. And I’ll go ahead and add now that he was smart as hell.
Anyway, I thought so much of him as a player and as a potential friend, respected training partner, etc. that a few months ago I asked him via XBL if he would be my partner at a Guard Crush team tourney a couple of days later. He said he would really like to, but he didn’t think he could afford it between the transportation, venue fee, tournament fee, etc. And I almost didn’t offer, not wanting to overstep my boundaries, but I said, “look, I’d really like you to be my partner - I don’t want to show up wondering if I’ll find one/be paired with a scrub/douchebag, and I feel like we would be a great team, so I’d be happy to spot you what you need.” He was so appreciative… really really appreciative and happy to be able to go, and he said he would pay me back as soon as he could. He messaged me I think more than once after the team tourney specifically to tell me he could pay me back that Friday, and as soon as he saw me at Next Level, he reached into his wallet, gave me the money, and thanked me again. I don’t mean to talk about me, but I was just really happy with how he responded to it, and I felt like we had formed what at that point I hoped would be a long friendship.
So, I told him I thought it would be a good and fun idea to run a long set and critique each other’s gameplay the night before the tourney. We did, and had a great and productive time… I was so happy to have a teammate that I knew was taking it seriously and truly wanted to be my teammate, not just someone his results are tied to. The next day, he showed up not too long before tournament time, after I’d been there for a few hours… he said he was going to go warm-up, and I resumed focusing on whatever casuals I was into… a little while later, I thought I’d check in with him, and I walked over and I felt pretty guilty when I laughed out loud upon seeing the ~20 game win streak he’d put on some poor guy. That dude got up just completely defeated a minute later when it was time for the tourney.
The gameplay details aren’t important, but basically, we did really well, as individuals and as a team, and I know that I played better myself knowing that he had my back. Objectively speaking, it was the best I’ve ever done in a tournament, and I know that it will always be a great memory of him and of my fighting game career… really, a great memory of my life, if I’m being real. It was an amazing feeling, and it was awesome to share it with him. I was on cloud nine, probably bouncing off the walls and ready to keep the high going in casuals, but not long after the tourney ended he said, seeming completely unphased by it all, “Ok, well good job man, I think I’m going home,” and walked out haha
He got busy with an internship and hadn’t been coming around much, but I last talked to him a couple of weeks ago on MSN… we had some great conversations, and this last one was no different. We barely even talked about gaming - mostly the fact that his internship was becoming a job with better pay and hours, and he said he’d be able to get to Next Level more often. I was excited, and told other people who had asked me about him that we should be seeing him more. They were excited, too. I wasn’t the only person who thought he was a memorable guy. People always perked up when he came up.
Anyway, I’ve written a wall as usual, but this was helpful for me as if I hadn’t been writing it, I probably would have just been working myself into more sadness. I’ll just finish by saying that I thought very, very highly of him. So smart, 100% real and genuine, humble, considerate, and, of course, a bad ass Rose player to top it off…
;(
is that the little dude played at NL arcade? pretty sure I played him like 2 months ago at one of the skillionire tourneys.
r.i.p…
Had the privilege of meeting him a few times at 8bit. He was a regular on the UYG stream as well during the Super days. One of those guys that when he stepped into the stream chat, everyone stepped aside out of respect. I recall talking to him about how to ace his job interviews and the whole nine. RIP, kiddo.
RIP SK, Lost one of our own. Much love I’m lucky I got my time to talk to you and be a part of your life. I wish you were around longer but that’s life I guess.
I pay my respects. Didn’t know the guy but sad to hear he passed away.
Condolences to the family. That is horrible. No parent should ever have to bury their child
-via KreativeMente’s EVO
I used to play with him sometimes on the PJ stream in console Super and talked with him sometimes on SRK. Definitely a cool dude who loved his Rose.
Air 40 pour for Sk.
DAT POUR
RIP Josh, you blew me up on youtube
Very sad to hear. My condolences to those close to him.
R.I.P. sksksksksk222 and let the spirits guide you!
Thank you so much for putting up with me and teaching me Rose. I am forever in your debt for that. 
I hope there will be a news article to get more info on this soon. It irks me that he died in a young age(20) Last time i saw him was on stream at GC, he had the face of a child(very young).
RIP
The question that should not be overlooked: What caused him to get a seizure? He can’t just die without a cause.
it was something he was born with apparently he had a few as a young child and his condition just…resurfaced.
I’m pretty sure I’ve been destroyed by his Rose on more then one occasion on XBL. Sad to hear about anyone going this young.
Rest in peace.
Scarves at half-mast today
respects, condolences, and sympathies
rip sksksk name seems odly famillar to me…
Having a seizure is a valid cause of death and we don’t know, he could’ve been an epileptic and sadly even people who aren’t can have seizures, even fatal ones; so it’s very tragic to lose one so unexpectedly. Condolences out to his family and friends. r.i.p.
rip sk the good die to young
Shame for someone to pass away in the community…and at such a young age.
Condolences to the friends and family.
He did look like a child, didn’t he? But I can’t help but think of the irony he was more of a “man,” whatever that means, than any peer of mine I can think of.
It is a horrible fact of life that people do die of brain and heart abnormalities and such pretty much out of the blue. It’s rare, but it does happen. I do not know whether this was the case with Josh, but the only thing to do is leave the disclosure of that kind of thing up to his family. I do hope that eventually they see the outpouring from the FGC because the fact that so many people were moved by him in life and are heartbroken now is the only thing keeping me above water so to speak… to know that his life meant a whole hell of a lot and that he was and is as respected as he deserved to be… Sure wish he could see it.
Edit - the posts about his condition were either not here or whatever when I started writing this