Moss Distributing topper Terry Moss is among the latest inductees into the Amusement Industry Hall of Fame.
Before coin-op, he started his career with a record company, tasked with trying to get radio stations to get the label’s bands into the airplay rotation. His dad needed help running his successful amusement game distributorship in the Midwest, so back home Terry went.
“One of the first tasks his dad gave him was to load as many Megatouch games into the wood-paneled station wagon as he could fit and not come back until they were all sold,” said AAMA’s Pete Gustafson while inducting Moss. “That sink or swim lesson taught him about perseverance, a characteristic that instilled in him his work ethic and commitment to the business that has served him well.”
Shortly after he started working in coin-op, his father passed away, leaving him with the responsibility of taking over the family business.
“Over the subsequent 47 years, the business hasn’t just survived – it’s thrived to the point that today it operates out of five offices from Minneapolis to Denver, Milwaukee to Kansas City, and the one where it all started, Des Moines, Iowa.”
Said RePlay Publisher Eddie Adlum: “There are two Terry Mosses. Depending on the state of his business, there’s the Terry who will give you his favorite car one day and the one who’ll bite your head off the next.” (Eddie expressed that he’s met both many times over the years they’ve worked in coin-op.)
“We both come from the music business, me from Cash Box in Hollywood and Terry from Capitol Records promotion down the block. So, we can swap names and stories from both industries, which makes for fun conversations. Terry is also known from coast to coast for being one of the more persuasive salesmen around. And he never gets old – he looks like he did the day I first met him.”