A humble builder of remarkable things
Service & the start of a career
Before there was a career, there was the U.S. Air Force, where Howell served for seven and a half years as a Missile Instrumentation Specialist and Technical Instructor. It was the kind of precise, disciplined work that would shape everything he built afterward.
His path into the amusement and gaming industry started small - a video game designed in the bedroom of his apartment. That game was sold to Ramtek, Inc., which then hired him on to design games exclusively for them. He spent three years there as an electrical engineer, learning the industry from the inside.
A career built on invention
From Ramtek, Howell branched out with two partners to found Exidy, Inc. - a company that grew from three people in a room to hundreds of employees and more than $25 million a year in sales. At Exidy he designed many of the games himself, along with all of the electronic hardware, and built the industry's first "sit-down" video amusement cabinet, Star Fire. He was also the designer behind the notorious Death Race.
In the late 1970s, Howell designed and produced the Sorcerer - one of the first self-contained personal computers. After building national and international demand for it, he sold that division to refocus on the commercial amusements business.
In 1986, he joined Sega Enterprises USA as Executive Vice President, directly responsible for establishing, negotiating, and managing Sega's products across North and South America. Over 18 years there, he rose to President of Sega USA and Deputy Chief Operating Officer.
"It was such an honor to be part of the creation and development of the gaming industry and to be recorded for future generations to learn and be inspired by the efforts of many people that made an industry happen." Howell Ivy, on being invited by the Smithsonian Institution
In recognition of his place among gaming's true pioneers, the Smithsonian Institution invited Howell to take part in its Video Game Pioneers Initiative, launched in 2017 to document and preserve the legacy of the people who built the industry. While there, he gave an oral history of his career - a record that will become part of an exhibit at the National Museum of American History and other technology and game-focused museums and archives.
Still building, still teaching
Howell never really stopped inventing. Howell started as a volunteer at Valley Christian Schools before becoming full-time staff as he built the system for the ISS program. From the first launch in January 2011, Howell's system - which he upgraded over the years - has enabled over 200 experiments from around the world to run aboard the International Space Station.
During his time here, he mentored numerous students, not just in the ISS program but across various STEM programs, classes, and science fairs.
He wanted every student he mentored to know one thing above all: that they could achieve any goal they set for themselves, but that it takes real hard work to get there.
Family & the quieter hours
Above the titles and the inventions, Howell was a husband, a father, and a fixture of the Valley Christian community - his sons, Brandon and Mason, are Valley alumni, and his wife, Chris, has long been part of the school's Development department. When he wasn't in the lab or the classroom, he could usually be found tending his orchard or tinkering with electronics, still chasing the same curiosity that started it all.