Echo Fox: Dream project becomes racist nightmare

It's 2015 when former NBA superstar Rick Fox announces he's entering the esports world. Not as an investor, like so many celebrities, but as a manager. Echo Fox, as the teem is called, is a passion project of his and his son Kyle that years later turned into a disaster with dire consequences for the former basketball player.

League of Legends

On December 18, 2015, it is announced that Rick Fox, former basketball player and now businessman, has bought Gravity Gaming's spot in the American League of Legends Championship Series (LCS). Business partners Khalid Jones and Amit Raizada (remember that name!) took care of the finances and Rick Fox will be the face and manager of the team. For the latter, it's not just a business idea, but also a passion project, as his son Kyle is a big fan of the game.

With the recruitment of big name Henrik ‚Froggen‘ Hansen and super talent Park ‚kfo‘ Jeong-hun, Echo Fox will immediately have fans. It is clear that the team is not a marketing stunt; they have come to play for prizes. With a seventh place Echo Fox has a nice first season, but the biggest success follows in 2018 when the team finishes third in the Spring Split and gets to participate in the now disbanded Rift Rivals, in which it went up against European powerhouses like Fnatic and G2 Esports.

A love for League of Legends is also beginning to emerge in Rick Fox himself. The basketball player regularly streams the game and he himself indicated several times that he enjoyed climbing the ladder of ranked. He was also asked several times by Riot Games to play a game to promote League of Legends. The fact that at one point he was among the worst eighty players in America did not bother him. He was having fun and that was what was important.

Grand

Meanwhile, Echo Fox is growing in other games as well. During 2016 it had a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team, in 2018 a Call of Duty team and in 2019 an Apex Legends team. When it comes to performance, however, no division within the organization was as successful as the FGC players under contract to Echo Fox.

Over the years, it attracted experienced names like Justin ‚JWong‘ Wong, Yusuke ‚Momochi‘ Momochi and Jason ‚Mew2King‘ Zimmerman. While it also provided a stage for big talents like Leonardo ‚MkLeo‘ Lopez Perez and Dominique ‚SonicFox‘ McLean. The latter two have been among the best players in the world in their respective games for a while now.

Scandal

In May 2019, things begin to rumble at Echo Fox. Rumors emerge that investor Amit Raizada made himself impossible, because he used the n-word in an email against then Echo Fox director Jace Hall. When Rick Fox, who is dark-skinned himself, said something about it, he too had the n-word shouted at him.

Rick Fox himself thought about quitting, but he decided to continue. The other investors supported him and Raizada made excuses. After Fox told Raizada to sell his shares, the flames flared. Investors feared that a long legal battle would lower the value of their shares and voted overwhelmingly to dismiss Rick Fox, who would leave in October 2019.

Riot Games, meanwhile, also began to get involved. Not being able to discharge Amit Raizada was the last straw for the maker of League of Legends. Echo Fox was no longer welcome in the LCS and had to sell her spot, which eventually happened for an unknown sum of money to Evil Geniuses.

At the time Rick Fox left the team, it only had Fighting Game Community (FGC) players under contract. That the end of Echo Fox was near could be seen by anyone. Rick Fox had sued two investors, including Raizada, for fraud, libel and slander after his resignation. While other investors had filed another case against Rick Fox for deliberately lowering the value of Echo Fox.

On November 10, it was announced that Echo Fox had been permanently disbanded. Despite the team being disbanded, FGC players Mew2King, MkLeo, SonicFox and Dekillsage still carried the team's name in 2020 until they found the next team.

And now?

Today, Echo Fox has been dissolved. Almost all lawsuits have been settled and players who were under contract have gone to a new team. Rick Fox himself did not lose his love for League of Legends. In 2020 and 2021, he still tweeted several times about his rank in League of Legends, and he also regularly retweeted photos and statuses of former Echo Fox players.

In March 2021, he also announces that he is starting a company called Team HiDef to teach young people how to code and program so that they can one day start their own game studio. So Echo Fox may be gone, but thankfully we're far from being rid of Rick Fox.