Tournaments began popping up here and there following the release of Quake, including one in Wichita, Kansas, three hours from Fatal1ty's home in Lee's Summit, Missouri. Now 15, Fatal1ty was one of the 130 gamers who entered. He cleaned up. "People were like, 'Who's this guy? Who's this kid who just dominated all of us?' " he says. "I won $500 worth of prizes just messing around. It wasn't a big deal."

Meanwhile, he managed to become captain of the varsity tennis team at Blue Springs South High School, despite not having touched a tennis racket until he was 14. "I didn't start playing tennis until I was a freshman in high school," he says. "I broke some school records. That's my nature. I pick up things very fast."

Toward the end of high school, Fatal1ty's mom stonewalled him again, preventing him from competing in a gaming tournament with a $10,000 grand prize. For the first time, there was real money to be won, and Fatal1ty didn't compete. But it was a pivotal moment in his rise as the world's first gaming household name. "I always thought I had the talent and skill to do whatever I wanted to do, but I was never given the shot to do what I wanted to do," he says now. "I realized I had to take things into my own hands and do it myself."

After his 18th birthday, Fatal1ty moved in with Dad. Though more supportive than Mom, he also thought Fatal1ty's gaming habits were becoming unhealthy and preventing him from working a real job and going to school full-time. Fatal1ty, who at this point was working part-time and paying his own way through school, cut a deal: If he won any serious money gaming, his dad would promise to back off and let him pursue his dream. A few weeks later, he came home with $4,000 for taking third place at the 1999 Cyberathlete Professional League Frag 3 championships.