Lemley with Pandemic.WoW at WSVG Dallas, the debut event for the DellUnleashed partnership, where our divisions took home four medals in four games.

Arkansas Times-- 'Today, the Internet forums for network games resemble vast sandlots, where players jonesing for a matchup simply ask who's ready to play. Those are the fields that Lemley now scouts, though he came up through more traditional networking methods. He was a computer science major and a golfer at Hendrix when he joined Pandemic as a player two years ago. Through local tournaments, he met Mark Dolven, the founder of Pandemic, which at the time was but a kernel of what it has become. Lemley bought 49 percent of the company for $2,500 — “the tiniest thing in the world,” he says — that went into revamping its web site. When Dolven left to join a new, DirecTV-backed pro league called Championship Gaming Series (which enjoyed its draft at the Playboy mansion this June) Lemley bought him out entirely.

“It's the best job in the world — I get to go out and buy games and play them for fun,” he says. That's despite the fact that he has yet to pay himself, instead living on savings and money borrowed from his folks. “I think it's safe to say that in 2008, I'll be able to pay myself a nice salary,” he says.

Even before he's depositing any cash, he's living an enviable dude life. He plays video games all day, corresponds with players and companies to stay ahead of whatever's coming in the industry, and jaunts around the world. His home is full of the spoils of his career — an oversized World Series of Video Games novelty check atop the entertainment system and a huge box of Alienware stress balls in the kitchen, for giveaways.

He's plugged in, many times over. He's asked whether he made any missteps along the way.

“I wish that I would have worked harder,” he replies. “Even now, I wish I worked harder at it. I think sometimes I almost take it for granted. It feels like everything's falling in our lap. Not the partnerships, but the wins and the publicity. It makes me wonder how much bigger this thing would be if instead of sitting around and enjoying it I busted my butt like I did in '05.

“That's so weird to say, and it's hard for me to honestly admit that. But I know for a fact that there are other sponsors out there we could have that we don't because I don't actively pursue like I did.”

A trip to his office reveals why. As soon as he sits at his desk, he finds an e-mail from a hardware company at the top of his Gmail inbox, ahead of more than a thousand other unread messages. He opens the note; it's correspondence toward a $40,000 deal.

“That's for doing nothing,” he says. “For putting their name on our jersey.”

Then, as a diligent boss should do, he logs in and checks the online forums. There he finds his undefeated team all in cyberspace, playing World of Warcraft. Noting this, he says, with pride, “I never have to beg them to practice.”

Lem's first event as manager, April 2007. What a long way we've come.