Samuel Frederick "Ted" Dabney Jr. (May 2, 1937 – May 26, 2018) was an American electrical engineer, and the co-founder, alongside Nolan Bushnell, of Atari, Inc.

He is recognized as developing the basics of video circuitry principles that were used for Computer Space and later Pong, one of the first and most successful arcade games.

[2] He then had a summer position with a local surveyor company, but when the work dried up by the winter, he was let go, and he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps.

[2] Dabney left Bank of America after a year, and on recommendation of John Herbert, a colleague he worked with, was hired by Hewlett-Packard.

[2] Dabney and Bushnell jointly created a partnership called Syzygy (named after astronomy term representing an alignment of celestial bodies) in 1971.

Dabney created a motion system using a video circuit made up of cheap analog and digital components of a standard television set rather than acquire an expensive computer, while Bushnell designed its cabinet and worked with Nutting Associates to manufacture the game at scale.

[6] Bushnell used this to convince Al Alcorn, another Ampex employee, to leave and join Atari to help program more of these games.

[7] Under Bushnell's direction, Alcorn used Dabney's video circuit concept to create the programming for Atari's next game, Pong.

[1] After leaving the computer industry, Ted and Carolyn Dabney managed a grocery store and later a deli in Crescent Mills, California.

"[14] In March 2018, members of the Smithsonian Institution interviewed Dabney for an oral history from his point of view, which ran for eight hours at his home in California.