Cleo Fogal: Long before there were
digital cameras, Photoshop or Instagram
Cleo Fogal was shooting paintball events
around the world. As co-owner of Skirmish
USA, one of the world’s best, largest and
most played paintball fields, Cleo honed
her profession shooting thousands of
walk-on players and groups of players at
Skirmish every weekend and early on took
her skills on the road. Attending all of the
major events in the U.S. and many abroad
for decades, Cleo would shoot photos
all day, have them professionally printed
the same evening and would make
them available to players the following
day. More than 30 years later Cleo s still
shooting photos at many of the game’s
biggest events and more than 30 years
later Skirmish s still going strong.
Karen Barber (now Karen McPherson
Semelsberger) and Nori Gardner (Now
Nori Kelley): Karen and Nori were not
the first female paintball players by any
stretch but they were the first two female
professional players, winning numerous
tournaments and titles with the All
Americans. Karen is officially tagged as
the first female professional paintball
player as she joined the All Americans
just ahead of Nori. In addition to their full
pro trophy cases both have done much
in the game when the playing stopped.
Nori and her husband Phil had a paintball
TV show on OLN for a time and Karen
remained in the industry (with Smart Parts
and Gog Paintball) since her early playing
days.
Nori Gardner (second from the left) at the Paintcheck 5-man. Claudia Weilikson (right)
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