Paintball Media Magazine February 2021 February 2021 | Page 22

Eric Engler - Eric played his first game of paintball in 1984 and since 2001 he ’ s been modifying Tippmann ( and other brand ) markers by adding real gun parts to give them the look and feel of military guns , law enforcement guns and scenario markers . Eric is also a well-known scenario player that has been a general and XO in many scenario games around the U . S . Some of Eric ’ s line of modified markers are AK-A5 , AK-98 , Thompson A5 , Browning 1919-A5 and the 1919-BAR .
Rick Fairbanks - Rick was the original founder of National Paintball Supply and the guy that introduced many brands and labels to the game , Proball paintballs being one of the many . Rick was also a very serious player in the 80s and 90s and a huge contributor to events like the International Amateur Open .
David Galsworthy - David was the owner of Sterling and maker of the Sterling pump guns made famous by the UK Predators when they became the first non-North American paintball team to win a major event in the U . S . in 1991 , shooting the Sterling . Galsworthy introduced the Sterling pump in 1989 and officially launched at the 1990 Lively Masters tournament . David was also a field owner in the UK and very active in the UK paintball scene in the 1990s .
Adam and Bill Gardner , Jr – In addition to being members of one of the winningest teams in paintball ’ s history , the All Americans , Adam and Bill Gardner Junior also put together this company you might have heard of , Smart Parts . First making the outstanding barrel that bore the name of their team , the All American , Smart Parts went on to innovate with one of the very first electronic paintball guns , the Shocker , then other successful guns like the Impulse and SP-1 . Smart Parts innovated again with the Freak multi-piece barrel kit and grew to become one of the most influential companies in paintball ’ s history , with the Gardners spending money to put competitive paintball on television and backing the NXL with two-time champions , the Philadelphia Americans . Though Smart Parts is no more , the Gardners are quite busy running Philadelphia Americans Inc ., which is the parent company to many of their brands like GOG , DLX , Freak and more .
Left to Right : Doug Brown , Forest Hatcher , Rick Fairbanks , Bill Gardner Jr , Adam Gardner , UK Predators ( Sterlings ) Eric Engler
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