Left to Right : Tracy Hatcher , Al Iba , Tom Kaye , Richmond Italia
Forest and Tracy Hatcher - Forest and Tracy Hatcher , owners and founders of Pro Team Products , have managed to stay in paintball for nearly 20 years . Back in the early 90s you may have seen or used the MicroMag , or the Pro Team Products Armson spiral rifled barrels . During the early 90s Pro Team , Tracy and Forest were a company for the players , sponsoring many events and teams . While they are still operating today , they ’ ve taken a more behind the scenes position in paintball the last decade . A little known fact about Pro Team Products is they were making MilSim marker bodies about a decade before the term MilSim was used in paintball - 1993 .
Al Iba - Al was the founder of I & I Sports , the largest paintball products supplier in the world . Based in southern California , I & I ’ s business was done largely by mail order , although they did also have retail locations . Al was also a paintball field owner for a time and he was greatly influential in that he was close with the ownership of APG .
Richmond Italia - X-Ball made its debut in 2002 , and for its creator , Richmond Italia , this is just one of the many contributions he ’ s made to the game . Richmond was the mind behind the
Matrix paintball gun , which soldiers on today as the DM and PM line as manufactured by Dye , and the man behind Procaps , manufacturers of Diablo and Draxxus paintballs over the years . Richmond is also the founder and CEO of GISportz , which has recently changed its name to Kore Outdoor Inc .
Tom Kaye - The first iteration of the “ arms race ” that is high-tech , fast-shooting paintball game played today was initiated by one brilliant man who knew there just had to be a better way to make paintballs fly towards their targets . After trying to make a paintball gun the old-fashioned way , Tom Kaye and his company , Airgun Designs , decided to wipe the slate clean and try something better than a blowback system . The result ? The Automag , the first blow-forward , high pressure regulated paintball gun that could fire faster than anything the game had yet seen , and do it through any weather . Used by countless serious players and top professional teams in the early and midnineties , the Automag soldiers on today in the hands of enthusiasts . The first team to use compressed air in competition also included Tom Kaye . Tom was a great ambassador for paintball as well . www . paintball . media
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