Left to Right : Rick Baird , Rocky Cagnoni , Original Edmonton Impact
Tournament Teams , Players , Owners
( In alphabetical order )
Todd Adamson – Todd played his first game in the mid 80s and within a few years would become the captain of the Florida Annihilators , one of the game ’ s early high-end teams . Todd also captained Team Rage , one of the top NPPL pro teams of the mid-90s . He has also played with the Ironmen and Aftershock , started the brand Extreme Rage and was a field owner and paintball store owner in Southwest Florida for many years .
Karen Barber ( now Karen McPherson Semelsberger ) and Nori Gardner - Karen and Nori were not the first female paintball players by any stretch but they were the first successful female professional players , winning numerous tournaments and titles with the All Americans . Karen is officially tagged as the first female professional paintball player . She currently works at GOG Paintball .
Marcus Davis - Paintball has its share of larger than life characters and Marcus Davis is probably the leader of that pack . But in just two short years after forming the UK Predators Marcus led his team to international prominence when they became the first team from outside of North America to win a major event in the U . S . taking first place at the 1991 Lively Masters in Nashville , Tennessee . Marcus meant so much more to paintball than just winning an event in the States . His UK Predators were the first team to make the U . S . powerhouse teams take notice , game plan against , and ultimately even fix games to keep them from winning on a grander ten-man stage ( more on this story in a future issue ). Marcus singly-handedly changed the international perception that only U . S . teams could dominate . The Predators went on to win dozens of events all around Europe . The resurgence of classic paintball has brought Marcus and the Predators back where they will be competing in the Woodsball World Cup later in 2021 .
Left to Right : Marcus Davis , Todd Adamson , Nori Gardner
048 paintball . media magazine