Paintball Media Magazine February 2021 February 2021 | Page 65

Left to Right : Mike Ratko , Debra Dion Krischke , Sergei Leontiev , Top : Sam Caldwell , Jim Lively , Bottom : Ryan Krischke ( right )
Debra Dion Krischke - As a former NSG PR Director in the early 80s , Debra Dion Krischke knew the game of paintball and she especially knew the tournament scene and culture . Pulling that knowledge together with her ability to bring the industry together made her International Amateur Open ( IAO ) a huge yearly event for more than a decade . Debra was also the founder and is still owner of Three Rivers Paintball with her husband Ryan .
Ryan Krischke – Ryan , husband of the IAO ’ s Debra Dion Krischke , founded the second longest running paintball field in the world , Three Rivers Paintball . After playing his first game in early 1983 , Ryan opened his first field near Pittsburgh and he remains in the game today . In addition to running a paintball field for 37-plus years , Ryan reffed early NSG events , including the 1984 NSG Championships that was won by Atlanta Blue .
Sergei Leontiev - When Sergei Leontiev , Russian bank owner , gathered his camowearing friends in 1996 and headed to the paintball field near Moscow , Russia to play some woodsball , no one would have predicted that he would turn this group into an international professional powerhouse paintball team known as the Russian Legion . But that ’ s exactly what happened . Still the team ’ s owner Sergei turned this team into its own brand in paintball .
Jim Lively and Sam Caldwell - Some of the must-attend events of early tournament and professional paintball after the NSG days included the Masters , a major tournament that , at one time , drew players , teams , sponsors and vendors like the World Cup or Amateur Open . When paintball made the transition from fifteen-man to ten-man , Jim Lively and Sam Caldwell were there to promote major tournaments in the new format . Alliances and organizations that later formed the early NPPL were made at events promoted by Lively and Caldwell . Jim Lively can still be found playing the sport he helped shape , while , unfortunately , Sam Caldwell recently succumbed to cancer .
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