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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 multipiece 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
has fallen on hard times oflate, the Gardners have contributed greatly to paintball’s
otos courtesy Warpig.com
history in many ways.
Ray Gong
Ray was the first legal paintball field owner in New Jersey, but that doesn’t tell half
the story. From the time
paintball began in 1981 and
until May of 1988, paintball
play was illegal in New Jersey. Paintball markers were
considered “firearms” by the
Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office and the State
Attorney General’s Office.
Ray challenged that assertion in court and on May 2,
1988 the previous rulings
on paintball markers were
overturned and Gong’s Top
gun Paintball opened to the
public. Credit should also be
given to Russell Maynard,
Jessica Sparks (an attorney
and serious player) and Bud
Orr for acting as expert witnesses, helping Ray win his
case.
Lou “Gramps” Grubb and
Mike “Grizzly” Grubb - Before these two developed
the first constant air system
in 1986 all player were using 12-gram C02 cartridges.
Located near SC Village for
most of their stay in paintball (they recently closed
their shop after 20 years in
business), Gramps and Grizzly were also early day Brass
Eagle (80s-90s) tech experts
working on guns like the
Nightmare, Ninja, Poison,
etc.
Bill Gardner
Adam Gardner
Ray Gong
Mike Grubb
Lou Grubb
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