Paintball Legends

Team Captain of Team Ronin Hawaii, Mathias “Gizmo” Luber was a great friend to numerous players in the state. Whether they be on Team Ronin or any other team in the sport of paintball, Mathias was always there to help and make friends. The man lived his life as honestly as any person I had ever met and all will miss him. If a true player ever lived, he was it.

He loved everything about the game as he saw it. The players, the challenge, the team work, and the kids. Always there to help anyone with anything, he gained many friends during his short life. The man was methodical. On the field he was incredible. Off the field I knew him as the guy who actually shot a fly out of the sky with a rubber band during an important meeting at work. He got so tied up in the challenge, that he forgot about the important people sitting at the table and tracked the fly. Both the fly and the rubber band would land on the table in front of him which drew stares from everyone. Mathias just shrunk in his chair and chuckled. I could go on and on as many of you that knew him could. He truly is deserving of a title containing the words: “Paintball Legend”.
Submitted by family, friends, and members of Team Ronin.

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Dave, what can you say, he was taken away from us wayyyyyy to early. A Shooter, a pioneer (original DD68 Desert Duck Marker) and a great guy. All the shooters still live by the code: death before dishonor.

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James M Anderson, 61 years old, born May 7 1947 passed away on, 1/12/09 at 6:38 pm, after a two year battle with cancer. Jim had checked himself into Epworth Manor Hospice House in Pennsylvania four days earlier. He had resided in Altoona Pa for the last 10 years where he had earned a Masters Degree in business management. Jim was predeceased by his mother Betty Rogers Anderson in NH in 2004.

Jim is survived by His Father Wesley H Blank of FL, His brother Doug Anderson of MA His sister Laurie Rose of MA, His sister Judy Kinney of FL, Daughters, Amy Anderson Jones of NH, Emily Anderson of NY and son U.S. Marine Sargent, Matt Anderson of NC .

Jim has been a part of the Paintball community since 1984 as a member of the NH Wild Geese, NSG two time World Champions. Jim was a prolific writer and wrote numerous stories for Front Line and Paint Check Magazine's . He Was a contributing Editor, writer and a Sales Rep for Paintball Sports. and reported and consulted for Paintball News. He was one of the founding fathers for the NPPL and at the first meeting in Miami FL.. Jim had developed and patented the "Short Change", a quick change 12 gram changer for the Nelson 007. and helped develop the 007 into one of the first "pump guns". Jim was the captain of "Bo Peep and His Sheep", a celebrity team made up of the likes of Bob Long, Dave Youngblood, Joe West, Rene Boucher, Fred Shultz. and Jerry Brawn and other notables. Jim was a prize Coordinator of the PSP World Cup for three years.

Jim Anderson will be sorely missed as a friend a paintballer and a contributor of and to the sport of paintball.

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Joe Ceci, aka General Joe, and owner of General Joe's out of CA passed away on Oct 21st, peacefully at home due to a long bought with cancer.

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For those of you that have been around more than a decade, you will know the name Sam Caldwell. Sam was Jim Lively’s partner in the tournament business throughout the 80’s and 90’s. I was greatly disturbed today to find out he has inoperable lung cancer ( and he doesn’t even smoke). Sam never sought the spotlight and was not one to force his opinion on others. The thing he was incredible at was taking an idea and making it HAPPEN. He brought computer integration to paintball tournaments, was the first to figure scheduling so teams would not be playing back to back. He and Jim brought us out of the patch-o-woods without porta-johns into real venues with pavement and lights. All that tournament paintball is today started with Jim and Sam and a ton of that was Sam typing on the keyboard and making sure things worked out.

Through it all Sam was super dedicated to the sport. We would take walks at night from our hotel at tournaments just to spend an hour talking about how to solve tournament problems and make them better. After a long day of listening to players complain and myriad other issues, he WANTED to keep talking about paintball's future. A finer man in paintball would be hard to find. Unfortunately the players had other ideas and formed the NPPL which turned into just another company dominated organization and moved away from the Lively series.
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Sam Caldwell passed away yesterday,after a long illness, at his home in Nashville Tn.Sam was the man who handled the logistics for Lively Productions.Where Jim was the front man that everyone remembers, Sam was the man who made sure that everything was in order and flowed smoothly.
Sam was one of the people who brought paintball out of the back of pickup trucks and into the sport that we know today.Sam was a longtime partner and friend of Jim Lively they opened the Nashville Survial Games in 1983 in Williamson county Tn.
Sam was one of the founding team members of the Nashville Ridgerunners that formed in 1983.Sam was one of the fastest shots with a 007 that I have ever seen and he shot lefthand which was no small feat with a 007.
The industry has lost one of its founding fathers a will be hard pressed to fill the spot left vacant by this man.
It is with pride that I can say that I was a teammate of Sams and he will be long remembered as one who would always hold his ground in a game.
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Sam Caldwell the main force behind Lively Productions. You were Great man. When ever we as players had a complaint, there was no talking with Jim, he would always say you will have to talk to Sam on that and we did and you LISTENED. We couldn wait to play the next tourny
because we knew you would fix the problems and make it better and you always did.

You might not remember me but I remember You. You might remember our team. S.O.B.s[Sams Omega Blasters]

Alot of us old farts are still around and still play and still remember.

How could we forget tournys like The Music city open. 1986,87,88,89,90. What a riot.
Or The first ever I believe International Tourny. The International Masters.

Ya it is all different now then the visions you and others had then but remember you made a difference.

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http://www.automags.org/forums/showthread.php?t=212256&highlight=caldwell
http://www.mcarterbrown.com/forums/paintball-news/49514-sam-caldwell-lively-productions.html

Submitted by all those who care. You will find the posts above inside the links. Thanks for posting so many good things!

RTR
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CHARLES NELSON:
Simple, without the Nelson Paint Company we would not have Paintball.
Charles John Nelson, born Aug. 1st, 1914 died on June 12th, 2007.
Submitted by The W.O.P
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GRAMPS:
Lou has been around the game since it began. Known by all who knows him as "Gramps" Lou is a stock gunner at heart. Lou continues to operate his store Gramps n Grizzly which has stood the test of time in the industry.
Submitted by: Ron Sindric
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BLAISE VILLA:
Another Hawaii player that touched so many lives. Through his own trials and tribulations in his life, Blaise was someone that many Hawaiians looked up to. An avid Paintball player, basketball player, and spiritual leader, he will be missed by many.

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