Who Was Fred Schultz? Remembering Great Players from the Past

[irbodden]

Originally posted by RobAGD
Ok kiddies here is some history for you :) From left to right To cute Spandex Wearing team is :

Dan Colby (Air Amercia ), Jim ( Paintball News I cant remember his last name), Guy with head down I cant tell, Rene Boucher ( Paintball News ), Tom (with his N2 Back Pack ), Billy Gardner (AA's shot mags for years)

Just so ya guys know Dan Colby owns Paintball Blitz in Gurnee Illinois (Also AA) and is there on Saturday and Sundays.

Really nice guy...

[personman]

Hmm.. Fred DOES look like Christopher Walken.. hmm..

[SeeK]

I remember playing with both Fred Shultz and Kennedy How at PB Sams and Fox River Games. If I remember correctly he became a grandfather and then the daughter got into some accident. He really was Mr. Paintball - the Ambassidor and was a leader from the front at the big games.

Bartman, I really wish I could have made that first TIP team at Skyball. I keep hearing how you guys beat that semi team with pumps from Tyger.

I know Kennedy How #2

[Shane-O-Mac]

yes Jessica Sparks is around! she is the editor of paintball magazine. and her partner Dan Reeves is editor of apg. so they are both heavily involved in paintball. she and dan has played several tourneys with us (Total Greif) and she is very active in helping keep paintball legal. jessica, dan, and several teammates went to michigan or wisconsion? to help keep a ban from happening, just last year. actually she played with us at the last wpf st.louis open when we won the am division. she is a very good player, and a superb stockgun player.
Shane-O

[Schnitzel]

anybody ever seen the Goggleflauge package? i swear that the guy that demo's the product looks exacly like Schultz in Jack&Coke's second pic.

[graycie]

i came into paintball too late in the fred schultz era. but i do remember that one of my old teammates' telling me that his first high end marker was a fred schultz mag, most likely he sold it ages ago. maybe some others will remember this, about a year or two ago i forget which magazine did a story on the pioneers of paintball and there was a picture of fred schultz in it with the caption of "where is he now". in the picture he looked more aged and with grayish hair. anyone know what i'm talking about?

[billmi]

Originally posted by WARPED1
Speaking of paintball gods of the past,where's Jessica Sparks been?She still around?

She's at home in MO with her husband Dan. Dan is the editor of APG, and she is the editor of Paintball Magazine. Both of them work on both magazines, and that alone keeps them very busy.

She should be,her,Bud,Ray Gong proved pb was safe and got it legalised in New Jersey.

I saw Ray Gong in California last weekend.

As for Fred "Mr. Paintball" Shultz... My first impression of him was the "slick self important Hollywood type" with his slicked back hair, black shirts shoes and pants. It wasn't a positive first impression for me. Then, I got to know him a bit better, and saw all the things he was doing. Yes, he did self-promote a lot, but he did a lot more than that to promote the sport of paintball. The self-promotion was just a means to get himself in the right position to make things happen, not a big self-importance thing. When I looked at things like the show produced at the Disney MGM theme park, and a number of other projects including lining up and hosting the paintball challenge on the first season of MTV's Road Rules, I could see he'd done a lot - not just talked about it. Last time I talked to Fred was in the late 90s, and he was still bouncing back and forth between California and Florida working in the production side of the motion picture industry. I hope all is well with him, he's one of the good guys.

As for the camo jackets - yep, those were a Tim Schloss product.

See you on the field,
-Bill Mills

[Skeeter]

Fred was a fun guy to be around... I saw him several times at the IAO, or the "Zap" IAO when I was there last. I ended up playing next to him a few times at a Paintball Sams "Toys-for-Tots" charity event back in '93 or '94. Fun guy to run with, even if he did look like Steve Perry (from Journey... for those not up on 1980's big hair rock bands.)

I still have a tape or two of him and Jerry Braun trying to provide commentary for the '95 or '96 World Cup. They had their hands full trying to cover the old-school woods games with limited cameras. Lots of "and behind that palm grass over there is..."

[Mr. T!]

He was on the video i got with my tigershark. Kinda of neat video to watch, when i had no idea what paintball was.

Speaking of old players, remember Oh Pawlak or something? He had those unique adds in APG, with some babe. Used to play with the ironmen i think.

Where did Fred go? Is he still alive?

......

[DiRTyBuNNy]

Well...on a little bit o' a tangent..what happened to Constant Pursuit? and would anyone get angry if someone got a team together under the banner of Constant Pursuit to carry the flag of tourney team whose members are also ambassadors for the game...

[hitech]

Originally posted by DiRTyBuNNy
Well...on a little bit o' a tangent..what happened to Constant Pursuit? And would anyone get angry if someone got a team together under the banner of Constant Pursuit to carry the flag of tourney team whose members are also ambassadors for the game...

Well, to put it simply, politics. When the team sizes were cut from 15 to 10 we started to fall apart. What five guys do you leave out? I was one of the ostracized five and not one bit happy about it. Fred had a VERY hard time dealing with it. He didn't like leaving anyone out, didn't handle it well and no one was happy (myself included). Also, Fred was interested in prompting, we players were interested in winning. It caused much friction. About half of the team left and started a new team (Tour De Force). Fred rebuilt the team with new players but it was never the same. Fred was more interested in prompting and most players want to win. Ironically, he would probably have a much easier time building the type of team he wanted now than he did then.

As far as using the name, I wouldn't suggest it. I wouldn't mind to much (as long as you included me ), but Fred was attached to the name. I don't think there is anything anyone could do about it, but I do believe Fred would not like the idea. If I get a hold of him I will find out his thoughts on the matter.

[Muzikman]

For anyone who ever caught them at 3am in the morning, Fred did the commentary for World Cup that was aired on ESPN. I can not remember who the other guy was with him, and that is going to bother me all day until I remember.

[swamprat33]

Hi Tom, I am the guy who bought the Fred Shultz signature series regulator that you mention.

Many thanks for all the info from you and the other guys - I do feel priviliged to own a piece of paintball history.

Best wishes to Fred - wherever he is...

Here is a pic of my Fred on my LX Automag - #CF11931

[swamprat33]

Here is another pic of my Mag with Fred....

[TigerMan]

Thanks for the bit of info Tom. I didn't come into paintball early enough to know who Fred was, and that's great to know there was someone like Fred in this sport. And I've been to that spot in Disney World numerous times, I never knew paintball was played there.