PaintballX3 Magazine June 2014 | Page 63

3 Ironmen: There have been many versions of the Ironmen. The SC Ironmen, LA Ironmen, Bob Long’s Ironmen and the one we’ve placed as the third best paintball team of all time--the original Ironmen. So there’s no confusion, this is the team that featured Bob Long, Dave Youngblood, Shane Pestana, Daryl Trent, Dirk Gadburry, Marty Bush, Clayton Kyle, Jamie Cannivaro, etc. So what have the Ironmen done to be given such a high placement here? Let’s start with this: They made the tournament paintball world forget about Navarone (Guns of Navarone), a team that until that point in history was considered the best ever by everyone. From 1991 and until their eventual split in 1997 the Ironmen were dominant, even with the likes of the All Americans, Aftershock and the UK Predators all on the circuit. From their first major event in 1991 and until the formation and eventual start of the NPPL in early 1993, the Ironmen won nine major events (Lively, World Cup, ASO Series). Once the NPPL began the Ironmen put up three straight years of dominance, winning the league’s se- 63 ries title three straight years. If it was not for a 10th place finish in the World Cup in 1996 they would have won the title four straight. Add to all of this the Ironmen were the first American team to win a major event on foreign soil, taking first place in the 1995 Mayhem Masters. Because the Ironmen were almost unbeatable for the first three years of the NPPL we almost placed them second on this list. In the end the all Americans’ longevity and sheer number of wins jumped them ahead of the Ironmen in our opinion. Other Ironmen notes of interest: When the Ironmen split in 1997 (actually they fired Bob Long, their captain) they reformed under the name SC Ironmen minus Bob Long. The immediate result was the SC Ironmen lost their first game ever--to an amateur team (pros played amateurs back then) and for two years couldn’t get back into the top five in the NPPL. Bob Long on the other hand, started a new team, Bob Long’s Ironmen, and made the finals in all five events their first season (1997) and won the NPPL series title in 1998. WWW.PAINTBALLX3.COM