History
May this generalization of the origins of the U.P.P.K. serve the reader to have a basic understanding of the events that led to it's creation as an indepth consise history would require a minor work of sorts. Early in 1992 the essence of the U.P.P.K. was born although I hadn't realized it at the time, what this journey would entail. While shooting at the Knob Creek Gun Range I noticed these strange looking guns on the wall of the store. So I asked Kenny Sumner what these strange objects were, he responded to what I thought were the words "pain ball". After Kenney laughed he proceeded to explain to me the sport of paintball. I soon organized my friends and co-workers into a day of Paintball at Knob Creek, what a blast we had and I was terminally hooked. Searching the phone book for Army Surplus Stores as there was no Face Book much less the internet at the time, I located Eagle Army Navy on Bardstown Road and they sold paintball guns! The reader must realize that there weren't any organized teams or players in the Louisville area as paintball was still in it's infancy although being around somewhat since around 1979 or so. Anyway I purchased the latest high tec gun at the time a Tippmann 68 Special. My friends thought me crazy for doing so. "Who are you going to play with? " they asked sarcastically. I told them that there were players out there and I was going to find them. Strangely I found out that there was a group that existed by the name of The Kentucky Paintball Association or K.P.A. for short operating out of Eagle Army Navy.
So I received the necessary information from the owner , Richard Meurder and I excitedly ventured out to their field on the back side of The Jefferson Memorial Forest. When I arrived, there were only a handful of members present but hey it was a start. Now we did not get to play that weekend nor the following weekend because the person charged with providing the CO2 and the paint did not show ,leaving us all despondent. During this period I educated myself on what would be needed and how to acquire the necessary supplies. On my third attempt to play through phone calls we had at least a dozen show after I promised them we would have everything we needed to play our hearts out. Soon others were hearing of K.P.A. and more players started to arrive at our events. A leading K.P.A. member Cog would occasionally rent out some guns so I would borrow them and supply the new interested players while turning the funds over to Cog and The K.P.A. As time went on more people were coming and certain personalities began to clash. Mainly because K.P.A. was a small group and was suffering from growing pains. This conflict of personalities caused myself and the newer players to split with the other members of the K.P.A.
So I sought the guidance of the park ranger, Officer Cotton who in turn provided us with a new area of the park in which to play. After several months had passed by and our little group was growing everything appeared to be going very well. Then one Sunday a libitard naturalist that happened to be friends with then Mayor Armstrong came wandering through our area. He smiled and introduced himself in a very pleasant manner but he harbored a sinister resentment unknowingly to us at the time. The following week Ranger Cotton was reluctant to inform us that all paintball activities would cease immediately throughout the park. Our protests and written petition to the Mayor fell upon deaf ears. We had all these people and K.P.A. had been playing there for years, I felt responsible for it all. What were we to do? I hurriedly ventured back to Knob Creek and discussed with Kenny what had occurred and what we wanted to do. Kenny set a field fee for us and I was to be responsible for this. He provided us with a beautiful area traversed with deep ravines, woods and told us to have at it. We soon began developing the field with rough saw cedar of which we built a large bridge and tower. Sand bag bunkers with corrugated tin roofs and a pallet or two began to round out our wonderful field. During this period I approached the K.P.A. and explained to them what I had achieived with Knob Creek to rectify our problems of no where to play. I was warmly received and most accepted my offer while a few elected to resign and were never heard from again. This was the beginning of a relationship that would last and bear fruit till this very day, Stu Coomer of K.P.A. , Chris Hamilton and Roger Shaw have remained my close brothers.
Seeing as we were absorbing other groups and individuals we decided to name ourselves The United Paintball Players of Kentucky or U.P.P.K. We operated out of Knob Creek until 1996 when I relocated to My present home in Georgetown, Indiana. It soon became apparent that Knob Creak was too far to operate on a weekly basis so I soon found us another home at the Floyd County Conservation Club and we were throwing paint again. As we progressed a certain number of our members decided to try their skills at tournament play calling themselves the "Jesters". We continued to function well until I was forced into a career change around the year 2000. My job demands and no one to carry forth the torch resulted in U.P.P.K. slowly going to sleep. Fast forward twelve years and I am again at Knob Creek where I ran into an old paintball buddy, Randy Boeringer. A couple of years earlier I had the opportunity to be reunited with Craig Sherer and had still kept his phone number. Texing Craig of whom I had seen, I soon found out that some of the old K.P.A, U.P.P.K. and the Jesters had reformed under the name " 502nd S.O.G. " operating out of Paintball Assylum. Well that small flicker began to burn within me once again and I was soon accepted into the 502nd.
Now I am in for a shocker, the guns had changed as dramatically as the sport appeared to have done. I am a Woodsball Player, I never played at a commercial field of which I found to be in direct conflict with my roots in paintball. So after some heavy discussions with the 502nd we decided to remain best friends and I was to begin another chapter in my pursuit of Woodsball. During this time period my son-in-law David Logsdon informs me there is a guy on Craig's List that is looking for some woods in which to play paintball in. We soon contacted Mr. William Culver and he is already rolling on areas in which to play. William and I began working together to build an organization for woodsball. We attempted our luck at the High Caliber Sportsman's Club in Fredericksburg but the field wasn't working in our favor. We tried a good friends property in Fredericksburg area a few times to no avail. We contacted the Floyd County Conservation Club but with new management that wasn't going to work as well. William calls me one cold day in February of 2013 and asks me to meet him in Elizabeth ,Indiana to review some property to purchase for our new field. He also informs me of his desire to resurrect The U.P.P.K once again. So we decided to change a few letters to incorporate our players from Kentucky and Indiana respectively and to add some wording to reflect our love and desire for woodsball. The United Paintball Players of Kentuckiana "Woodsball Battalion" is born. So here we are, some old friends , some new friends, come on out and join us in writing some wonderful new chapters in paint.
Cmdr. Frank C. Taylor U.P.P.K. Woodsball Battalion.
So I received the necessary information from the owner , Richard Meurder and I excitedly ventured out to their field on the back side of The Jefferson Memorial Forest. When I arrived, there were only a handful of members present but hey it was a start. Now we did not get to play that weekend nor the following weekend because the person charged with providing the CO2 and the paint did not show ,leaving us all despondent. During this period I educated myself on what would be needed and how to acquire the necessary supplies. On my third attempt to play through phone calls we had at least a dozen show after I promised them we would have everything we needed to play our hearts out. Soon others were hearing of K.P.A. and more players started to arrive at our events. A leading K.P.A. member Cog would occasionally rent out some guns so I would borrow them and supply the new interested players while turning the funds over to Cog and The K.P.A. As time went on more people were coming and certain personalities began to clash. Mainly because K.P.A. was a small group and was suffering from growing pains. This conflict of personalities caused myself and the newer players to split with the other members of the K.P.A.
So I sought the guidance of the park ranger, Officer Cotton who in turn provided us with a new area of the park in which to play. After several months had passed by and our little group was growing everything appeared to be going very well. Then one Sunday a libitard naturalist that happened to be friends with then Mayor Armstrong came wandering through our area. He smiled and introduced himself in a very pleasant manner but he harbored a sinister resentment unknowingly to us at the time. The following week Ranger Cotton was reluctant to inform us that all paintball activities would cease immediately throughout the park. Our protests and written petition to the Mayor fell upon deaf ears. We had all these people and K.P.A. had been playing there for years, I felt responsible for it all. What were we to do? I hurriedly ventured back to Knob Creek and discussed with Kenny what had occurred and what we wanted to do. Kenny set a field fee for us and I was to be responsible for this. He provided us with a beautiful area traversed with deep ravines, woods and told us to have at it. We soon began developing the field with rough saw cedar of which we built a large bridge and tower. Sand bag bunkers with corrugated tin roofs and a pallet or two began to round out our wonderful field. During this period I approached the K.P.A. and explained to them what I had achieived with Knob Creek to rectify our problems of no where to play. I was warmly received and most accepted my offer while a few elected to resign and were never heard from again. This was the beginning of a relationship that would last and bear fruit till this very day, Stu Coomer of K.P.A. , Chris Hamilton and Roger Shaw have remained my close brothers.
Seeing as we were absorbing other groups and individuals we decided to name ourselves The United Paintball Players of Kentucky or U.P.P.K. We operated out of Knob Creek until 1996 when I relocated to My present home in Georgetown, Indiana. It soon became apparent that Knob Creak was too far to operate on a weekly basis so I soon found us another home at the Floyd County Conservation Club and we were throwing paint again. As we progressed a certain number of our members decided to try their skills at tournament play calling themselves the "Jesters". We continued to function well until I was forced into a career change around the year 2000. My job demands and no one to carry forth the torch resulted in U.P.P.K. slowly going to sleep. Fast forward twelve years and I am again at Knob Creek where I ran into an old paintball buddy, Randy Boeringer. A couple of years earlier I had the opportunity to be reunited with Craig Sherer and had still kept his phone number. Texing Craig of whom I had seen, I soon found out that some of the old K.P.A, U.P.P.K. and the Jesters had reformed under the name " 502nd S.O.G. " operating out of Paintball Assylum. Well that small flicker began to burn within me once again and I was soon accepted into the 502nd.
Now I am in for a shocker, the guns had changed as dramatically as the sport appeared to have done. I am a Woodsball Player, I never played at a commercial field of which I found to be in direct conflict with my roots in paintball. So after some heavy discussions with the 502nd we decided to remain best friends and I was to begin another chapter in my pursuit of Woodsball. During this time period my son-in-law David Logsdon informs me there is a guy on Craig's List that is looking for some woods in which to play paintball in. We soon contacted Mr. William Culver and he is already rolling on areas in which to play. William and I began working together to build an organization for woodsball. We attempted our luck at the High Caliber Sportsman's Club in Fredericksburg but the field wasn't working in our favor. We tried a good friends property in Fredericksburg area a few times to no avail. We contacted the Floyd County Conservation Club but with new management that wasn't going to work as well. William calls me one cold day in February of 2013 and asks me to meet him in Elizabeth ,Indiana to review some property to purchase for our new field. He also informs me of his desire to resurrect The U.P.P.K once again. So we decided to change a few letters to incorporate our players from Kentucky and Indiana respectively and to add some wording to reflect our love and desire for woodsball. The United Paintball Players of Kentuckiana "Woodsball Battalion" is born. So here we are, some old friends , some new friends, come on out and join us in writing some wonderful new chapters in paint.
Cmdr. Frank C. Taylor U.P.P.K. Woodsball Battalion.