Paintball Icon and ambassador to the sport, Lou (Gramps) Grubb passed away at his home among his family members, in June of this year. Gramps was one of the early innovators for paintball technology and is most well known for bringing “constant air” to paintball markers, from their original 12 gram CO2 design.
Lou got into paintball’s earliest days, through his son Mike (Grizzly) Grubb while playing with their team, The Fighting 69th. With his background in teaching high school industrial arts, Lou soon ,began modifying early Nelspot and Sheridan pistols, converting them from single shot operation, to rapid fire rifle configurations.
After the pair opened their first store, Gramps and Grizzlys Outpost, Lou was feathered on the cover of APG magazine with a 24 ct. gold marker, presented by a major manufacturer and cementing them a place in paintball history. They became a staple to the early days of paintball players world wide who were seeking more advanced technology for their play.
As the sport began to grow, Lou became an outspoken proponent for the standardization of safety standards. Many of the rules and manufacturing standards that are now used and accepted world wide, are a result in some part to his efforts. Lou would often explain that he was in paintball first and foremost as a player, and as a businessman second. Before manufacturing standards were created for safety gear, Lou was known to test all the goggles and facemasks, before being willing to offer them to sale to players.
Over the years Lou was one of the best known service technicians any where for a huge variety of different marker makers. There was virtually no brand of marker he could not service and most always had parts in stock for. But maybe more than anything else, Gramps was an ambassador to the sport.
An endless number of people were educated by him about every aspect of the game and the industry. Some would even tell you they learned far more than they could have guessed, as he would spend any amount of time it took to inform and educate players, retailers and manufacturers from around the world.
