In case you were wondering, YES, the "Dan Colby" who is one of the hosts of the upcoming WCPL's Panhandle Paintball Classic is the same Dan Colby who has been making air systems and related components since the early 90s, first marketing under the legendary Air America, then Guerrilla Air and now under the Immortal Air name.

Dan is a humble man, an old schooler who doesn't believe in tooting his own horn (it's a mighty big horn, powered by HPA systems btw) and so it is up to those of us who have benefitted from his presence in this game to give him a little cred.

I've known, worked with and for and benefitted from Dan's largesse pretty much since the beginnings of Air America - he sponsored my team with Armageddon systems before any other team; he took me to Thailand for a tournament there;  I wrote promotional blog articles for his website and, most recently, Dan stepped up and drove me from Chicago to New Hampshire in 17 hours straight when I had to get home to sign documents but was not allowed to fly. 

He has supported this industry, stores, fields and players, unfailingly over the years, despite whatever personal and business issues he's had and has unfailingly been a friend to both myself and the entire paintball industry for more than thirty years.

Thirty years of busting his ass, going above and beyond, sacrificing for the common good and remaining a "character", all to help you, me and everyone else in this game move forward.

If you were attending the WCPL's Panhandle Paintball Classic this coming April 1st and 2nd, you'd have a chance to meet him and find out for yourself just what kind of guy this man is.

In fact you SHOULD be attending the Panhandle Paintball Classic, if only to say "Thank You!" to a man who has made it possible for you to attend whatever other event you might be going to.  Look at your gun.  There's a very good chance it wouldn't be functional without something that Dan helped develop, sourced or brought to market.

I'm sure that Dan is probably going to be a little POed when he sees this post - that's how much he doesn't like to be in the spotlight or have his contributions highlighted.  He'd really rather we'd spend the time and energy moving on to the next thing that needs doing, but I'll risk it because he's deserving of every word of praise and then some, and it's high time someone said so.

There's still time to sign up for the Panhandle Paintball Classic on PBLeagues.com.