HomeClassic Paintball ScansMusic City Hooters vs Badlands' Justice old school video

Music City Hooters vs Badlands’ Justice old school video

Chuck Link, of the Tennessee Grim Reapers, Music City Hooters, Paladin and Lightning Strike, sent me a link to the following video.  
In this footage from 1991, the Music City Hooters (and possible some members of The Squad) are skirmishing against Badlands’ Justice at Badlands Paintball in Iron City, Tennessee.

The video is marked November 13th, 1991 and is courtesy Shawn Lands and Brent Lands.  It’s just a few long continuous clips and it can be hard to capture a lot of action in a large woodsball field but there are some good shots.

Chuck points out Music City Hooters’ captain, Jack Kirby, at 7 minutes 11 seconds.

Kirby was a machinist and created a unique pump for several of the teams he played with.  Chuck played with Jack on Music City Hooters and Paladin. The Helix was a Nelson pump with a spiral rifled (or Helixed?) barrel.

kirby with helix
Screen shot of Jack Kirby playing with his custom Helix Nelson pump and One Arm Bandit Hopper. Courtesy Shawn Land’s video of Music City Hooters skirmishing Bandlands’ Justice.

Regarding Jack’s setup, Chuck writes, “Jack was using his custom backpack with 2 ten ounce C02 tanks and running a remote to his Helix. Jack is wearing a white mask [JT Elite mask?] with yellow ear protectors/sides ( the white and yellow were from Ref masks we received while refereeing at the Masters the two previous years).”

kirby with dual tank pack
Screen shot of Jack Kirby’s dual tank back pack.  Courtesy Shawn Land’s video of Music City Hooters skirmishing Bandlands’ Justice.

Chuck goes on to write about Jack, “He sometimes did crazy stuff (OK….he did crazy stuff a lot…not sometimes) like wearing bright colors before they were the norm. Anyway….I wasn’t with the Hooters then, had either already left the team or just didn’t make that trip, don’t remember and had never seen this video before.”

Music City Hooters
Music City Hooters at the 1990 (or 91?) Line SI Masters. Photo courtesy Chuck Link.

Regarding the photo above, Chuck explains:
“Music City Hooters, Masters, 1990 or ’91 (can’t remember, not labeled). I think ’90 though. Back row, left to right, Chris Cashion, Bill Cashion (son/father, were new to the team for that tourney) and me [Chuck Link].
Front row, left to right, Ronnie Greer (Ronnie worked for Barrett firearms, makers of the famous real sniper weapon), Jack Kirby.”

Chuck Link continues:
“You can see in this photo that Jack is still using his own creation, [the Helix], while I have gone back to my tried and trusted Sniper I. Bill and Kenny used Line SI Bushmasters, and not sure what Ronnie was using (long barreled Phantom [or Bushmaster]maybe?).”

Music City Hooters patch
Music City Hooter’s patch. Scan courtesy Jim Lively.

The rest of Chuck’s teammates, In the photo, appear to be using One Arm Bandits and a couple have Idema vests.  If you look closely you can see that Greer has a Fast Al Belt loader (OAB loader) with the clear bottom in the feed of his OAB.

Jack Kirby passed away in an automobile accident on April 9th, 1994   
Chuck sent me two scans from the Mid South Paintball Association Newsletter about Kirby’s memorial service and offering a little more insight into his Paintball Career, teams and Helix marker.

jack-kirby-article-pg1-web Jack kirby write up in mspa newsletter 2

Edit: after a little research Chuck was able to dig up more information on his fellow Music City Hooters teammates, including the last names of Chris and Bill Cashion (which I added it to the article), and a little about Ronnie.
But Chuck also found out that both Chris and Bill have past away.
Chuck messaged me, “Both sadly have passed away now as well. Chris in a car accident as well at a very young early 20’s and Bill, I believe, from an illness or heart attack also several years ago. Ronnie Greer is still around, but doesn’t play any more.”

Chuck mentioned names of several other Music City Hooters’ players, Chris “CJ” Christians and Tony White but he didn’t notice them in the video (only Jack and Ronnie). Ronnie and Tony both worked for Barrett firearms, out of Murfreesboro Tennessee.

Thanks to Shawn Lands for posting this video on youtube, and to Chuck Link for all the history he has to share.

If anyone has a photo of Kirby’s (and Al Winfree’s) custom Nelson pump, the Helix, I would love to see it.  Please email me or contact me on facebook.

Find more photos, scans and memorabilia from Chuck here:
https://paintballhistory.com/tag/chuck-link

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1 COMMENT

  1. Hey, I played against Jack and Al back in the day when they were with the Palidins…Jack, Ronie and Bill and Chris. Ronnie worked for Whirlpool / Hiel Quaker. Keith Calvert (Taz) and Tony White were original Grim Reapers Gene ?) from way back along with me. Taz Tony played on the Thunder Bunnies 3 man / 4 man with Tony’s borther Beeper…later Fair Warning and then Back to the Ridgerunners (Black Squad). Jack was a wild guy. Great shot. Ronnie originally played for the Klingon Raiders I think before the Hooters. Good to see and read about these guys. Good days.

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