Origin of Airsoft in Ohio

[Punisher]

I would like to know who is the person that got you into airsoft in Ohio or who you think is the first player in Ohio, active or not. I am just doing this to try to maybe figure out who might have been the first Airsoft Player in Ohio.


Please let's not mistake this thread with the foundation of airsoftohio.com which is an entirely different story.

[Blade]

I would either say DumboRat or Pliskin :)

[Prose]

Yucks was the catalyst for iP. I know he came after you Blade.

[Kendodude]

i know i wasn't the first but i was in airsoft ohio before it got hacked twice. Same with the other kendodude but ever since he's showed me this site awhile back i've been hooked:)

[Kendodude]

This is Kendodude #1

The person who truely touched me in airsoft. The person that made a difference in my life. Who I looked up to. Who reperesented me. Was a Tokyo Marui SPAS-12. Once I saw that airsoft gun... It was true beauty. She was perfect for me. Good looks could kill. Many memories together. When I had my MP5 springer, it was nothing. But My SPAS-12 was like a car to me. With a life.

And it died.

I continue to Airsoft today thanks to my many friends I have made along the way. Truely rightous people.
And because of the activity of Airsoft Ohio.

[Locutus2999]

The person who got me into airsoft isn't anyone who plays anymore, and he rarely played himself to begin with. He just showed me ASZ and the rest is history....

From what I know, I would agree with Blade.

[nextmayor]

DumboRAT

[Deviant]

I believe I met DumboRat in a game in PA. To be honest, as Shady as he was, Bogeyman aka Craig Ballington (if that was his real name) got me into the sport and that was years ago. After awhile, I met with Blade and Punisher for the first time as they would travel to games here (Chessy Site) 2-3 times a month to play as that was the only Airsofting to be done in the 2 states. This was even before Airsoft Toys and Airsoft Ohio.

I agree that Dumbo COULD HAVE BEEN one of the first in OH but so could have Bogeyman. Me, Craig (Bogey), and Jason Keeney (Hobbs) were the first in WV/OH. The next season came Brian Lucas (Bossman) and Jason Stevens (ULTRA). I know that Craig and Keeney were playing awhile beofre I entered the picture. Sad to say...THEY may have been the first in OH. :)

[nextmayor]

I meant that DumboRAT got me into airsoft, not that he was the first person. I've only been around for the last 2 or 3 years, so a lot of the members have been around longer than I have.

[Punisher]

What I thought when I started this thread was the same as you Shawn. Dumborat or Bogeyman. But now I remember that Pliskin was also in airsoft way before me.

What about Rogue and the 86th from Toledo?

[Darkstar]

Well, I have to say that you are all wrong. I am the first person to play Airsoft in Ohio. My dad bought me an airsoft gun when I was about 8 or 10. It was a shotgun which broke in about a week. We got it at Ceasar Creek Fea Market, so I guess if someone bought one before us, they might have been the first. LOL

Actually, I'm not taking any credit what-so-ever, but I remember it used what are probably now known as .12 gram BBs. They were little plastic yellow BB's that were really crappy. It was probably one of the very early airsoft guns. Other than that, Locutus got me into airsoft, so I have to give him my credit.

Darkstar out.

[HardLock]

LOL, If you wanna count the yellow plastic BB shooting, springer pump shotgun POS, then I beat you all. I got mine back in 1980. I used it to shoot my college roommate when he started snoring. :D

[jimmypop]

I think craig (boogyman) got me in to airsoft, blade told me about AO. The first couple of games i played only had 6 players the first game i played i think we had 3 AEGs between 6 people.
i agree with shown with out craig alot of airsofters would have never started playing.

[Darkstar]

LOL, Yea, 1979-1980 was probably around the time I got my shotgun pile-O-junk. I was pretty young then and I think my dad would only get it for because he knew it wouldn't kill me if I shot myself with it. And I thought I was the only person who had one. Darn!

Darkstar out.

[Master Merc]

Ok, This is going to show the old people on this site. But who remembers getting those really old (and could be considered airsoft guns) that shot the yellow BB's that were on a strip? I remember having a shot gun and a pistol. I can remember that you would only get about 30 BB's with the gun. And some how I would always loose them and how I dont know seeing they only shot about 15 feet. So that being said I bet there are alot of us old guys that are the first airsofters!


And for anyone that I made feel old going down that memory lane... Get over it cause ya are...LOL

But this big dog can get off the porch. Just takes longer and a couple extra pushes more than it use to...LOL


Master Merc OOOOUUUUTTTT!

[Lynx]

SalsaShark might have been the first one to get us on AO.. That was so long ago to us, 2001? maybe, but really we have only been in it for not that long as compared to others... Rogue and 86th are not the only airoft group originating in Toledo... My team Red Shadow has been around since sometime in 2002 or so.. Same for BSTAB I believe (I remember one of the first games we had with them when it was just TVC and Juce with their springers).. As far as Toledo area, our teams have been around a while, but 86th is probably older, I really dont know tho... And sorry to all those Toledo area teams that I did not mention... the only other team around here I know besides those, is GBC, but from what I understand they are more recent...

For all Toledo area teams and players who I dont know, I would highly recommend to check out BSTAB's NW OH Local Forums (http://www.bstab.org/bbs/) maybe we could meet up for a game some time

[Jedigreedo]

A guy on a gaming message board that goes by CadetLee started talking about Airsoft and gave me this site as a reference for getting into it. Best one he linked me to. :cool:

[Blitz[ip]]

Yeah I would have to say that yucks got all of iP into it. He was like the fifth member of the old airsoftohio website

[almega]

matt (rogue), and alot of the 86th got springers at 99-00. Thats when the springer phase was pretty popular with my friends, but the 86th at the time was only in northern ohio, me and my friends are in the dayton area. I got my springers from bill goodmans, he's probably the guy who started it (the guy selling airsoft at bill goodmans).

[Sgt. Savage]

I was a member before Airsofttoys was up and beofre the site was hacked twice. I was a freshman in high school. Man it's been a real long time. I was known back then a Sthompso050. But I got into airsoft by one of my buddies on my buddy list who sent me a link to redwolfs site and I was looking at all the guns and I was like... dude this sport is for me. Than I got my first springer from one of the older members. It was a KWC K99. I still have it to this day. What a beauty she is. And I have stuck with KWC ever sence.


Steve

edit: It was Panzertroop who sold me his gun. I almost forgot. Like I said it feels so long ago.

[Sgt. Horvath]

i had one of those yellow bb's strip guns in 95' heh

[spewy]

Brako got me into it 3 summers ago over at Paintcheck. I thought 400 was a lot to pay for the gun but it paid for itself in my first match. I have loved the game ever since.

Was Wallace the first? I think Blade got Brako into this thing of ours but I'm not sure.

[necronomicon]

I started getting into airsoft about 4 years ago when I bought two HFC spring pistols from a nearby hunting store; a USP and a Glock 17. Before that I had the Daisy Airstrike from Wal-Mart, if you can call that an airsoft gun :rolleyes:

Anyways, I was the first person I know of in my hometown to discover this sport. I bought everything from cheap Cyma rip-offs, to some higher quality spring guns. I could never afford something like a GBB or AEG because the jobs yoe have available for teens around here pays like 200 bucks a month. Subtract gas and insurance for a teen male and after that, subtract a bad smoking habit, you dont have much cash left. But even with low end guns, a few of my paintball buddies at the time played around in the backyard, but none of them were as into it as I was.

About nine months ago, my grandmother passed away. She was as close to me as a parent, and as much as it still hurts today, she left me an inheritance. Money, which in the will said was to be used on anything I wanted but never could have. A month later I had a Tokyo Mauri P90 sitting on my front porch wrapped in UPS packaging.

The rest is history. I own 13 guns as of now and some of them have been modified by myself. I continued to spread the word around town about this "new" sport. I recieved a lot of commennts about being a psychotic para-military fruitcake, playing with toy guns like a kid and a lot of CRAP like that, but I dont listen too well to ridicule.

Today, I have spread the word enough that I founded a small team here of 10 guys, half of us have AEG's or are ordering them soon. I will continue to spread word of this hobby to the people out there who are interested. I have even hooked a 62 year old veteran, and a 5 year old child. I am always willing to answer questions, no matter how "newbish" or stupid they may be. I never turn away a potential hobbyist.

All in all it has been worth it. I am just glad I have a parent who is open and thinks well of what I do and encourages it. Every day it seems someone is asking me what an airsoft gun is, and a month later they come back with an AEG and thank me. Its a good feeling to have.

[Dax]

what about Wallace, I know he has been playin for a while.

[DeltaSniper]

Necro. that is actualy really touching about the P90 and your grandmother. God bless her.

I have been close friends with a majority of my team since i was 9 years old. we used to spray paint squirt guns and play with them, then moved into paintball, and about 2 years ago, Spectre from here got us into airsoft. Its great having a team that I know so well, as I thnk our unit cohesiveness and espirit de corps will blow almost anyone elses out of the water

[Wallace]

I know I am not the first in AO, but I started "truly" playing airsoft (meaning actually engaged in organized skirmishes) back about 15 years ago, when JAC and MGC gas powered full-auto rifles are the norm, before hop-up was invented, range was purely achieved by velocity, and pistols are wicked because they don't blow back. We haul a tank of Freon (today's HFC) on our back as power source and run around hills like there is no tomorrow.

To think of it, my first exposure to airsoft is probably close to 20 years ago, when I was in grade school and was shooting what was known as "mushroom bullets" using *cough* some medical device *cough* (those are NOT Blade BBs). Then maybe a year down a good friend got a springer BB gun and another friend's dad built him a rifle based on a Super 9. Super 9 back then have shells so we can load either a BB or mushroom bullet. That thing probably shoots 600-700 FPS, and I can't even cock it unless I put the stock on the ground and literally step on the cocking handle. But I don't think those years really count, cause I wasn't actively involved.

Back to who first got me into AO, I think its either DumboRAT or JimmyPop. I've had airsoft guns shipped to Columbus long before AO's inception, but I didn't know people play airsoft here until I stumbled across the player registry on AirsoftPlayers.com (or was it AirsoftZone? Can't remember). I started e-mailing a few players in the directory, and they all pointed me to DumboRAT, referring him as the "walking airsoft dictionary". However, JimmyPop was the one who I kept the closest contact with since we both lives in Columbus. After some e-mail and phone calls, I showed up to my first skirmish with... maybe 6 people? I know Blade and Punisher were both there (I shot Punisher in the neck) plus JimmyPop, myself, and the rest that I don't remember (sorry). I think Pliskin wasn't at my first skirmish but he sure is one of the earlier player as well. So obviously all those players started playing in Ohio before me.

Shortly thereafter we formed AO and we took it and run. Locutus took care of all the site developments, and after we have a small but solid player base, I started organizing games. 2002 was my best year, although it totally burned me out after running an airsoft game practically every other weeks for the entire year (my girlfriend almost left me lol). Then in 2003 there was Combat Mission II, the largest event in AO history with 170 participants. Although I've received a lot of complements (thank you), I personally think its not that successful especially on an organizer's standpoint - because a lot of improvements can still be made. Hopefully there will be Combat Mission III later this year or maybe 2005 (if I can't get to it).

Oh and buy the way, Darkstar is technically the "founder" of AO because he originally registered AirsoftOhio.com. However Locutus was the first person who really took care of the domain and build a site around it. You'll be the judge who founded AO. :)



Ez.Wallace