Five young men hailing from Boca Raton, Florida each walked away with a 2001 Mitsubishi Spyder Eclipse convertible as members of the winning team at the 2001 Spyder Cup paintball tournament. More than 85 amateur paintball teams competed in the annual event that took place during Memorial Day weekend, May 26 - 28, 2001. The event was held at the 70-acre Three Rivers Paintball site in Cranberry Township, Pa., located approximately 25 miles north of Pittsburgh.

 

Members of the winning team Nemesis KAPP included Todd Brister 26, Josh Muller 21, Damian Andres 21, Steve Tota 22, and Jeremy Lantier 27. The team has been competing for less than two years and has only played three out of state events. All single guys, Jeremy is getting married in Las Vegas this month.

 

Contingency money was also up for grabs if you wore Raven Jerseys and goggles throughout the event. Because they were wearing the right stuff, Nemisis KAPP also received a $10,000 check from Raven! In second place, Overkill from Maryland took home over $10,000 in prizes including big screen TV's. In third place, receiving a check for $5,000 from Raven was Nasty from Ocean City, Maryland. They also walked away with over $7,000 in prizes including Zappy Scooters from Zap World.

 

In addition to tournament play, several Pittsburgh Steelers players, including Justin Kurpeikis and three other rookie players participated in an exhibition game on Sunday afternoon to benefit Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. Following the exhibition game, Arthur Chang, CEO of Kingman International, presented a $10,000 check to Children’s Hospital representatives.

 

"The tournament gets more exciting every year," said Debra Dion Krischke of TeamEffort Events, the company that co- produced the event. "We had an announcer on board all weekend so spectators were really able to get involved in the games and teams they were watching. The highlight of this year’s event was definitely the Steelers exhibition games, when we put in a little local boy, Artin Shirvani as the team captain. Here was this little tyke who happens to be a great player ordering the big football players around. The Steelers and the crowd loved the show!"

 

"It was a fun day for all of us," said Steeler Justin Kurpeikis and it was even better knowing that we helped raise money for Children's Hospital."

 

The 2001 Spyder Cup was co-produced by Team Effort Events and Kingman International, the manufacturer of the paintball markers that were used in the tournament. The tournament is limited to five-player amateur teams that use only markers from the Spyder series. This year’s preliminary tournament play took place on Saturday and Sunday, May 26-27. Finalists then played for top prizes on Monday, May 28. More than $175,000 in prizes were awarded to the top teams, including the five convertibles awarded to the winners.

 

Kusza Productions was on location the entire week, getting footage for an hour long special to be aired on Fox Sports. Air dates and times will be announced in the future.