Editing 1995 NPPL Pittsburgh Open

The '''1995 NPPL Pittsburgh Open''' was a [[paintball]] tournament in Pennsylvania and the third event of the [[National Professional Paintball League]]'s 1995 season. Contemporary announcements advertised the tournament for '''21–25 June 1995''' at Urban Assault near Pittsburgh.[1]

[[Bad Company (paintball team)|Bad Company]] won the professional ten-man competition, ending the sequence of NPPL professional ten-man victories shared by [[Aftershock]], the [[Ironmen]] and the [[All Americans]] since the league's inaugural season.[2]

== Organisation and programme ==
The Pittsburgh Open followed the [[1995 NPPL San Diego Open]] and preceded the [[1995 NPPL Chicago Open]] on the published season schedule. League advertising announced more than US$50,000 in cash and prizes and named the All Americans as the scheduled refereeing team.[1]

Five-man competition was scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday, followed by ten-man competition on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Competitors were permitted to bring their own paintballs.[1]

The advertised entry fees were US$500 for five-man teams, US$1,500 for amateur ten-man teams and US$2,000 for professional ten-man teams. The published arrangements specified at least four referees on each five-man field and six on each ten-man field.[1]

== Professional ten-man competition ==
A retrospective published in ''Paintball 2Xtremes'' described Bad Company's route to victory. In their final semi-final game, Bad Company needed to defeat Aftershock to advance. The contest ended with Jeff Shank facing Gary Noblet in a one-on-one exchange, which Shank won.[2]

The final-round group comprised Bad Company, the Ironmen, the Florida Terminators and [[Avalanche]]. According to the retrospective, Avalanche declared professional status during the event.[2]

Bad Company entered their last final-round game behind the Ironmen on points. They defeated the Ironmen and completed the game with five players remaining, securing the tournament victory.[2]

== Historical significance ==
The result made Bad Company the first team outside Aftershock, the Ironmen and the All Americans to win an NPPL professional ten-man event. Those three teams had won every such competition during the league's first two seasons and its first two events of 1995.[2]

== See also ==
* [[National Professional Paintball League]]
* [[Bad Company (paintball team)]]
* [[1995 NPPL San Diego Open]]
* [[1995 NPPL Chicago Open]]
* [[Paintball in the United States]]

== References ==
# NPPL “Time to Play” season advertisement and “Calendar of Events”, ''Paintball Sports'', April 1995. Contemporary notices advertising the Pittsburgh Open for 21–25 June at Urban Assault, including the programme, scheduled referees, entry fees and prize fund.
# [https://www.automags.org/forums/forum/automag-owners-forums/paintball-talk/122630-history-of-paintball History of Paintball], Automags.org. Reproduction of “81 Moments that Shaped Paintball”, ''Paintball 2Xtremes'', June 2005; entry 47, “Bad Company Wins the NPPL Pittsburg Open”, documents the professional ten-man competition and its historical significance.

[[Category:National Professional Paintball League events]]
[[Category:Paintball tournaments in the United States]]
[[Category:Paintball tournament results]]
[[Category:Paintball in Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:1990s in American paintball]]
[[Category:1995 in paintball]]