Playing at Full Throttle

Bill ’86 and Adam ’89 Gardner have business savvy, competitive drive, and a passion for paintball. No wonder they’re setting the pace for one of the world ’s fastest-growing extreme sports.

by John Finn

On the playing field, Bill Gardner usually peppers the opposition with a furious head-on assault while brother Adam prepares to launch a strategic counterattack from the right flank. In the combat zone known as competitive paintball, only the most aggressive survive.

Competition is a way of life for these two guys. At play or at work, the Gardner brothers are always on the offensive, looking for ways to dominate and defeat those who dare to challenge them.

As the owners of Smart Parts Inc., one of the world’s leading producers of paintball guns, barrels, and air systems, as well as uniforms and accessories, the Gardners operate with a full-throttle mentality. "You have to compete to stay on top," says Bill ’86. "Every day’s a battle."

Bill and Adam ’89 Gardner are president and vice president, respectively, of a company that is expected to do more than $30 million in sales this year, up $12 million from the year before. Combining business degrees with fervent entrepreneurial spirit, they have built an empire in one of the world’s fastest-growing extreme sports. They also own franchises in the NXL, a national professional paintball league, and until recently they were among the best paintball players in the world.

It all started in 1986 when Bill, a graduate student at Emory University, got his first taste of paintball. He was so taken with the game that after earning an M.B.A., he headed home to Ligonier, Pennsylvania, and enrolled in a vocational-technical school. "I was hooked on the game, and I wanted to learn how to create my own gun," he says. "The instructor at the vo-tech school thought I was crazy. He had never had anyone with an M.B.A. before, but he let me do what I wanted to do. I learned how to use the machines and make the parts I needed."

Paintball Lingo

Marker - Paintball gun
Air Ball - An inflatable field with air-filled bunkers
Guppies - The plastic pods that hold extra paintballs in your pack
Hopper - The loader that sits on top of your marker and holds paintballs
Bunkering - When a player runs up to an obstacle and shoots an opponent at close range

Bill began the paintball gun business in his family’s garage, but it quickly outgrew those confines. He generated $34,000 in sales that first year.

Meanwhile, Adam had graduated from the Katz School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh and was enjoying success in the insurance business. One day, his big brother called with an enticing offer. With Bill’s technical expertise and Adam’s business acumen, the Gardners created Smart Parts. They specialize in the design and manufacturing of paintball guns, officially known as "markers."

"Adam and I have different personalities, different gifts, but we have a clear understanding of our strengths and a high level of respect for each other," says Bill. "We believe in letting the other do his own thing, but we’re always competing. I think paintball brings that out in us."

In 1999, the Gardners purchased a 100,000-square-foot building in an industrial park in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Under one roof, they divided the Smart Parts operations into three areas: manufacturing, assembly, and shipping. Their success in product development and marketing led to such products as the Freak, the Shocker, the Nerve, and the new Ion – Smart Parts guns that spit out pastel paint pellets at speeds in excess of two hundred miles per hour.

"Players want guns that are faster and more accurate," says Bill. "That’s why playing the game has been such a huge advantage for us. We’ve even used our teams as test beds for new products."

Paintball has evolved from a game played in the woods to an open-field spectator sport. It requires lightning-quick reflexes, pinpoint shooting accuracy, and hearty levels of endurance. The large playing surface includes inflatable obstacles, behind which players take cover. Players – five on a side – dress in bright, bold, custom-made jerseys, similar to uniforms worn by NASCAR drivers. Once hit with a paintball, you’re out. The team goal: to wipe out your opponents and capture their flag.

More than eleven million people participate in paintball events each year, making it the third most popular extreme sport behind inline skating and skateboarding. By the end of this decade, the industry expects more than twenty million people to take up the game because of its daring, fast-paced, in-your-face style of play. Bill describes it as combining the allure of a video game with the cardiovascular benefits of a rigorous workout.

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