Sadly, none live to collect paintball's ultimate honour (7)
I believe the answer is:
ennoble
'honour' is the definition.
(I know that ennoble is a more specific form of honour)
'sadly none live to collect paintball's ultimate' is the wordplay.
'sadly' indicates anagramming the letters.
'live' becomes 'be' (synonyms).
'to collect' is an insertion indicator (inserted letters are collected by others).
'ultimate' indicates one should take the final letters (the last or ultimate letter).
The last letter of 'paintball' is 'l'.
'be' placed around 'l' is 'ble'.
'none' anagrammed gives 'enno'.
'enno'+'ble'='ENNOBLE'
(Other definitions for ennoble that I've seen before include "Elevate to peerage" , "Turn to peer" , "Raise to greater dignity" , "Bestow honour upon" , "Make a peer" .)