CHULA VISTA, CA (BRAIN) — The BMX Hall of Fame will induct five members at a ceremony September 28 at the Olympic Training Center. This year's inductees are in the categories of Pioneer Racer, Racer, Industry, Freestyler and Woman.
The inductees were chosen from among a record number of nominations and voted on by nearly 500 members of the BMX industry and current Hall inductees.
The inductees:
- Rob Fehd, Pioneer Racer. Fehd first raced BMX in the early 1970's, but put racing on hold for a few years to pursue baseball. By 1980, he returned to BMX racing - and with the introduction of 24-inch cruisers, excelled on the big-wheelers and quickly hooked up a factory ride with GT Bicycles. After coming close to capturing ABA's No.1 Cruiser title in 1982, Rob turned pro the following year. He went on to win the IBMXF World Championships in Australia. Forced to retire after multiple knee injuries, Fehd became GT's first in-house Team Manager and competed in some of the first Masters races in the 1990's.
- Bill Griggs, Racer. Griggs was a top-ranked amateur and pro racer during the 1990's, racing for CW, Mongoose, Schwinn and Redline. He earned three top-3 National rankings, and 140 AA-pro mains. Following his retirement from racing, he worked at GT Bicycles in the R&D shop and was responsible for developing the Box Series frame design alongside Gary Turner, and has welded plenty of custom frames for top pros including the GT frames ridden by Mike Day and Jill Kintner in the 2008 Olympics. Currently, Griggs works for Razor in product development.
- George Esser, Industry. As founder and president of the NBL, Esser gave the sport of BMX the boost it needed on the East Coast. In 1981, Esser teamed up with Gerrit Does to found the first international governing body for BMX racing, the IBMXF. Esser at one time was also part owner of MCS and would later own and operate Fab-Weld of Pompano Beach, Florida, manufacturing frames and other products for many big BMX brands. Esser died in 2006.
- Ron Wilkerson, Freestyler. Wilkerson appeared on the cover of the first issue of Wizard Publication's Freestylin' magazine. Soon after hooking up a factory ride with Haro Bikes, Wilkerson went on to invent numerous tricks. For over ten years, he toured the world, helping spread the freestyle gospel to all who would listen - and as team manager, picking up some of the most talented riders along the way. He later turned into an event promoter and created the 2-Hip contests, the King of Vert halfpipe series and Meet the Street contests. He started his own brand in 1989, originally called Wilkerson Airlines, it survives today as 2-Hip Bikes.
- Leigh Donovan, Woman. Donovan began racing at the world-famous Orange "Y" track and hasn't stopped going fast on two wheels since. In 1988, she dominated the entire season and brought home the first National No.1 Girls Cruiser title. After a successful career in BMX, she became one of the most winning female racers in mountain biking. Donovan now works for Interbike.
