A HOF-er Thanksgiving

So I'm a little late. I have never been accused of being timely.

If you check out Cash's blog, you'll find his post about our Thanksgiving trip to Tulsa. He gave the "Cliff Notes" version; I'm filling you in on the details and providing photographic proof that we actually went!

He mentioned that we stayed at the Radisson Hotel with Sleep Number beds. What he didn’t tell you about was the indoor waterpark. It was mostly for small children—the water was three feet at its deepest—but Little Bit had a great time, even though she’s not such the small child anymore. There were a couple of slides, a fake palm tree with water flowing out the top, water cannons and fountains of water squirting up everywhere. I never did have access to the camera while at the pool, so here are a couple of pictures from Radisson’s website:

It was pretty nifty, but those fountains made it really loud. Not pictured is the hot tub, which TOTALLY rocked! I took Little Bit down to play every evening till close. Needless to say, she slept very well.

I must say I was not impressed with the Sleep Number beds. I like to sleep on a soft mattress, so my sleep number was around 30. Basically, I just deflated my side of the bed, which kept Cash rolling onto my side of the bed throughout the night. And since I am one of those people who needs plenty of space while sleeping, it was not good. It was nice, however, to be able to try it without having to extract that large number of dollars from my wallet.

Wednesday was the Hall of Fame banquet, and it was wonderful. Cash was MC for the event and put together a great slide presentation for the three new inductees. The first inductee was someone who made an impact in BMX through industry (that could be bikes, magazines, technology, etc.), and that was Elaine Holt-Osmond. (No relation!)

I didn't get to spend much time with Elaine, but let me tell you what I already know about her: she has to be one of the SWEETEST humans to EVER grace this earth. I wish she didn’t live all the way over in sunny California so I could get to know her better in person (although it does give me an excuse to travel!!!). Elaine coined the term BMX and started a magazine called “Bicycle Motocross News”. She was involved for only four years, but her impact on the sport is still being felt today. She didn’t even know she had been nominated and wouldn’t have found out if Cash hadn’t tracked her down! Wouldn’t THAT be a cool phone call to get?

The second inductee to the BMX Hall of Fame was Dennis Dain.

From the ABA BMX website:

"Best known as the “Red Baron”, this Western Sports-A-Rama local was pilot of the world’s greatest side-hack team. During the hack era of the 70’s, Dain & Ruiz were on top, practically undefeated between the years 1975 to 1979. He was one of the original bike testers for Elaine Holt’s Bicycle Motocross News (the sport’s first newspaper). Dain was one of the first racers to be sponsored by GT, and even had his own Dain replica frame. He also rode for Redline and was a longtime racer for ABA BMX Hall of Famer “Big Daddy” Ralph throughout most of his career. Dain was a founding member of PRO. Dennis still lives in California and works for UPS."

I got to meet Dennis and his wife Sauni, and they were kind enough to let us hang out with them for much of the weekend. They were so genuine and fun, and I really enjoyed getting to know them. Little Bit was more impressed that they live five minutes from and have season passes to Disneyland than she was about anything else. She also thought it was cool that Dennis is a fan of both Hannah Montana and Kim Possible! Instant street cred in the eyes of an eight-year-old!

The third and final inductee was Nebraska’s own Greg Grubbs.

Once again, from the ABA BMX website, because they can explain it better than I can:

"Greg was the first racer from Nebraska to make a name for his self on the national circuit. Not only was he fast, he was the hero to many racers that wore glasses and he was well known for his sense of humor. Greg started racing in 1976, turned Pro at age 15 in 1980, then won the ABA Cornhusker National in the 16 expert class, back when you could race Pro and expert in the same day. In 1981, he won 12 ABA single A races, while riding for SE Racing in the summer. He won the Jag World Championships in A Pro and Pro Open in 1981. In 1982, he was picked up by Redline and won his first race for his new sponsor in Orlando , Florida as AA Pro. He was featured on the December ‘82 BMX ACTION cover. He finished the ‘82 season as the #3 Pro behind the Patterson Bros. In 1983, Greg was dropped from Redline and began wearing a jersey that stated “FREE AGENT”. In the summer of ‘83, he was the first instructor/counselor at the Woodward Training Center along with Mike Miranda, Mike Poulson and Joe Baumert. He briefly rode for JAG BMX. He rode for Hyper BMX from mid-1984 to end of 1985, until owner Billy Farrell was killed in an auto accident. He retired in 1986. From ‘86 to ’90, he attended the University of Nebraska , where he received his B.A. in Anthropology. He made a comeback in 1990 by winning first race back as A Pro at the Mid-West Nationals. In 1991, he blew out his knee at the Mile High Nationals and retired permanently. He was the on-camera talent for the ABA BMX TV Show “Pump”. Greg currently lives in Los Angeles where he works on commercial production and works for the TV show Motocross Files."

Having worn glasses myself since the third grade, I can understand why he was such a hero to the bespectacled set! In addition to commercial production, he apparently has been working hard on his golf game. I've been told he is a single-digit handicap golfer. In case you don't know much about golf, that's REALLY REALLY good!!!

Here’s a picture after the banquet was over. Elaine, unfortunately, had to leave early, so I didn’t get a picture of her with the other HOF-ers. Good job, Cash!!! You were awesome!!!

Here’s Little Bit--isn't she just so sweet??--at the coliseum on Thanksgiving Day during practice for the races that started Friday. Dang, she has great hair. Little Bit and I sat in the stands playing with her pink Nintendo while Cash and the guys checked things out around the Grands.

Cash took this picture that same day, also at the coliseum during practice. The guy on the far left is our friend Alex from Arkansas, but his nickname is Elvis. Elvis is one of the funniest humans I’ve ever met, and he has an amazing story. Earlier this year he had a heart attack and died—yes, DIED—at work. He was revived at his desk and twice more on the way to the hospital. He now has a pacemaker to keep his heart going, and guess what he did that weekend: HE RACED! Elvis, you rock. Between Dennis & Greg is Joe Baumert, Greg’s best friend. They raced together in Nebraska when they were kids and were always ranked #1 and #2 in the state.

We had a great time in Tulsa. I loved meeting all of this year's inductees and spending the weekend with them, as well as some of our BMX teammates! Congratulations to this year's inductees and here's to next year!