| early years |
William Lacy Furmage, march 2006: My name is William Lacy Furmage, born May 31, 1964 in Red Springs, North Carolina and I am of Scot/Irish/French descent. I moved to Downey, CA in the mid 70's. I started riding BMX bikes at 10 years old. In 1977, at the age of 13, I met Billy Watkins, Charles Recette and Tony Ray Davis. We RODE freestyle BMX everyday. In 1980, Billy and I got on the front page of the SouthEast News, Downey-Hollydale Edition (Feb. 3rd 1980), but the photo was shot December of 1979. |
Southeast News Feb. 3 1980 Downey, CA.
Caption reads..."a piece of plywood and a couple of thrash cans and presto you have a jumping ramp. William Furmage 15 and Billy Watkins 13 go over the top in the best daredevil fashion."
William Lacy Furmage, march 2006: Photo shot Dec. 1979; I rode Mongoose frame with moto mags and Billy had a Astrabula with tuff wheels. |
| 1981 |
William Lacy Furmage, march 2006: I started Super Style II BMX Team in 1981 in Downey, CA with my friend Tony Ray Davis. Growing up in those early years, we knew our only freestyle competitions were R.L. Osbourne and Mike Buff, the BMX Action trick team for R.L's Dad's company BMX magazine, and the Woody Itson and Martin Aparijo (duo). Throughout 1982, "established" trick team did not compete in skatepark competition due to possible injuries and jeopardizing any show appearances. Their teams and ours, only did shows. I had sponsors like Ralph's Bicycles, SE Racing, Max, ACS, and CJP number plates. Tony and I did freestyle BMX shows around Downey, CA; my high school yearbook, Stonewood Shopping Center Community events, and Golf-N-Stuff in Downey, CA (were Karate Kid 1 was filmed). My freestyle nickname was Crazy Lacy. Tony Davis and I, competed at Lakewood Skateparks (final contest) around 1981 where I took 4th, with only 1 day of pratice against the local, Eddie Fiola, who won 1st place, Fred Becker 2nd, and Tony Davis 5th. A month later, I won 1st at Paramount Skatepark (my local park), Tony Davis 2nd, Billy Watkins 3rd, and Charles Recette 4th. Eddie Fiola showed up for the contest, but was having a hard time with Paramount's vert and did not compete that day for whatever reason. My local friends and I had this park wired and we're ready to shut Eddie down. We were all rather upset that he didn't compete that day after he had just beat us at his local park because at 18 yrs. old, we were there to bring it. These contest took place before we had any sponsorship and before King Of The skatepark series. |
| 1982 |
William Lacy Furmage, march 2006: I later went factory Vans in 1982 and toured Southern California and then, toured Ohio with shows booked along the way. The 1982 Vans' photo of the team in the BMX mags did not show the "FREESTYLE TEAM," just the VANS team racers, trying to ride the half pipe that was later destroyed in a freeway roll-over before Tony and I got on the team. I haven't seen any true history on our freestyle team that was toe toe with the BMX Action / Woody Martin teams in the early 1982.
When Scot at SE, sponsored us with PK Ripper frames in early 1982, he did not carry a yellow model, so I painted mine yellow for my preference (SEE photo) and then, the yellow model followed shortly after (more history). A few months later, Vans team manager, Everette Rosecrans, said "we didn't need to report to SE with photos from our shows" because "Scot knew we were getting it done riding for Vans, doing multi weekend shows around Southern California and many shows in indoor malls, along the way to Ohio for the Grand Nationals BMX Race in 1982. Tony Davis was the first trick rider to pull a 540 aerial, during a show at the Grand National BMX Race. We found out later, that the photo story Everette had told us wasn't true and when I showed up to get a fresh frame, Scot snatched the frame out of my hand and said to "get lost." I tried to explain, but he didn't care. Scot doesn't acknowledge the Downey Super Style II Freestyle BMX history on the SE History sites. I find that to be very sad and wished I had more photos today. I'm sure, Scot must have a few because we gave him photos on several occassions before we joined with Vans. Later that day, I arrived at Ralph's Bicycle, my local bike shop in Downey, which was a big part of BMX history that sponsored many riders; he hooked me up with the Hustler frames that he had just started to manufacture. Tony Davis, my friend, went freestyle factory Haro in 1982-83 and won the freestyle contest in Las Vegas which is not mentioned in any website.
Tony and I, hanged out with Skyway factory rider, Andy Patterson in Downey, Martin Apario at Whittier Blvd cruise nights, and Eddie Fiola on a number of occassions even though we were rivals. 13 year old, Mike Dominquez would hang with us at Skate City, before he blew up on the freestyle scene. With no regrets, I later realized that all those bike parts, t-shirt and shoe flow didn't pay the bills and with R.L. Osbourne's dad, being the owner of the BMX Action magazine, it was hard to get any coverage. So, I semi-retired and got into the electrical trade, married and have been raising 2 freestyle BMXers with my wife for the last 19 years riding freestyle and restoring classic cars now. I had alot of fun back in the days that I now share those memories with my sons and their friends and now your site. |
William Lacy Furmage, march 2006: Super Style II Team does a show for Stonewood Shopping Mall early to mid 1982. Vans is now giving us shoe flow and we're still doing our gigs. From left to right, Tony on PK Ripper, Crazy Lacy on PK Ripper and our friend, Charles Recette on his Torker who wasn't serious about the sport as we were. |
| 2006 |
William Lacy Furmage, march 2006: Futhermore, I have couched my 2 sons, Chris 19 and Corey 15, in the freestyle BMX sport since they were 3 years old in their own BMX park built in our frontyard. The boys also ride at Vans, Real Ride Skatepark, Jurapa, Huntington Beach (dirt jumping contest), Las Vegas Skatepark contest, and streets. They are a big part of the teen scene and Hot Rod scene when we cruise our 1967 Chevy Nova at local events. We, also have the huge Pepsi 12' halfpipe from the 80's in our backyard. I'm their 41 year old coach/manager that can still throw down plenty of tricks. I have a truck, trailer, and multi-show ramps and have been doing demos around Apple Valley, CA. My wife and I, have devoted all our time to their riding careers and as you can see from the photos, we're devoted to the sport of BMX.
We've been working with Heidi Lemmon with SPAUSA.ORG trying to change our local skatepark rules to allow bikes. We have paid 2 - $25 fines with a 30 day impound of bikes. It would seem after 30 years of freestyle BMX, this law shouldn't exist. |