Ryan Fudger of Our BMX/Unclicked podcast, with S&M and Fit Bikes owner Chris Moeller as co-host, interview Harold "McGoo" McGruther, for the longest BMX podcast ever. It starts with the legendary "steamer" incident, where a rider let another guy take a dump on his back, while on tour, to pay off a debt. Then it just keeps going. Some of the craziest stories are near the end. If you're interested in a serious look behind the scenes of the 1980's, 1990's, and 2000's BMX and freestyle industry, check this podcast out. It's 5 hours long, and it's all good.
The first time McGoo entered my consciousness was in late 1985, just after I moved to San Jose, California from Boise. I ordered my first BMX freestyle video, and one of the first ever to be produced, Freestyle's Raddest Tricks. It was put out by BMX Plus! magazine. In the section shot at Pipeline skatepark, there's a bit where photographer John Ker and McGoo are sitting in front of the Pipe Bowl, talking about this hip new thing, BMX freestyle. McGoo was the editor of BMX Plus! at the time. I had been reading the magazine, and has seen his name, but didn't pay much attention to that, at the time. This video put a face and a personality to the name in my head. I was so stoked when I got that video, to finally have my own video of actual top freestylers, that I not only paid $39.95+ shipping for the video, I watched it 7 times the day I got it. Two of those times I watched the whole video while balancing on my bike in the living room. I'm not kidding.
Photographer John Ker on the left, and McGoo on the right, in the 1985 BMX Plus! video, Freestyle's Raddest Tricks.
In 1986, when I landed the job at Wizard Publications, I also became roommates with Gork and Lew, from BMX Action and FREESTYLIN' magazines. Andy Jenkins, editor of FREESTYLIN', and my other boss, also lived nearby. All three of them were good friends with McGoo, who was working as the CW freestyle team manager then, the guy making the Mike Buff, John "Dizz" Hicks, and Ceppies Maes shows happen. I was the quiet new guy, and suddenly I met McGoo, and he was cracking jokes and making sarcastic comments continuously. I remember thinking, "Who is this guy? McGoo should be a comedian." The first time we hung out with him, we wound up driving up and down Beach Boulevard in Orange County, yelling at the hookers that used to work the sketchy area of Beach, through Westminster, Garden Grove, and Stanton, then.
About midnight, I think, we stopped at a Burger King that was still open, for a late night burger. As the five of us were eating, listening to McGoo, Andy, and Lew dream up crazy ideas, a couple of the hookers walked in. They got their food, and sat down at the next table. McGoo, just goofing around says, "Hey baby, how 'bout a date?" He wasn't really trying to pick her up, just having some fun. The hooker looked at us, McGoo was in jeans and a polo shirt, looking fairly yuppie, but the rest of us were in shorts and T-shirts. The hooker said, "I'm on my lunch break!" Total "Talk to the hand!" attitude, The other hooker laughed. She shot McGoo's joke, and all of us, down. I was this really naive dork, only 20, and a year out of Idaho, thinking, "Damn, the BMX industry is crazy!" We spent a bunch more time hanging out with McGoo, during my short stint at Wizard. He was always "on," always joking and telling stories, and keeping everyone entertained. After that, I saw him at contests now and then. When him an Frank Scura got into it, talking smack to each other, it was always hilarious.
McGoo went on to be the GT freestyle team manager, in the era of Martin Aparijo, Josh White, Eddie Fiola, and Dino Deluca. He went on to be the Mongoose team manager, signing Tim "Fuzzy" Hall and Dennis McCoy, as BMX freestyle hit its first peak, and was heading into the lean years. In the early 90's, when I was roommates with Chris Moeller, Jason "Timmy" Ball, and Neal Wood, McGoo lived right around the corner in Huntington Beach, for a while. He's the one who gave Jason the nickname Timmy. The first night Jason showed up, as an 18-year-old rider from Colorado, they all went to McGoo's to hang out. I stayed home, for some reason. Somebody introduced Jason to McGoo, and his reaction was, "Jason?" There's too damn many Jasons, there's already like four Jasons in this area in BMX, you need a new name, you're... you're... Codename Timmy." Something like that. That's the story I heard when they came home that night. That was about 1994, I think. Now, 29 years later, Jason Ball runs the shop at S&M Bikes, and lots of people still call him Timmy.
Right around that time McGoo did the Mental Jimmy'z BMX mail order business with John Paul Rogers, sharing an office with S&M Bikes. He talks about that in the podcast. He talks about everything in the podcast, so stop reading my drivel here, and just watch the podcast. Or listen to it.
For the past fifteen years or so, McGoo has been working as a co-founder of Biltwell, selling retro-styled motorcycle helmets and accessories. He's trimmed down, and I must say, looks in damn good shape these days. Harold McGoo McGruther is THE most inside insider of the 1980's-2000's BMX industry, and all 5 hours of this podcast is entertaining, if you're an Old School BMXer/freestyler. If you haven't watched this already, watch it. Thanks to Ryan Fudger and Chris Moeller for getting McGoo into the podcast for this interview.
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