BMX lost one of the all time top riders last week, Harry Leary. One of the early legends of BMX racing, Harry Leary, passed away last Saturday, September 7, 2024. It was announced on an Instagram post, and the only details I've seen are that he was 65 years old, and died of heat exhaustion in the Arizona desert.
Although he raced for 50 years, part of his iconic status comes from inventing the Leary, one of the classic BMX jumping tricks of all time. The Leary goes back to about 1975 or 1976, I believe, and got dubbed the lookback by freestylers, early on. The still shot on the video above is Harry Leary, doing a Leary, on the July 1984 cover of BMX Action. Easily, this is one of the greatest magazine covers ever. This video above is a review of that magazine, and there is another great shot of Harry in the magazine, a full speed bonzai jump photo. Both the cover shot and the inside two page spread are shots by Jim Cassimus.
Months after I got into BMX in 1982, a couple of my friends got their bikes stolen at a local arcade. Luckily they just figured out a week earlier that their bikes were covered on their parents' renter's insurance policy. With a little bit of creative writing on the insurance claim, they both got big checks for the stolen bikes. One of them bought a 1983 Diamondback Harry Leary Turbo. That was the first top-of-the-line BMX bike I ever got to ride. In a straight line, on the street. He didn't let any of us jump it. That bike felt so good to pedal, compared to the rat bike clunkers we all had at the time. It gave us something to aim for. Like thousands of other kids around the U.S. and the world, Harry Leary helped inspire our little crew in the trailer park outside of Boise to keep riding and progress as BMXers.
Here are some of the highlights I found online for all of you out there who were also inspired by Harry Leary at some point in your riding life.
BMX Weekly Podcast #1 with Harry Leary- 2023- Interview by Dale Holmes- 57 minutes
The Diamondback Harry Leary Turbo- When it comes to the iconic signature BMX bikes of the late 1970's and early 1980's, there are four that really stand out. The Diamondback Harry Leary Turbo, the PK Ripper (Perry Kramer), and for freestyle, the Haro Master (Bob Haro), and the Redline RL-20 (R.L.Osborn). There were others, but those four were above the others in popularity and becoming the great bikes in the many years since.
