Motorcycling lost one of its great and influential personalities with the death of Bill Boyce on March ninth, 1999, at the age of 76. His knowledge of motorcycling was extensive, his service to the sport was tireless, and his kindness to others brought many benefits to the American Motorcyclist Association, which he served for more than 40 years of his life. 

I had the pleasure of working with Bill at the AMA from 1971 until my resignation in mid-February last year, which precluded his death by less than 30 days. But my friendship with Bill predated our time as AMA employees. 

I first met him when I was a young stringer, submitting stories and photographs to motorcycle publications in the late 1960s. One of the first dirt track races I covered was officiated by Bill. I wasn't too sure how to go about getting my story, and I felt somewhat intimidated by the AMA officials. They seemed pretty busy, since it was the dirt track season opener at Springfield, Ohio, with more than 200 entries. Would they consider me - the press - a nuisance; perhaps the enemy? 

Bill, who was referee of the event and surely had plenty to occupy his time, went to the trouble to seek me out. When I signed in for pit credentials, Bill's clerks had informed him of my presence. He came to me, introduced himself, took me over to the timing and scoring crew, introduced me, and instructed them to provide me copies of all times and results. He went on to welcome me and tell me how important the press was to professional motorcycle racing. 

I was simply astonished. Without my ever asking, Bill and his crew volunteered to reduce my reporting task by 80 percent. With the vital statistics being done by the AMA officials and handed over to me, I was able to concentrate on getting better pictures and more human interest material through interviews with the riders. 

This was not necessarily standard operating procedure at all AMA-sanctioned events. It was, rather, Bill Boyce's operating procedure: an attention to detail and customer service that characterized his every endeavor. 

Bill's attention to detail was a never-ending source of amazement and amusement among the AMA staff. We always joked that if anyone wanted to start a new sanctioning body, all they had to do was steal Bill's brief case. He always carried a huge salesman's sample case that seemed to contain at least four copies of every form, list, bulletin, and rule book available in the pro racing department; plus an abundant supply of stickers, patches, logo sheets, and other necessary items that the rest of us seemed prone to forget 

And if Bill didn't have it in his brief case, he likely had it somewhere between his ears. He had been deeply involved in motorcycle racing since the 1940s - first as a competitor then later as an official - and his command of history and understanding of why things were done a certain way was marvelous. "Ask Boyce," became the universal response to a historical question, and this may be the reason we never really let Bill retire. Although he officially turned in his business card in 1990, we kept bringing him back from year to year as a part time consultant, and even at the time of his death he was spending a couple of days a week at the AMA, doing research, archival work, and other essential tasks that only Bill seemed capable of doing. 

Bill's honesty, openness and absence of guile made him unique and gave the AMA a special reputation within the Federation Internationale de Motocyclisme. For more than 20 years he held seats on the technical and international speedway committees, and approached his job like no one else in the organization. We Americans often found it difficult to function within the FIM. The political baggage carried around by the members of this largely European organization was something we found confusing and overwhelming. There was a Latin versus Anglo aspect, an East versus West aspect, and a New World versus Old World aspect. Residual bitterness from World War II seemed to hang like smog over everything, and there were layers of resentment and hard feelings over races and world championships won and lost that we could not even hope to comprehend. 

It simply didn't bother Bill. While the rest of us were trying to figure out how to tiptoe through the politics, Bill was treating other nationalities like he would treat anyone else, and they loved him for it. I recall an especially raucous party in San Marino in 1975 when Bill suddenly produced from his pockets all kinds of novelties poking fun at various nationalities. He had a "Hollander's Sex Manual." It was a tiny book containing one page that said, "In, out, repeat if necessary." He had a Polish target pistol, a toy plastic hand gun with the barrel pointing the wrong way so the shooter could blast himself squarely between the eyes. I was horrified, and said, "Good God, Bill, what do you think you're doing?" Then I noticed that the Polish delegation was passing the toy gun around and pretending to shoot themselves, falling out of their chairs in gales of laughter. And a Dutch fellow absolutely insisted that Bill give him the Hollander's Sex Manual so he could take it home to show his wife that he really had been doing it correctly all these years! 

Only Boyce could have gotten away with it. Whereas this behavior by any other delegate would have resulted in outrage and scandal, it only increased Bill's personal status within the FIM. During meetings in Geneva, Switzerland, Bill would scour the toy shops for unusual gifts for his grandchildren. One day he found a little traction motor motorcycle that went like hell, bought a bagful, and started passing them out like party favors to the members of the technical committee. Within minutes European motorcycling's great and legendary engineers - Helmut Bonsch, Johann Puch, Walter Kaaden - were shouting and competing like preschoolers, conducting drag races up and down the conference table. There is no wonder that when the speedway committee hosted Bill's retirement dinner in Bangkok in 1996, I saw grizzled old men of many nations weep openly.

Bill's love of motorcycling extended to every aspect of the sport. He simply did not have a favorite interest; it was all equally fun and enjoyable to him. His personal competitive experience lay with hillclimbing, dirt track, and TT racing, the uniquely American traditional forms of the sport. However, when motocross began to emerge during the 1970s, Bill showed equal enthusiasm and a child-like willingness to learn. He knew more about hillclimbing and speedway than anyone else on the staff at the AMA, and in the latter years of his career he became a key figure at every national championship road race. I was not surprised to hear one of the leading road course managers state shortly before Bill's death, "As far as I am concerned, Bill Boyce is the AMA. In fact, I always called him 'Mr. AMA'." 

In addition to his enthusiasm for all things racing, Bill could be seen arriving at work aboard his Gold Wing whenever the weather was suitable, and many times when it wasn't. Motorcycling in all of its forms is what he did; professionally and personally. 

Bill Boyce was honored many times by the organizations he served. In 1996 he received the AMA Dud Perkins Award, the Association's highest honor for service to motorcycling. Only one time previous had this award been given to a member of the AMA's professional staff. That same year he was named a permanent honorary member of the FIM speedway committee, a title that had been awarded to only three other individuals in that organization's 92-year history. In 1993 he received the AMA Professional Sportsman of the Year Award, which, among all of the awards, probably best speaks to the characteristics that made Bill special. His life in motorcycling, from amateur racer to leader of the AMA's professional racing operation, was characterized by sportsmanship, service to others, and an open and unpretentious approach to whatever task confronted him. 

American motorcycling will know the loss of Bill Boyce. And it will never really replace him. No person ever gave more of himself to the sport and to others, whether it was at an obscure Pro-Am event in Ohio or a world championship in Poznan, Poland. Bill served American motorcycling well. He enriched my life. He enriched the life of many.
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Ed Youngblood is the former President of the AMA