SAN ANTONIO (BRAIN) — Longtime BMX veteran Bernie Anderson, who helped establish and grow the USA BMX organization, died Tuesday. He was 93.
After starting a magazine distribution company, Anderson's two sons encouraged him to try a new sport, bicycle motocross, in the late 1970s. Anderson soon became a leader in the San Antonio BMX community and operated the Lonestar BMX track.
He later started the BMX brand Rebel Racing. In 1985, he purchased the Arizona-based sanctioning body American Bicycle Association (ABA). He helped build the organization from grassroots tracks into an international discipline. In 2011, the ABA acquired rival group the National Bicycle League and rebranded as USA BMX.
In 1985, Anderson formed the National BMX Hall of Fame to recognize achievements of early BMX pioneers. The hall celebrated its 40th anniversary this year at its headquarters in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which also includes a museum and stadium. Anderson was inducted into the BMX Hall of Fame in 2008. A year earlier, he was inducted into the U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame.
He is survived by wife Edson, sons Bernard Allen ("BA") and Bernard Ray ("BR"), daughters Debbie Hominick and Karen Thompson, and his sister Maxcine.
