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Pioneers England

DICK Scott (England)

2012-Scott-Dick-Unckle-BuckSpecial recoqnition European Hall of Fame

Pioneer non racer, promotor of BMX, official, organiser;  in short one of thé pioneer BMX fathers in England

Picture on right, courtesy of Rhodopsin Photography

First Name: Scott
Family Name: Dick
Married: YES with Margaret Dick
Date of Birth: 25/8/1956
City where you live: London

DOES Nico (Holland)

Nico-DoesSpecial recoqnition European Hall of Fame

At the age of 6 (1976) Nico was already riding BMX bikes, which his uncle Pierre Karsmakers (former MX Dutch and USA National Champion) imported from the USA in the late '70s.

Officialy Nico was the first license holder in Holland and probably in Europe with an official registrated organisation. At the time his skills were very exceptional. Even in the USA, were he competed at the JAG BMX World Championships in 1979, American riders, among them several Pro's, were astonished by his technic and skills of ND doing one-handers, no-footers and such.

Besides racing, Later on Nico started his own company building and selling BMX bikes. He started WEBCO Bicycles in 1991. Up till this day (ending 2001) Nico is involved in building these bikes and selling them.

KD Quality Products AG, owned by Albert Knill in Switzerland, works with Nico on this. (KD stands for, Knill Does).

Besides all of this Nico still is actif as a trainer/coach on local level with his club "F.C.C. Lion d'Or" in Valkenswaard - Holland, on National level with the KNWU regional training sessions and at International level, when invited to give training/seminars and so on.

More then 25 years he has been involved in the sport of BMX and still lives the sport a loves. Nico never won a European or World title, did win several Dutch national titles and 2 third places at World Championships (Indianapolis-USA and Brisbane-Australia) but for sure deserves his place in the European BMX Hall of Fame as BMX racer/promoter of the absolute "first hour of the sport".

More information on Nico can be found in his University of BMX Advisor CV.

Inducted in 2001

DOES Pieter (Holland)

Pieter-Does-August-79-BMX-track-Eindhoven-5yoSpecial recoqnition European Hall of Fame

A pioneer rider. still active in the sport (without a break) and competing at the highest level, celebrates his 25th anniversary in the sport in July 2004, has been nominated: Pieter Does, Holland. Update: end year 2004 Pieter Does stopped racing.

For more information about Pieter Does, check out his profile.

Inducted in 2004

 

HEIDKAMP Uli (Germany)

Uli-Heidtkamp-2003-Old-Skool-Reunion-Dessel-BSpecial recoqnition European Hall of Fame

Uli was one of the first BMX racers in Germany. Started in 1979 and competed in his first international race in 1980 at the AVRO GOLD CUP TV event in Waalre-Holland. In the early days, Uli was the "face" of German BMX.

In his country he was a trend-setter at the time because he was racing in the oldest age-class at the time (16+). BMX was new and many people found it kind of strange, boys of about 16 year and older riding these small 20" BMX bikes.

Uli's dad Helmut Heidtkamp, was one of the first pioneers of BMX in Germany in the Cologne area and did a great job getting BMX off the ground as an organised sport and promoting the sport of BMX in general.

1980-Uli-Heidtkamp-Gerrit-Does-helping-out-during-the-AVRO-TVBy nominating Uli, we also honour his dad (died in the early '90 of cancer) for his pioneer work.

Inducted in 2001

HOLMES Dale (England)

Dale-Holmes2001 World Champion
1996 World Champion

1997 World Cup Winner

Dale Holmes on the right with Nico van DartelDale Holmes on the right with Nico van Dartel

daleholmes.com is one of Nico's favorite BMX websites

 

Dale Holmes on the right with Nico van Dartel (www.daleholmes.com is one of Nico's favorite BMX websites)

JARVIS Malcom (England)

Special recoqnition European Hall of Fame

Together with Alan Rushton, Geoff Wiles and his wife Sue, Malcom Jarvis introduced, started organising and promoting BMX in England.

JARVIS Sue (England)

Special recoqnition European Hall of Fame

Together with Alan Rushton, Geoff Wiles and her husband Malcom, Sue Jarvis introduced, started organising and promoting BMX in England.

LYNCH Tom (England)

Tom-Lynch1986 European Champion

Special recoqnition European Hall of Fame

Tom Lynch, one of the most successful British riders who managed to rake the Superclass by storm when he was only 16 years old (in 1986). Tom stated "I still have me verses TEAM AMEV dreams". Insiders know exactly what Tom means by this!

Tom started out as a moto-cross rider but switched to BMX in 1980, competed in his first BMX events in 1982 and Tom finished his career in 1994.

NICOLAS Philippe (France)

1980 Philippe Nicolas of France with young Pieter Does HollandSpecial recoqnition European Hall of Fame

One can call Philippe the pioneer and trend setter for French BMX.

He was the first ever National Champion of France in the oldest age class in 1979.

Philippe was a good promoter for BMX, competed also in the AVRO GOLD CUP TV event in Waalre-Holland in August 1980.

Inducted in 2001

NYBERG Andreas (Sweden)

1985 Andreas NybergSpecial recoqnition European Hall of Fame

Another pioneer rider has been nominated, Andreas Nyberg from Sweden.

Andreas was the first ever Swedish BMX racer in the, at the time, oldest age class and the first one from Sweden to compete in international events, among others, the 1983 I.BMX.F. Worlds in Holland and the Murray World Cup in Nashville Tennessee, USA.

Andreas still runs a Bicycle and BMX shop in Sweden.

Inducted in 2004

REDOIS Xavier (France)

xavier redois 1984Special recoqnition European Hall of Fame

Xavier started racing BMX early 1979 and can be considered one of the pioneer BMX racers of France and leaded the way for a long period of time.

He never won a European and/or World title in the highest level class, however he still was a leading figure in International BMX for many years, together with Claude Vuillemot and David Kastler.

xavier redois 1987Xavier is still involved in BMX due to his profession working for a bicycle company in England.

A man who had to be nominated for the European Hall of Fame of BMX.

Inducted in 2001

RUFFELL Andy (England)

Special recoqnition European Hall of Fame

Here the motivation concerning the nomination of Andy Ruffell to the European BMX Hall of Fame. Besides a pioneer top rider, Andy was a true promoter of the BMX sport during the first 8 years of BMX in Great Britain, as you can read.

Waalre-Holland, October 2007

NAME :  Andy Ruffell (born in England) 
CITY :  Las Vegas
COUNTRY :  USA
DATE OF BIRTH : 8th May 1966
E.MAIL ADDRESS : This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
MARRIED : NO (Long time girlfriend Heidi Kelso (American TV Producer)

www.andyruffell.com

www.myspace.com/andyruffell

www.youtube.com/andyruffell

PROFESSION AT THIS MOMENT (explain a little about your job, has sport helped you with this?):

President / CEO A3 Networks USA – A3 is a media group with TV broadcasts in 8 million households, various web sites and production companies ( www.watchA3.com). My role is to develop the business as a whole, in particular take our TV interest's into other cities in the USA including New York and Los Angeles – then across the world.

I'm so grateful for what I learned all those years ago during my BMX career, there's the usual things you would expect like never give up and fight hard to be the best….but potentially even more than that it was that it allowed me to travel the world a few times while I was young enough to really learn about people and human nature. The biggest lesson of all is that basically we are all the same no matter what religion or where we are from.. If I had my life again I wouldn't change a thing.. BMX rules !

START OF BMX CAREER (year): 1979

MAIN RESULTS DURING THE YEARS (championships, nr. 1,2,3 spots) at

NATIONAL LEVEL :        No. 1 – 1980, 1981, 1982. 1983, 1985 (No.2 1984)

EUROPEAN LEVEL:        Not sure? Always on the road I think I missed most of the Euro races

WORLD LEVEL:             Top 5 a few times?

MEMORABLE EVENTS and RESULTS:

* UK Freestyle Champion 1982 / 3 (won every freestyle event entered)

* ScreenSport Pro Champion 1985

* World Record Bunny Hop Height – 39 inches (circa 1984)

* World Record People Hop – 36 People (1984)

* Starred in BMX The Video 1983 sold million copies worldwide

* Starred in various commercials for Kelloggs and Readybrek (UK, Europe and Africa)

* Awarded young cyclist of the year by Minister For Sport 1984

* Made over 500 TV appearances around the world

* 12,000 people attended one Andy Ruffell show in South Africa

* Made a top 30 record in 1983 ‘BMX Boys have a lot of fun'

* Won his first American BMX race in 1981 Pontiac SilverDome

WAS A MEMBER OF THE FOLLOWING TEAMS:

Ammaco Mongoose 1981 – 1984, Raleigh – 1985, Ammaco Mongoose 1986

WHICH BRAND OF BIKES DID YOU RACE:

Mongoose Supergoose 2, Mongoose ProClass, Raleigh Team Pro, Mongoose Pro Class

STOPPED CAREER AS ACTIVE BMX RACER IN (year):  

1987

BEEN ACTIVE IN ANY OTHER SPORT:   

only as a hobby – Motorcycles / Snowboarding

ANY ADDITIONAL REMARKS TO BE MADE:

Andy, now 41, has also developed a significant career in television and hosted 7 series over 4 years of the nationally televised BMX Beat on the UK ITV network as well as presenting the prestigious Kellogg's BMX Championship on Channel 4 for three years. He has appeared in over 400 TV shows in the UK and around the world including two appearances on BBC Superstars and starring in various commercials for Kellogg's and Ready Brek.

Andy also founded and produced several major BMX and Skateboarding events including the European BMX Freestyle Championships and the world-renowned ‘Holeshot' event, which brought together the world's best BMX riders and Skateboarders – a forerunner to the modern ‘X Games' – all with international TV coverage.

In 1987 he decided to retire from competitive sport and developed his next career behind the camera as a producer at London's BiG Group Communications Agency. Over the next few years he produced a wide range of award winning entertainment programs and documentaries around the world including Asia and North and South America for clients including British Airways, Johnnie Walker, Cathay Pacific and Cunard Line.

In 1995, Andy undertook one of his greatest challenges when after a chance meeting with Kanya King they created and launched the MasterCard MOBO Awards – now one of the world's largest televised urban music events. The event has just celebrated its 10 th anniversary and is broadcast nationally on BBC1 in the UK and in 20 countries across the globe. Since launching The MOBO Awards, the parent company has grown to include TV Production, Publishing, and Music and Internet divisions.

Ruffell is also Founder and CEO of ‘DanceStar' – the global dance music awards platform. It is an event concept developed across three continents with the first DanceStar show – ‘The World Dance Music Awards' taking place on June 1st 2000 at London's Alexandra Palace. It was broadcast on the UK's Channel 4 network and various territories around Europe reaching over 100 million households worldwide.

March 2002 saw the launch of DanceStar USA – The American Dance Music Awards that took place at the prestigious Jackie Gleason Theatre in the dance ‘Mecca' of South Beach, Miami. It became the most talked about event of 2002. The 2003 show took place live on the sands of Miami Beach and was seen in 54 countries across the world – the most watched electronic music show in history…

Andy has now Created, Produced and Exec Produced more than 18 world class televised award shows and over 50 other event, TV and video projects around the world in places as diverse as Kuwait, Hong Kong, Venezuela and mid Atlantic on the QE2.

Andy's events have featured some of the world's biggest names in music and entertainment including, 50 Cent, Destiny's Child, Tina Turner, P.Diddy, Diana Ross, Ja Rule, Lenny Kravitz, Juliette Lewis, Lionel Richie, R.Kelly, Dionne Warwick, Moby, Boy George, Bootsy Collins, BB King, Bono, The Edge, Fatboy Slim, George Benson, Kool & The Gang, Santana, Jay-Z and Tony Blair.

The future looks good for Andy Ruffell with his consultancy company advising US and European corporations on televised event development, he is President and CEO of A3 Networks, a TV channel in south Florida which is about to expand across the USA. Also three new globally televised events are in development with major broadcasters including a Latin Version of DanceStar.

Andy has now based his operations in Miami and New York with AR Consulting Inc encompassing Music, TV and Radio Projects.  

Thanks Andy for completing this form. GD.

 

Press Release (November 2005)

"Old Skooler ANDY RUFFELL scoring in the USA with his Music Awards programm and.... showing he is proud of his BMX background. Very well done ANDY"


andy_ruffell

Gallery

Andy_Ruffell_1984 1983_Andy_Ruffellandy_ruffell_tabletop