By
SC OTT R OUSSEAU
f there is one pleasant th ought that ca n be brou ght
on by the recent passing of th e great Ken Maely.
ma ybe it's th is: His age is th e subject of considerable
debat e. His birth certi fi cat e shows a 1925 birthdate,
and yet the m an hi mse lf alw ays argued that th e year
was off · by as mu ch as fiv e years. So, depend in g on
wh om you ch oo se t o bel ieve, t he belo ved M aely
passed away on Oct ob er 9 , 2003. at th e ripe old age
of 78 , 8 0, 82 or 83. Prob abl y j ust the w ay tha t he
wou ld have wanted it. You know, alw ays k eep 'em
guessing and all that.
Th e real significance of t h e ag e t h in g i s tha t
such a discrepancy cou ld not be m ore fitting a tribute to Maely , a true motorc ycl e raci n g p i on eer
whose accomplishments suggest th at he lived several li fetimes in one . There was Ma el y the hot shoe
man , M a el y the fa r m er , Ma el y th e motor c y cl e
bu ild er. Ma ely th e Chin ese industria lis t. He was a
man who truly knew how to pack a week's worth of
work into a few days.
Most pe ople would hate the id ea th at others are
on l y t oo happy to st ep all over their life ' s wo rk . but
to Ken Maely . it wa s a sou rce of pride . Since 19 50 ,
Maely' s hot shoes, wit h t heir " har dface that fl ows
on like glass - no ocean wa ves ," ha ve been worn
by more World and Nati onal Ch amp ion s than all
oth er shoe build ers combin ed . A s o ur tr ib ut e to
h im, we thought it wou ld be a good id ea to call on
some of them to reco unt th ei r memories of the m an
wh o ha d a great im pact not only on th eir ca reers,
but also on their lives. Wh at we le arn ed · nah, what
we alr eady kn ew • i s that wh ile he ma y not h ave
bee n th e m o st rep uted per son in the m oto rc y cle
ind ustry. Ken Maely was an undisputed k in g in th e
motorc ycl e community .
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