Ralph the bike man of Martin City
Submitted by Brent Hugh on Mon, 03/11/2013 - 8:28am
A recent Kansas City Star article tells the story of Ralph the bike man - a 96 year old World War II vet who has helped hundreds of Martin City residents find or fix bikes:
They don’t even know his name. Just “Ralph the bike man.” Because for years and years, he was just that. He combed garage sales and junk piles looking for old bikes. He fixed them up in his basement and sold them out of his driveway in Martin City.
Over time, he sold hundreds to generations of kids. If parents couldn’t pay, he’d say, “Pay me when you can.” Sometimes that was never and that was OK, too, with Ralph the bike man. . . .
He would sell kids their first bikes and take those in on trade as the kids grew. A weekend would find 25 bikes sitting in his driveway. That is until somebody dropped a dime on him and the city shut him down for violating city ordinances about running a business out of his home.
Martin will receive Martin City's new "Community Humanitarian Award" and was marshall of the city's St Patrick's Day Parade yesterday.
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