A Legend Bike Co. rider history page. Heavy first-hand record on torkerracing.com and bmxsociety.com; cross-checked against Wikipedia, the USA BMX Hall of Fame directory, BMXmuseum.com, FatBMX, ESPN Action Sports, and the period BMX press.

Eddy King

"King Edward" / "Silver Bullet" / "The 1$" · born October 9, 1964 · ABA BMX Hall of Fame, 1989

At a glance

Born
October 9, 1964, Philippines. His family settled in Chula Vista, California in 1970.

Nicknames
"King Edward" · "Eddy the King" · "Silver Bullet" · "The 1$" (his Torker tag) · "The Dynamic Duo" (shared with Diamond Back teammate Harry Leary)

Known for
The rider most synonymous with the original Torker factory team · Two ABA #1 number plates on Torker · First rider in Torker history to have a signature frame · The Diamond Back factory pro who turned before Pete Loncarevich in the brand's Team Trophy strategy · Brother of Mike King

Major titles and honors
ABA BMX Hall of Fame, 1989 (Pioneer) · Two ABA #1 number plates on Torker · 1978 NBA 14 Expert National No. 1 · 1979 NBA 15 Expert Grandnational Champion · 1981 NBL 16 & Over Expert Grandnational Champion · 1982 NBL 17 Expert Grandnational Champion · 1987 IBMXF World Championships Silver Medal · 1979 Torker "Eddy King" complete bicycle — the first signature complete in Torker history · Bicycle Motocross Action cover, June 1980 (five-page pictorial) · BMX Action cover, August 1987

Primary sponsors
S & W Bike Shop (Jan 1975 – early 1976) · The Bike Shop of El Cajon (early 1976 – Mar 1977) · D.G. Performance Specialties co-sponsorship (Mar 1977 – May 1977) · Wheels N' Things / R & R Racing (May 1977 – Jun 1978) · Wheels N' Things / Torker Engineering co-sponsorship (Jun 1978 – Fall 1978) · Full factory Torker Engineering (Fall 1978 – Sept 1980) · Diamond Back / Centurion (Sept 1980 – Feb 1989) · Diamond Back / Free Agent / Stay Strong (2009–2010 comeback)

Active years
1975–1989 (first career) · 2009–2013 (return) · Currently riding mountain bike and e-bike after rehabilitating from a 2013 spinal cord injury

Hall of Fame
ABA BMX Hall of Fame, inducted 1989. Verify on the USA BMX Hall of Fame directory.

Eddy King is one of the most central names in the first decade of American BMX. As an amateur he was dominant — California State Champion, NBA national champion, NBL Grandnational champion, more than a dozen years of factory rides starting at age 10. As a Torker factory pro he carried the yellow-and-black for two years, won two #1 plates, and put his name on the first signature frame the brand ever produced. As a Diamond Back factory pro he stayed with one company longer than almost any racer of his generation — over eight straight years on the same brand, from September 1980 through February 1989. He raced the World Championships in Whistler, in Holland, and across the U.S. circuit. He retired at 24, walked into real estate, came back 20 years later for one more run, and after a near-fatal mountain bike crash in 2013 he is still on a bike today.

This page covers all of it.

Chula Vista beginnings and the K-Mart Huffy

Edward King was born October 9, 1964 in the Philippines. His father was in the U.S. Navy and the family settled in Chula Vista, California in 1970. He has described the household in interviews as lower-middle-class, surviving on his father's military pay. BMX, when it arrived, was the affordable version of motorcycle racing — and that mattered for a Navy kid who couldn't ask his dad to fund a motocross hobby.

He discovered the sport in 1974 when he saw a flyer for a race tacked up in the window of Chula Vista Schwinn. (The owner, Rick Gentilella, has since passed away; Eddy named him by name in his FatBMX interview.) His first race was Friday, January 15, 1975, at Silver Wing BMX track in San Diego — he was 10 years old. The track ran downhill. "It took 60 seconds to ride the track, that's how slow we were," King told FatBMX. He won his class. There were no proficiency divisions at the time.

His first race bike was a $29.95 Huffy his parents bought from K-Mart in December 1974. He and his friends retrofitted it the way every BMX kid did then: knobby tires, motocross-style handlebars, gas tank, mud flaps, banana seat with the struts cut off so it didn't snap. Within months Eddy had moved up to a yellow Webco with Redline forks, A&A bars, and a front Tuff Wheel. He was 10.

The amateur run: S&W to Wheels N' Things

King's sponsorship ladder reads like a tour of the small San Diego shops that built BMX before the brands existed. S & W Bike Shop signed him after his second race in 1975. He moved to The Bike Shop of El Cajon in early 1976, picked up a co-sponsorship from D.G. Performance Specialties (Dan Hangsleben and Gary Harlow) in March 1977, and joined Wheels N' Things / R & R Racing (Rick Ankron and Rick Varner) in May 1977. He stayed on Wheels N' Things through the spring of 1978.

The amateur results came fast. He took the 1976 NBA San Diego District No. 1, then the 10–11 Expert California State Championship the same year. He won the 1976 11-Boys California Cup — beating Brian Patterson in the main event at Corona — and the 1976 11 Boys iBMX Grandnational. In 1977 he won the 12 Expert title in the RC Cola / Two Wheelers Race of Champions Invitational at Ascot Park, Gardena. He took the 13 Expert California State Championship in 1978, the 14 Expert National No. 1 the same year, and the 15 Expert Grandnational title in 1979. The 1981 NBL Grandnational and the 1982 NBL Grandnational followed.

By 1978 he was on the radar of every factory team scout in California.

Torker — Fall 1978 to September 1980

King picked up a co-sponsorship from Torker Engineering in June 1978 while still riding for Wheels N' Things. By Fall 1978 he was full factory at the US Nationals. Torker — built in Fullerton, California, famous for its twin top tube and yellow-and-black livery — had its #1 factory team era starting in 1979. Eddy King was the rider most identified with it. Steve Johnson ran the program. Mike Aguilera, Jason Jensen, Doug Olson, Doug Davis, and Eddy's younger brother Mike King were on the same team in those years. Clint Miller joined as the Pro late in 1979.

King earned two ABA #1 number plates while on Torker. He was featured in the landmark BMX Plus! Torker team profile in May 1980 (a joint interview with Mike King, Clint Miller, Mike Aguilera, and Jason Jensen). The June 1980 issue of Bicycle Motocross Action ran a five-page pictorial called "The Master of Style: Eddy King" with him on the cover. He travelled the country promoting the brand. He was 13 and 14 years old, flying alone, the youngest face of the most-talked-about factory team in BMX.

The piece of Torker history that carries his name through to today: the 1979 Torker "Eddy King" complete bicycle, the first signature complete bike in Torker's catalog and the first signature model the brand ever sold. He had input on top tube length and head tube angle. Torker Racing currently sells the modern EK 20 GEN II Frame Set — the direct successor — as part of the Heritage Vault relaunch line.

"When I got onto Torker, that's probably a whole different level because that's when I was getting things paid and I was being sent places to promote their brand. I was 12 / 13 years old and I was flying on planes with adults with no parents with me, it was crazy."

— Eddy King, FatBMX "Preserving BMX History" interview, 2024

By September 1980 he was gone. Diamond Back — under Centurion / WSI corporate ownership — recruited him directly.

Diamond Back, and the pro-turn order with Pete Loncarevich

King signed with Diamond Back in September 1980. He raced as an amateur for Diamond Back from 1980 to 1983. He turned pro the first week of March 1983, opening the season at an NBL national where he made the 20" "B" Pro main and did not finish. He took his first pro win on June 4, 1983, at an NBL national in Peoria, Illinois, in "A" Pro. He stayed with Diamond Back from September 1980 through February 1989. Eight and a half years on the same brand. One sponsor for the entire pro career.

The pro-turn timing is the part of the story Pete Loncarevich's page covers from Pete's side. The short version, told the same way on both ends: Diamond Back signed King and Loncarevich at the same time. King was about two years older. Diamond Back wanted Eddy to turn pro first, and asked Pete to wait one more amateur year so the factory team could win the Team Trophy — the sanctioning-body award for the best factory program of the year. Pete turned pro anyway against Diamond Back's wishes and his contract was terminated after he finished second in "A" Pro at the 1982 ABA JAG World Championship as his debut. King's pro-turn went as planned the next spring.

The Diamond Back years are the most magazine-covered stretch of King's career. He was paired with Harry Leary — the two of them billed as "The Dynamic Duo" — and the pair anchored the team through the mid-80s. King raced the 1985 World Championships in Whistler on Diamond Back. He took the Silver Medal at the 1987 IBMXF Worlds. He held high national rankings every year of his pro career.

The injury run from the late-80s schedule was real. He broke his right foot on March 7, 1987, at the ABA Gilley's National in Pasadena, Texas, when a rider went down in front of him in a collision and someone ran over his foot. He suffered a hand injury at the First Annual Palm Springs Aerial Tramway GPV and Ramp Jam in June 1987, then was laid up until the ABA national in Ogden, Utah. The August 1987 issue of BMX Action put him on the cover.

The 1987 steroid quote

That same BMX Action issue carried an interview that has been quoted ever since. King admitted that he and Harry Leary, along with four other people, had looked at anabolic steroids — because pro BMX tracks at the time favored power over finesse — and that the doctors had told them no. He named no one else, but said he knew of a couple of pros who were using.

"Right now, pro racing is all power. I know of a couple of pros who are taking steroids and about half a dozen have looked at it, including myself and Harry. The doctors told us, 'No way. Don't do it.' Maybe the association will have to crack down on it like in other sports. Or change the tracks."

— Eddy King, BMX Action, August 1987

The 1988 Grand National — a changing of the guard

The 1988 ABA Grand National in Oklahoma City was the race where the King brothers traded places at the top of the sport. Eddy's younger brother Mike King won the 1988 ABA National No. 1 Pro title at the Grands. Eddy came in sixth place in Pro Open, took home $210, and started thinking about what came next. He had just bought a new house. He was tired. His body was tired. The travel and the schedule didn't leave time for anything else.

His last race as a Senior Pro was the ABA Winternationals on February 19, 1989. He came in eighth in "AA" Pro. He retired. He was 24.

"I was tired and my body was tired. I had just purchased a new home and I wanted more time to pursue other interests and move forward in a different direction in life. Racing left little to no time for anything but racing, training, traveling, product development, and photo shoots. That is why I retired."

— Eddy King, interview, 2008

He picked up his real estate license while he was still racing. He sold his first house — his own — in the summer of 1987 for $180,000. That became his second career.

1993 and 1994 — two more starts

Eddy raced two more times after retiring. He entered the ABA Springnationals in Bakersfield, California on March 20–21, 1993, in the new Veteran Pro class — a class that put retired pros back on the gate against each other. He came in fourth on Saturday and fifth on Sunday. His old Diamond Back teammate Harry Leary won both days. He raced Veteran Pro one more time at the ABA Fall Nationals in Burbank on October 22, 1994 and finished sixth, with Brian Patterson taking the win.

2009 — back on a bike

Diamond Back gave Eddy a new bike in 2009 — a peace offering of sorts, two decades after his contract had expired. He started showing up at local tracks in San Diego. Then he decided to enter the 2009 ABA Grand National in Tulsa.

The hook for the comeback was Stephen Murray. Murray was a British BMX pro who had suffered a catastrophic crash at the 2007 Dew Tour in Baltimore and become quadriplegic. The BMX community had rallied for him; Murray and his wife Mel had launched Stay Strong apparel. King watched the response and decided he wanted in. He contacted his old friend Dale Holmes, who put him in touch with Murray and with Free Agent Bikes. King raced the 2009 Grand Nationals in Stay Strong colors on Free Agent, with co-sponsorship from Diamond Back, Oakley, Intense BMX, Exustar Shoes, SixSixOne, GHP, GunSlinger Bikes, ODI grips, and Dog Tags Designs.

"Stephen Murray's accident made a big impact on me. I kept track of his progress through the Internet and was inspired by his courage, his positive outlook, and determination. I was impressed the way the BMX community came together for him."

— Eddy King, ESPN Action Sports interview, 2009

2013 — the Big Bear crash

In 2013 King crashed at Big Bear Bike Park. The crash damaged his spinal cord. The injury was severe, and what made it worse was the uncertainty around what he would or wouldn't recover.

"It's such an unpredictable injury. The doctors really don't know, so they won't tell you what chance they think you may have of making a full recovery, partial recovery or no recovery. I didn't want this injury to label me for the rest of my life."

— Eddy King, Shimano Tools of Empowerment, 2019

He spent the years that followed in rehab — first walking again with assistance, then training every day with sports-medicine specialist Chad Dunn, then progressively building the strength to throw a leg back over a bike. The path back to mountain biking came through an e-bike. Shimano filmed his recovery in the 2019 short documentary Tools of Empowerment, produced and shot by Sterling Lorence. Perry Kramer and Dale Holmes — both BMX names King had known since the 80s — feature in the film alongside him in San Diego.

He rides now. He goes out alone — loads the bike, drives to the trail, rides, comes home. He has called that independence the part of the recovery that means the most to him.

The Mike and Eddy King record

Eddy King's place in the brother-brother record of BMX is well established. He is the elder of the King brother combination. The Wikipedia entry on him puts the King brothers behind only Ronnie & Richie Anderson and Brent & Brian Patterson in the all-time brother rankings — and given Mike King's 1988 ABA No. 1 Pro plate and his own subsequent UCI career, that ranking is competitive.

Eddy is 4½ years older than Mike. They both started on Wheels N' Things in Chula Vista. They were on Torker at the same time during the Wheels N' Things / Torker co-sponsorship phase in 1978. When Eddy moved fully to factory Torker, Mike stayed at Wheels N' Things because Torker already had Doug Davis racing in his class. Eddy has said in interviews that the split was good for Mike — it gave him motivation. Mike caught and passed his older brother on the pro side in 1988.

What we don't know about Eddy King

The exact dates of his two Torker #1 number plates are not consistently archived in any single public source. Torker Racing's own current history page credits "two #1 number plates on Torker" and the original-period magazine record corroborates national-level dominance during 1978 and 1979, but the year-by-year plate-by-plate breakdown isn't surfaced publicly the way it is for some later pros.

The internal Diamond Back / WSI / Centurion paperwork around the 1980–1983 amateur years and the negotiations over the Loncarevich pro-turn order have been described from both sides (King's, in interviews; Pete Loncarevich's, in his own published account) but the actual Diamond Back side of those contract documents — the ones that would settle the timing question definitively — have not been published.

Legacy

Eddy King's place in BMX history is fixed by what's on the record. The first signature complete in Torker history. Two ABA #1 plates as an amateur Pro pre-1983 and a long Diamond Back pro career through 1989. ABA BMX Hall of Fame, 1989. A magazine record on the cover of Bicycle Motocross Action, BMX Action, BMX Plus!, and Super BMX through the entire eight-year arc of his pro time. The Diamond Back / Centurion factory rider who turned before Pete Loncarevich because the brand was building toward a Team Trophy and needed its order set.

What separates King from a lot of his contemporaries, though, is the second half of his life. He retired at 24, walked into real estate before Wikipedia and Instagram could keep score, came back at 45 to race the Grands one more time in support of a friend's recovery foundation, and then survived a spinal cord injury at Big Bear Bike Park that should by every actuarial measure have ended his time on bikes. He rides now anyway. He drives himself to the trailhead. The Silver Bullet nickname was earned out of the gate four decades ago. The same word fits the recovery.

Sources

Wikipedia, "Eddy King" (primary biographical reference). USA BMX / ABA Hall of Fame directory, Eddy King induction record, Class of 1989 (Pioneer). Torker Racing official history page, "The #1 BMX Factory Team in America" and the dedicated Eddy King rider page on torkerracing.com. BMXmuseum.com reference page for Eddy "King Edward" King. FatBMX, "Re-Up; Preserving BMX History. Episode 60: Eddy King (USA)" — long-form interview by Bart de Jong, February 29, 2024. ESPN Action Sports, "Back on Track: Eddy King" (2009 comeback interview). Pinkbike / Shimano, "Eddy King's Story of Regaining His Freedom in Tools of Empowerment" (November 26, 2019). BMX Society community forums — long-running first-hand discussion of the 1979 EK Torker, the Eddy King reunion at the Bellflower BMX Society get-together, and the 2013 cycling-accident updates. Period magazine coverage including: Bicycle Motocross Action, "The Master of Style Pictorial: Eddy King," June 1980 (cover); BMX Plus!, "Torker Team," May 1980; BMX Action, "Harry & Eddy," February 1984; BMX Action, "On the Cover... Eddy King," August 1987 (cover); BMX Action, "Bros. Eddy & Mike," January 1988. Personal correspondence with Bill Ryan (Supercross BMX, Torker Racing, Legend Bike Co), for the Diamond Back Team Trophy pro-turn-order context.

Eddy King and Legend Bike Co.

Eddy King isn't a Legend Bike Co. rider in the way Eddie Fiola, Pete Loncarevich, and Bill Ryan are co-founders of the company. He's on this page because two of the brand stories Legend tells run directly through him.

The first is Torker. Bill Ryan and Supercross BMX acquired the Torker name from Accell North America starting in 2015 and officially relaunched the brand in April 2024. The first signature frame in Torker history was the 1979 Eddy King. The first reissue frame in the modern Torker line carrying the same name is the EK 20 GEN II.

The second is Pete Loncarevich. Pete is a co-founder of Legend Bike Co. with Eddie Fiola and Bill Ryan. The pro-turn-order story between Eddy and Pete on Diamond Back — the Team Trophy strategy, the year Pete was supposed to wait, the contract Pete lost when he turned pro anyway, and the eight-and-a-half year Diamond Back pro career Eddy got out of going first — is one of the foundational episodes of early-80s BMX.

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Read more on Legend Bike Co.

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