Ernie Alexander

Founder of the National Bicycle Association (NBA), the first national BMX sanctioning body. USA BMX Hall of Fame, 1996, Industry.

A Legend Bike Co. founder history page. Sourced from the USA BMX Hall of Fame entry, the BMX Society 2014 Lifetime Achievement thread, Wikipedia's National Bicycle Association article (densely cited to period BMX magazines), oldschoolmags.com PDF archive, 23mag.com, and the universityofbmx.com history archive.

From Indian Dunes to the first BMX sanction

Ernie Alexander was a Southern California motorcycle race promoter. He ran motorcycle motocross events at Indian Dunes, the big MX facility north of Los Angeles where a lot of motorcycle films and TV shows were shot in the 1970s. He saw the same thing Scot Breithaupt saw down in Long Beach: kids on modified Sting-Rays running their own races in dirt lots, with no rulebook, no sanction, and no national structure. He decided to build one.

November 1, 1973 — the NBA is founded

On November 1, 1973, Alexander formalized the National Bicycle Association, the first national sanctioning body for BMX. He modeled it on the American Motorcycle Association's structure for motocross — districts, national numbers, points, an annual ranking. The NBA became the template every other BMX sanction copied.

Late 1974 — the first BMX pro class

In late 1974 the NBA created the first BMX professional class — making BMX one of the first action sports to pay its top riders. Period magazines (Bicycle Motocross News, October 1974) document the early "14 and over experts" division that became the formal Pro class.

March 30, 1975 — the first NBA nationals

The first NBA nationals ran March 30, 1975 in Phoenix, Arizona. David Clinton took the first NBA No. 1 Amateur title for the 1975 season. The first No. 1 Pro, named in 1976, was Scot Breithaupt — the same Scot who had been running BUMS in Long Beach since 1970, now riding for the sanction he had inspired.

1979 — the rename

In 1979 the NBA renamed itself the National Bicycle Motocross Association (NBmxA) to avoid confusion with the National Basketball Association. The cracks were already showing by then. Mismanagement, bad sponsor deals, and the public feud with Skip Hess of BMX Products over the 1979 Mongoose Grand National all weakened the organization.

January 1981 — Alexander resigns; 1981 Grands is the NBA's last

Alexander resigned as president of the NBA in January 1981. The 1981 Grandnationals in Long Beach was the last race the NBA ran as an independent sanction. Its membership was absorbed by the NBL shortly after.

1996 — USA BMX Hall of Fame

The American Bicycle Association — the same sanction Bernie Anderson bought in 1985 (per Rebel Racing), now USA BMX — inducted Alexander into its Hall of Fame in 1996, in the Industry category. The HOF citation walks through Indian Dunes, the 1973 founding, the first national in Phoenix, the pro class creation, the rename to NBmxA, and Alexander's role as the man who turned BMX from a regional kid sport into a national sanctioned competition.

2014 — BMX Society Lifetime Achievement

In 2014 the BMX Society community gave Alexander its Lifetime Achievement Award. The presentation thread on bmxsociety.com walks through the same arc: Indian Dunes promoter, 1973 NBA founder, the first Pro class, the early national races.

The NBA's true legacy

The NBA didn't survive its own founder. But the structure Alexander built — districts, national plates, an annual #1 ranking, a Grand National — became the template every sanction after it used. The ABA picked it up in 1977. The NBL adapted it for the East Coast. USA BMX runs on it today, more than 50 years later. Every BMX racer holding a national number plate is racing under a system that traces back to Ernie Alexander at Indian Dunes in 1973.

What we don't know

Alexander's date of birth, place of birth, and full life outside BMX are thin in the public record. The Saddleback 1975 pro race that the HOF entry credits as the first NBA professional event is disputed by Thom Lund, who in his own 2003 FatBMX interview said he doesn't remember winning it; this page presents the HOF claim and the dispute, and does not adjudicate.

Sources

USA BMX Hall of Fame — Ernie Alexander (1996, Industry) at usabmx.com/about/hall-of-fame/1329 and the older directory URL at usabmx.com/site/postings/140. BMX Society community forum — "Ernie Alexander 2014 BMX's Life Time Achievement Recipient" thread. Wikipedia — National Bicycle Association article, densely cited to period BMX magazines including BMX Action September 1979, January 1981, July 1981, March 1982, Bicycle Motocross News October 1974 / March 1975 / November 1976, BMX Plus! May 1981, Super BMX January/March/April 1982, Super BMX & Freestyle January 1986. oldschoolmags.com PDF archive of those issues. 23mag.com BMX Action indexes.

Ernie Alexander and Legend Bike Co.

Alexander isn't a Legend Bike Co. co-founder, but every BMX racer documented on this site — every one — holds or held a number plate from a sanction whose template Alexander built. The NBA is the upstream source for the ABA, the NBL, and USA BMX. The first NBA National No. 1 Amateur was David Clinton in 1975; the first NBA National No. 1 Pro was Scot Breithaupt in 1976. Without Alexander's 1973 work, those titles don't exist to be won, and the careers that followed — Stu Thomsen, Greg Hill, Eddy King, Perry Kramer, Pete Loncarevich, all of them — happen on a different timeline.

Related pages

Core: History of BMX · NBA (the sanction Alexander founded) · ABA · NBL · USA BMX · IBMXF · BUMS

Peer founders + builders: Scot Breithaupt · Skip Hess · Linn Kastan · Bob Osborn · Bob Haro · Jim Melton · Vance Patterson · Turnell Henry · Chris Moeller · Gary Cook · Jeff Utterback · Mike Devitt · Craig Kundig · Ralph Mundia · Bob Hadley

First NBA generation: Dave Clinton (first No. 1 Amateur 1975) · Scot Breithaupt (first No. 1 Pro 1976) · Stu Thomsen (No. 1 Pro 1977 + 1978) · John George (No. 1 1976) · Byron Friday · Thom Lund

Riders: Eddie Fiola · Greg Hill · Mike Miranda · Perry Kramer · Pete Loncarevich · R.L. Osborn · Todd Anderson · Tommy Brackens · Denny Davidow · Clint Miller · Jeff Bottema · Damian Fulton · Billy Griggs · Darwin Griffin · Brian Bogi Givens · Todd Steen · Martin Aparijo · Matt Hadan · Eddy King · Frank Post · Kevin McNeal · Brian Hernandez · Brent Patterson · Brian Patterson · Eric Rupe · Robby Rupe · Mike King · Darrell Young · Bobby Encinas · Cheri Elliott · Kyle Fleming · Charlie Litsky · Tinker Juarez · Richie Anderson · Ronnie Anderson · Jeff Kosmala · Scott Clark · Gary Ellis · Anthony Sewell · Dennis Dain · Cindy Davis · Jeff Ruminer · Travis Chipres · Cecil Johns · John Crews

Brands: CW Racing · Diamond Back · Centurion Cycles · GT · Haro · Hoffman Bikes · Hutch · JMC · Mongoose · Redline · Schwinn · Skyway · S&M Bikes · Torker · SE Racing · Webco · TW BMX · CRD · Bottema Forks · Hustler Bikes · Voris Dixon Bikes · Hyper Bikes · Hi-Tech BMX · Panda Racing Products · Robinson Racing · Free Agent · White Bear · Rebel Racing · Titan BMX · Brian Scura / BS Bikeworks · LRV · S&S Performance · Bassett Bikes · Patterson Racing · Cook Brothers Racing · Speedo BMX · Nomura BMX