“If you read only one book this fall,” columnist Mike Vaccaro wrote in the New York Post September 18, “make it Riding with the Blue Moth, a heartbreakingly eloquent memoir by Bill Hancock. “You will read this in one sitting and wish it went on another 200 pages,” Vaccaro went on. “Believe me.”
Hancock, an NCAA administrator who was named to the CoSIDA Hall of Fame this summer, wrote the book about a 2,750-mile cross-country bicycle journey that he made in 2001. Details are available at the book’s web site, www.RidingwiththeBlueMoth.com. The ride took place in the aftermath of the death of Hancock’s son, Will, who was one of 10 men killed in the crash of an airplane carrying student-athletes and staff of the Oklahoma State University.
“I didn’t plan to write a book,” said the 55-year-old Hancock. “And I didn’t undertake the bike ride as a balm for my soul, or anything high-minded like that. I only wanted to keep moving forward.”
The journey turned out to be plenty more than that.
“I rode the bike to a place where I could see the world differently,” Hancock said. “If you ever have any doubt about the future of America, just spend five weeks in the trenches, with the regular people. You’ll see. I was in the west and in the south, but I know the people are wonderful everywhere.”
What did he learn?
“That life is to be cherished,” he said. “Every minute, with every person, in every place.”
Hancock spent 35 days on the bicycle journey from Huntington Beach, California, to Tybee Island, Georgia. His wife went along, pulling the family’s pop-up tent trailer with a mini-van.
“She would drive to the next town, set up the trailer, and wait for me to get there,” Hancock said. “We had a different adventure every day. One morning, she met a man who was traveling across the country on roller skates. I talked with a polio victim in Oklahoma who spent his days pitching batting practice to his two sons.”
Along the way, Hancock sent e-mail journals to his son, daughters-in-law, and a few friends. Those friends sent the journals to others, and by the end of the ride Hancock was spending 90 minutes each day, responding to e-mailers. Those journals later formed the backbone of the book.
“After we got home, Jim Host (then CEO of Host Communications in Lexington, Kentucky) suggested that my experiences would help other families who are dealing with grief,” Hancock said. “He said I should write a book.
“I said no at first. But then I decided that the book could also be a memorial to Will. I have an irrational fear that people will forget him. I know that’s silly, but I can’t shake it. The book might help.”
The book is climbing up the sales charts, and is receiving good reviews. CBS Sports announcer Jim Nantz wrote the foreword.
John Feinstein, author of many books including A Season on the Brink and Last Shot, wrote, “If you have a heart or a mind, you will not be able to put Riding with the Blue Moth down. Nor will you want to.”
Christine Brennan of USA today said, “In these pages, we find a poignant, riveting road map for dealing with not only the horrors of death, but the joys of life.”
The memoir is published by Sports Publishing, LLC, of Champaign, Illinois. In the book’s acknowledgments, Hancock thanks ex-SIDs Mike Pearson and John Humenik for their support.
“Riding with the Blue Moth” is available at many book stores, and also directly from sportspublishingllc.com and through RidingwiththeBlueMoth.com. It is also being sold by Amazon.com and the other online book stores.
Hancock was assistant SID at the University of Oklahoma in the early 1970s. Then after a four-year stint in the newspaper business, he spent 11 years as service bureau director and assistant commissioner at the Big Eight Conference. He became director of the NCAA Division I men’s basketball championship in 1989.
After the Oklahoma State accident, he retired from the NCAA and now serves as a consultant, handling media relations for the tournament.