William Hoffman Memorial Ride for St. Jude

What started out years ago, as a benefit for St. Jude Children’s Hospital, has morphed into the William Hoffman Memorial ride. William “Willie” Hoffman was a huge supporter of St. Jude’s until his untimely death in 2019. His family and friends have continued the annual fund raising event in his honor, and last weekend the 2022 ride was an incredible success. With more than eighty riders of motorcycles, ATVs and a variety of cars, the event raised over 5,000 dollars to benefit the hospital. For the last three years, his wife Suzanne, along with her team of volunteers, have continued to organize the annual event.

Willie Hoffman was the owner and general manager of the COW 97.1 radio station and had a great passion for the St. Jude Children’s Hospital. According to his son Matthew, “he loved life,” and his other passions were golf, pool, hunting and fishing. One of his longtime friends, Paul Prell, said that he hit the best drive on the sixth tee of the River Run golf course that he had ever seen. Unfortunately, as luck would have it, the ball rolled behind a huge tree, forcing Willie to par the hole.

At mini-putt, he was not so lucky. His wife Suzanne said that after his putt, walking with his hands in his pockets, he tripped over a curb and went straight down. He was so banged up that he had to be helped up and had to use the putter as a cane back in order to get back to the clubhouse. So it was with Willie, a lover of life. He laughed it off and went on to his next endeavor.

The ride began at the Harris Crossing bar, on Walworth Street in Sparta. The owner, Bryan Harris, recalled one cold, December day sitting in his deer stand. A rustle in the trees alerted him, so he brought his rifle up to shoot, as the target appeared. A short time later, an orange hat atop Willie’s head appeared, and the rifle went back on safe. “How would you like a cup of coffee?” Willie said. Bryan told me there might have been a little Jack Daniels to sweeten the much appreciated warm drink. As the two sat quietly, an 8-point buck appeared.  Bryan said, “Your land, your shot” and Willie brought down the deer.

The oldest rider of the day was Don Withacre, at 92 years old, still riding motorcycles. Don traded in his last 2-wheeler, where he had logged sixty thousand miles in three years, for a three wheeler. Don has been riding bikes since 1938, except for a year break for both the Korea and Vietnam wars. His co-pilot for the day was Natalie Hoffman, Willie’s daughter. At 11in the morning, the motorcycles roared to life, and the excitement of the ride rose as they began to peel out on a 100-mile circuitous route. And then it was quiet for quite a while. The riders would return to Harris Crossing later in the day for a meal provided by Big Boar restaurant, from West Salem and music by Carlos Danger. At the end of the night, it was chalked up as another successful fund raiser for St. Jude’s.