Boozefighters
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The Boozefighters Motorcycle Club (BFMC) began as an outlaw (i.e. not sanctioned nor chartered by the AMA)
motorcycle club A motorcycle club is a group of individuals whose primary interest and activities involve motorcycles. A motorcycle group can range as clubbed groups of different bikes or bikers who own same model of vehicle like the Harley Owners Group. Ther ...
, founded in California after the end of
World War Two World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. The Boozefighters are known as the "Original Wild Ones."


Foundation: Wino Willie Forkner

Its founder was William Clyde "Wino Willie" Forkner Jr., who had served in the military during
World War Two World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
and had a difficult time adjusting to civilian life after the war. He had been a member of the 13 Rebels Motorcycle Club for two years prior to the
attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii ...
, and his nickname "Wino Willie" had come about at age 12 because he liked to drink red wine. During the war he had risen in the ranks of the
Army Air Corps Army Air Corps may refer to the following army aviation corps: * Army Air Corps (United Kingdom), the army aviation element of the British Army * Philippine Army Air Corps (1935–1941) * United States Army Air Corps (1926–1942), or its p ...
and then fallen again as the result of a drunken incident in a bar. After it ended, he re-joined the 13 Rebels, but in 1946 he had his membership stripped from him by the other members after an incident at a quarter-mile race in San Diego where, bored and drunk, he drove his own motorcycle through a wooden gate onto the racetrack, around the track, and eventually lost control. Disillusioned, drunk, and angry, one evening he and three other former servicemen were drinking at the All-American Bar in Los Angeles and decided to form a new motorcycle club themselves, taking the name from a shouted suggestion from a fellow bar patron named Walt Porter who overhead their conversation to "Call it the Boozefighters." The four recruited another 16 members, all also war veterans with one exception (Jim Morrison, a teenager), and applied for AMA membership, with C. B. Clauson, former paratrooper, as the club president. Forkner later reported that the AMA president declined the application stating that "No goddam way am I giving a name like that to a charter." The club began to grow, having three chapters (in Los Angeles, San Pedro, and San Francisco), by 1947. Members of all three attended the
Hollister riot The Hollister riot, also known as the Hollister Invasion, was an event that occurred at the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA)-sanctioned Gypsy Tour motorcycle rally in Hollister, California, from July 3 to 6, 1947. Many more motorcyclists ...
that year. The L.A. chapter got drunk before it even arrived at Hollister, starting out on the Thursday before the weekend by drinking in the All-American Bar, driving to Santa Barbara, drinking there, driving to
San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo (; Spanish for " St. Louis the Bishop", ; Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, in the U.S. state of California. Located on the Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly hal ...
where they were too drunk to drive on that day and decided to sleep in a bus terminal, driving on the next day to King City, buying more alcohol from a liquor store, and then driving on. Wino Willie was mistakenly arrested at the riot for purportedly inciting a riot and a jailbreak of other bikers who had already been arrested, when in fact he was trying to do the opposite and talk the mob out of staging a jailbreak. When racing, Wino Willie would sport the colors of another motor cycle club, the Yellow Jackets, rather than Boozefighters colors.


Later years

The movie ''
The Wild One ''The Wild One'' is a 1953 American crime film directed by László Benedek and produced by Stanley Kramer. The picture is most noted for the character of Johnny Strabler, portrayed by Marlon Brando, whose persona became a cultural icon of the 1 ...
'', which Wino Willie initially consulted on but eventually resigned from over the way that bikers were being portrayed, boosted membership of the club during the 1950s. Club membership then shrank, as members retired or died during the 1960s, only for its numbers to swell again because of the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...
as it was joined once again by ex-servicemen. By the 21st century it had grown to become an international organization, with chapters in various European countries, Canada, The Philippines, South Korea and Japan.


Cross-reference


Sources

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Further reading

* 288 pages. {{Authority control Motorcycle clubs in the United States 1946 establishments in California Organizations based in Fort Worth, Texas