Sons of Charity

The growl of motorcycles rumbling through the streets means summer has arrived in The 330. If your only exposure to bikers is the rough-and-tumble TV show “Sons of Anarchy,” you might be surprised by the members of the Greater Akron Motorcycle Club, a nonprofit that’s celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.

While the members have leather vests, tattoos and stoic attitudes, those are just aesthetics. “We’re not a gang; we’re a club,” says President Greg Rogers.

Richard Robinson backs up his point by showing that among his full-sleeve tattoos are a pink butterfly and some pansies, chosen for his mother’s name. “How tough can I really be?” asks the longtime member and former president.

It was founded as an all-male club and the members have upheld that policy, but Robinson says wives and girlfriends often have their own bikes and can ride with their partners who are members.

“That’s how they started in 1919, and we’re continuing,” he says. “Everything down here is about tradition.”

Those traditions began in April 1919 when the nascent club held a “sociability run” to Youngstown as its inaugural event. Thus was born the tradition of long rides structured as contests that the group continues with poker runs in which prizes can be won several times a year.

In 1955, the club purchased 8 1/2 acres at the corner of Smith and Riverview roads and members built a clubhouse with a kitchen, meeting room and play equipment for kids. To dry up the swampiness of the land, they dug out a pond that has become a fishing area. At just 18, Boyd Steele learned carpentry while helping build the clubhouse, and the now 80-year-old is still a member.

“Every weekend when my kids were small, we were down here to picnic or ride our motorcycles,” he says. “My son was born and raised here; he’s 56 now.”

Only those who make it through a yearlong process of helping out at events, getting sponsors and joining a national organization are accepted as members and get a key to the clubhouse. It’s so beloved by members that they’ve hosted their children’s weddings there and are welcoming the public for a 100th anniversary party there July 27.

“The membership owns this place. This is home,” Robinson says of the club that has around 90 members whose ages span early 20s through late 80s. “We’ve been offered a lot of money for this property. Every time, it’s absolutely no discussion.”

Besides fellowship and camaraderie, the club’s main focus is charity work. Hattie Larlham, Akron Children’s Hospital, Tadmor Shrine and Greater Akron Humane Society, among others, have benefited from club fundraising events.

A favorite annual event the members have helped with for 23 years is the Greater Ohio Area Super Kids Classic, a chance for kids ages 7 to 18 with disabilities to experience an authentic Soap Box Derby-style race.

The club donates yearly maintenance, repair and painting of all race cars. Members also donate their clubhouse for the organization’s annual summer picnics and Christmas parties, but their biggest contribution is on race day. When the cars swoop down the inclined track, the often severely disabled racers need help getting out of the cars and returning to the top of the track. Club members lift kids out of cars and transport them in their own trucks.

“You see these big, burly motorcycle guys high-fiving the kids, dancing with the kids,” says Event Organizer and Treasurer Rena Large. “You see them smiling at the kids. Some will only let certain club members help them because they see them every year and love them so much.”

Work, family, club: Those are how members line up their priorities. Now with a proclamation from the City of Akron noting that they’ve raised about $350,000 for charity over the last 20 years and thanking them for their contributions to the community, that formula seems to have been a success.

Those who interact with club members know that they are a family who looks out for one another and gives back to others. Karen Snow has been around the club since the 1970s and got her first motorcycle ride from a member who later became her husband. While she’s a widow now, she still rides.

“It’s the best feeling in the world,” she says. “I love being with a bigger group. You just feel like part of something.”