When I Was King: The Eddie Fiola Story

By Billy Henrickle and Eddie Fiola

Are you ready for a thrill ride and adventure? 

Eddie's story, simply put is amazing! There is so much in store, even for his hard core fans who may think they know his story.

Eddie Fiola's rise to one of the biggest names in BMX Freestyle and one of the greatest riders in the world with his undisputed title of

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rad Designs 1986
• Release date: May 31, 2022
• ISBN: 9781087959856

Book preview

When I Was King

WHEN I WAS KING

The Eddie Fiola Story: King of the Skateparks

BILLY HENRICKLE

EDDIE FIOLA

Copyright © 2022 Eddie Fiola

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Billy Henrickle wrote this biography (WHEN I WAS KING) from numerous interviews with Eddie Fiola over the course of several months. Eddie provided his story in detail from the way he remembers everything happening. Research was conducted to the best of Billy and Eddie’s ability for any information that warranted clarification as some of Eddie’s story takes place over forty years ago.

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Edited By: Megan Eddy

Cover Design By: Mindy Fruhmann

Contents

Billy would like to thank:

Eddie would like to thank:

Prologue

I. Win in the End

Chapter 1

A Boy And His Bike

Chapter 2

A Writer’s Dream

II. The Journey from Behind the Bars

Chapter 3

Against The Clock

Chapter 4

The Good Break

Chapter 5

Back To The Grind

III. Some Call Me the King

Chapter 6

School’s Out

Chapter 7

Out On Tour

Chapter 8

King Of The Skateparks

IV. Totally Rad

Chapter 9

Game Changer

Chapter 10

Breaking The Ice

Chapter 11

Time To Qualify

V. A Time to Reinvent

Chapter 12

The End Of The Road

Chapter 13

Finding Myself

Chapter 14

A Bumpy Ride

VI. Living the Dream

Chapter 15

On My Terms

Chapter 16

Gratitude

Afterword

Special Thanks To:

Billy would like to thank:

To my kids, Bailey and William, and my mom, Debra: thanks for always being there for me and your unconditional love. I love you guys more than words can express.

I would also like to thank my dad, Billy, in heaven for giving me the passion to live life to the fullest and strive for new experiences. I love you!

Martin Aparijo, Eric Kendrick, Tiffany Mosher, Kid and Mindy Fruhmann and the entire team at www.raddesigns1986.com

Mindi Fiola, for getting me in touch with Eddie. If not for Mindi, I may have given up.

Last, but definitely not least, a very special thanks to Eddie Fiola for giving me the opportunity to tell his story. Thanks for trusting in me EF.

Eddie would like to thank:

To my wife, Mindi, and daughter, Audrey: I love you both so much! You both are amazing and thank you for everything you do!

I would like to thank my mom. Thank you for all of your love and support over the years and patience with all the broken bones.

I would also like to thank Gale Webb, Steve Van Doren, and GT for all the great tours and memories, as well as all the magazines and great photographers who help me get my start and my name out there. Bob and Wendy Osborn, Wizard Publications, Hi Torque Publications, Bill Batchelor, plus all the fans that sent in photos via social media.

Martin Aparijo, Shawn Buckley, Eric Kendrick, Kid and Mindy Fruhmann and the entire team at www.raddesigns1986.com

Last, but not least, Billy Henrickle, for writing my biography and telling my story.

Prologue

Are you ready to jump on the pegs and take a ride with Eddie Fiola? The pages that follow will not be your ordinary biography where I just share Eddie’s story, his successes, and failures and give you a bunch of history. That has, for the most part, been done. Over the years, Eddie has been a guest on so many podcasts and blogs, that his accomplishments have pretty much been told.

I may have just sent some of his hardcore fans and followers into a bit of shock with this statement; however, just stay with me for a few minutes and you will see where I am going with this. Of course, we are going to dive deep into Eddie’s BMX career and all his championships. We will talk about his stunt career in the Hollywood blockbuster movies most have seen or at least heard of. There will also be some other stories shared that Eddie hasn’t talked about in his past interviews. Plus, we will add photos from Eddie’s career. I know, you want Eddie to mention that cult classic movie from the eighties that was based loosely on his life, that he acted in, and of course did so many visual stunts for. We will do better than a mention, spending a lot of time on RAD!

We are going to put it all down for everyone to get a glimpse into Eddie Fiola’s story and life; however, he wants to give you more. You see, what many people don’t get to see is the behind the scenes of a person’s life--the how and why of it. We often get to see the what (Eddie wins another BMX Championship), or the when (he won it five out of the six years). It is way more important to share how Eddie got to win the championships, how he earned a full-time sponsorship from GT while still in high school, and why he was asked to share his story with one of the writers and the directors of RAD before there was even a script.

I will take you along with me on this journey of how Eddie got started in BMX and the movies, and why he was able to accomplish so much and still does to this day. The years have been great to Eddie, and he would love to pay it forward by sharing the things people don’t get to see on a video or a movie—the parts most don’t know; the extremely long days practicing and perfecting; the mental challenges when you are hurt and must sit out, or when you just can’t seem to improve your best; the time when you don’t have the money to buy the best bike and parts and you must make the best out of what you have. He wants to share about what it feels like to know you need to step it up because your competition has the pro set up; when you see someone else do something special and you know if they can do it, then so can you, but you work even harder and do it bigger and better than they did. You see, we all have challenges and obstacles in life. Eddie sure did and still does to this day; however, if you want it bad enough and have thunder in your heart, Eddie shows us that you will find a way to win.

I am excited to share Eddie Fiola’s journey with you and I truly hope you get more than a great read. My goal is to be able to pass along some inspiration or motivation from Eddie that can be taken on your journey to living your best life. We all have a story to tell and a journey to take. Sometimes we just need to have a better understanding of what is at stake. What are we playing for? Life is short and I hope Eddie’s story can help motivate you to reach for your dreams and goals. We all have challenges and obstacles we face in life, but it is up to us to keep the fire burning and do something special with the time we have. So, before we get started with Eddie’s story, I would like to share a story about how I became a big Eddie Fiola fan at a young age and how this book came about.

PART I

Win in the End

Chapter One

A BOY AND HIS BIKE

Throw me something! Over here, dude! Come on man, are you deaf? Come on Eddie, throw me something man! He rides by looking at the crowd, eyeing up his next target and luckily my yelling and persuasion has paid off. Eddie hurls something towards me and I make the jump and catch it over all the outstretched hands. He probably threw it to me to get me to shut up. For those of us from New Orleans, this sounds just like a Mardi Gras parade where the crowd yells and begs for beads, cups, and other trinkets. We are in the New Orleans area, and just a few miles outside the city limits in Metairie, but no parade. I catch the AME hand grip from Eddie and I feel like a rock star. You see, there are hundreds of kids in the audience and only a couple of riders throwing shirts and handgrips into the crowd of screaming kids. I don’t want to catch anything from the other BMX freestylers. I am here to see Eddie Fiola, my favorite BMX rider. Me catching that grip from Eddie is like catching a basketball pass from Michael Jordan. I know most will not understand this because basketball was way more popular and mainstream than BMX freestyle, but this is my reality.

The year was 1987 and I was eleven years old, and this was my first BMX freestyle show. The event was put on by GT and Cleary Bicycle shop and took place in front of the store. I remember seeing the ad in one of my BMX magazines about the event and my eyes lit up when I saw Eddie was going to be a part of the show. I don’t remember, but I am sure it didn’t take much convincing to get my mom on board. She was always so great with her time and letting me experience new things. Like the year before, I talked her into bringing me and my older cousin to see KISS and W.A.S.P for my first concert. She grew up with the oldies from the sixties and Motown. Can you imagine how horrible this event had to be for her? Now KISS was really loud and heavy for her. W.A.S.P. was on a whole different level. So, mom brings my cousin Aaron and I to the concert and she still talks about what I put her through on that noisy night. She said it was so loud her seat rattled and her ears were ringing for days.

Mikey was my best friend and more into skateboarding, just like many of our friends in the neighborhood. He was a Steve Caballero fan, and we would often argue about which sport was better: BMX or skateboarding. My mom didn’t know this, but Mikey and I had a bet going. You see, I was an OZZY fan and Mikey was a KISS fan. So, I was always trying to convert him to OZZY and Eddie Fiola, and he was trying to brainwash me with KISS and Steve Caballero. So, I agreed to see KISS in concert the year before so he could prove KISS was the greatest band and better than Ozzy. I did enjoy the KISS concert and love them still to this day. I have gone on to see them five or six additional times. However, KISS is no OZZY, at least in my book.

So back to the story here. When I learn of the BMX show and that Eddie is going to be there, I run all the way across the street to Mikey’s house and bang on the door. It took a while for his stepdad to answer the door. He didn’t like me much; then again, he didn’t like many people. He tells me Mikey can’t play because he is punished. I mean come on: he’s ten years old. What did he do this time? I talk him into letting me have a few words with Mikey for a minute. I can be very persuasive, even at eleven years old. I tell Mikey about the upcoming event and beg him to get his shit together, so he is not punished in a few weeks for Eddie’s show. I let him know he owes me and has to make it since I saw KISS last year. He is excited for the show and looking forward to proving to me that BMX is second to skateboarding.

Let’s back up a little, so I can share my love for the great sport of BMX freestyling and how I became a huge Eddie Fiola fan at such a young age. I grew up in Holly Heights, which was in Kenner, Louisiana. I was very fortunate to be raised in this neighborhood and able to live in the same neighborhood until I left for college. Holly Heights was a new subdivision and we had thirty or more kids that grew up together and all around the same age. It was a lower income area with the houses being under $20,000, brand new. This was great for young adults just getting married and starting families. So, this was the absolute best thing for us kids. Like I said before, we had so many kids and such a great childhood growing up together. I don’t think anyone had much money, but I had an advantage over many of the other kids. My dad worked his ass off to provide for us, many times holding down two jobs and I was an only child. So, there was no one else asking my parents for a new bike. Fortunately, I was able to convince my parents that I needed a lighter and faster bike because I wanted to be the fastest kid in the neighborhood. My Huffy just wasn’t cutting it anymore. My dad wasn’t happy about the price tag, but they bought me what I had been nagging them about for months: a brand new 1985 Mongoose Californian, with the blue accessories on it. I still have this bike today, having just fulling restored it and it sits next to me in my office as I write this now. I still have the receipt from Pauli’s Inc., which was just across Veterans Highway from Cleary Bike Shop. The price tag was $239.95, which was a lot for bike in 1985.

The Mongoose was my life.