Farewell to a Legend: Al Simpson
By Kirby Beck, PCI #002T/EMSCI #017T
Coon Rapids (MN) Police Department (Ret.)
Ed.’s Note: On May 25, 2023, Al Simpson was posthumously presented with the 2023 Allan Howard Award for Excellence. Allan Howard and Jim Bowell bestowed the award upon Al’s former wife, Janet, and daughters Kimmi and Sharissa, during his memorial service. Al’s impact on IPMBA cannot be overstated. He led the development of the IPMBA instructor development process through a period of transition from a “practice teach” only to a fully realized Instructor Course, complete with lecture outlines and PowerPoints, of which he was a pioneer. He had high performance standards and strong opinions, both of which helped ensure that the foundation of IPMBA’s training programs remained strong yet adaptable. Kirby Beck delivered a eulogy for Al, which appears below in the form of an article. Al may be gone, but his legacy lives on and on.
On May 19, 2023, we lost a true legend in IPMBA history. Sadly, we lost Alan (Big Al) Simpson to Parkinson’s Disease and Lewy Body Dementia, after a valiantly fought battle lasting several years. In the 2022 Conference Highlights issue of IPMBA News, Allan Howard wrote an article reflecting on Al’s battle and the courage he showed throughout. His friends, his instructors, and co-instructors are left with many memories of the fun times, the laughter, and the serious work. Many members do not realize that IPMBA would not be the organization it is today without his enormous efforts in training new public safety cyclists and new IPMBA Instructors, and that his work at the Board level helped to create and administer new programs in our expanding organization.
The legacy of Al Simpson will live on within IPMBA for decades, considering the sheer volume of basic students and instructors he trained, and how many he will indirectly “touch” through them in the future. IPMBA Director Maureen Becker reminded me that Al “shaped a generation of public safety cyclists, serving as mentor to many.” I know Big Al is smiling.
Al, IPMBA PCI #165T/EMSCI #005T, was first certified as a Police Cyclist in 1995. That just lit the fire. He was certified as a Police Cyclist Instructor (PCI) in 1996, an EMS Cyclist Instructor (EMSCI) in 1999, and an Instructor-Trainer in 1998, due in part to his extensive training background. His personality, humor, skill, and professionalism made it a natural fit.
His training numbers are unmatched in IPMBA history. Al taught or co-taught 65 Police Cyclist Courses, equaling 31,368 student-hours. Most of his basic courses were taught around Florida, working at times with training partners, Dominic Angiolillo, Ed Brown, or Eddy Croissant. Al also taught or co-taught 26 EMSC Courses (6,464 student-hours), six Security Cyclist Courses (944 student-hours), eight Police Cyclist Instructor Development Courses (which was eliminated with the creation of the IPMBA Instructor Course) and 20 IPMBA Instructor Courses (21,888 student-hours).
IPMBA records show Al taught an amazing 60,656 student-hours, which translates into 2,527 days, or 6.9 years! The titles “Legend” and “Legacy” were obviously earned. And Al didn’t become a certified IPMBA PCI until he was 53 years old!
Al served as a member of the IPMBA Board of Directors from 1999-2002. There he took on the difficult role of Education Director. This was during a time when new IPMBA Instructors were mentored and had to submit a video tape (VHS!) of one of their presentations for final approval. Who knows how many of those videos Al had to review and then approve or deny. That had to be mind-numbing, to say the least, and fraught with technical difficulties. To improve the process and help ensure quality and consistency, Al took the lead on creating the IPMBA Instructor Course. At the 2014 IPMBA Conference, Al was presented with an Exemplary Service Award for his contributions. Much of what Al helped develop is still part of the IC today. Those who participated in the recent curriculum update process could “hear” Al speak through the pages.
Like most of us, Al had several bikes. He rode a Cannondale full suspension bike for many years. Al loved to ride down stairs. I mean, he REALLY loved to ride down stairs, so much that he sought them out. Once when we were in Washington DC, riding around sight-seeing (the day before a class), we went by the famous “Exorcist Stairs” in Georgetown. He came THIS close to riding down them.
Al was a big guy, and riding down all those stairs came at a price. The price was a broken bike frame. “No worries”, he thought, “Cannondale has a ‘lifetime’ warranty”. So, they replaced his bikes, two or three times. Eventually, though, they voided his warranty and essentially told him that HIS lifetime was over! In the meantime, Al had been given a white-framed Smith and Wesson police bike. S&W made and marketed “police mountain bikes” in the early 2000’s. Many departments around the U.S. rode them at the time, and they were a pretty good bike for the money. Al was even invited on an all-expense-paid trip to INFOPOL (a police product expo) in Belgium to help with the marketing of the S&W bikes in Europe. The S&W eventually became Al’s main ride. Cannondale blew their chance – Al could have been the perfect product test rider!
Al grew up in Columbus, Indiana, just outside of Indianapolis. After high school, in 1962, Al joined the U.S. Air Force. After his basic training, he was selected for training for AF Security Police. He said that he had joined the Air Force “to see the world,” but his first assignment was at Grissom AFB near Kokomo, Indiana. It was so close to home that he could have lunch with his mom! Al was stationed there for his whole six-year stint. Seeing the world would have to wait.
After the service, Al became more involved with his love of music and of playing music. He teaming up with a group of friends to form a rock and soul band, as many folks did in the late 60’s. Al’s talent on the guitar and for singing, and his penchant for entertaining, helped the group to succeed. The group found themselves booked in south Florida, playing in what was called the “Holiday Inn Circuit,” a rotation of cocktail lounges and other venues that featured live music. Al never gave up his love of being an entertainer. His success as an instructor was largely because he thought of teaching as just another way of entertaining people. Before the start of a class, it wasn’t unusual to hear Al say “it’s showtime.” It was while playing at Big Daddy’s “Playtime” Lounge, a cop bar in Pompano Beach, Florida, that his interest in becoming a police officer was piqued by talking with some of the officers who frequented the joint.
After a couple of years as a Pompano Beach Police Department Reserve Officer, Al completed Broward Police Academy in 1975 and became a Pompano Beach police officer. He was already 31 years old when he started at PPPD. Al was a very successful and well-liked police officer and was eventually promoted to Sergeant. He was involved in a number of endeavors; he was an FTO, a SWAT team member, a firearms training officer and armorer, and the department training coordinator. He eventually became the head of the bike patrol unit, which he essentially started.
Al was working as a narcotics officer about the same time Crockett and Tubbs were running around nearby in parts of south Florida on the TV show “Miami Vice.” Al wasn’t running around in designer clothes to be sure, but he did sport pretty awesome “Afro-style” hair and a full beard! Most of us knew only his trademark Fu Manchu ‘stache.
Two of his off-duty passions were motorcycle riding and going to NASCAR races. As a member of the Blue Knights Motorcycle Club, he went on a number of group rides around the country. That love of two wheels would never die, especially once he discovered the joys of riding a mountain bike, the effectiveness of bike patrol, and his extraordinary passion for teaching it. After his illness was diagnosed, and its effects became more pronounced, Al was no longer able to ride his trusted Smith and Wesson mountain bike, the only one he couldn’t break, or the motorcycle his brother had given him to ride. Losing his ability to ride on two wheels was one the greatest losses of his life, he later told me.
After his retirement from Broward County Sheriff’s Office, which had taken over Pompano Beach Police, “Sgt. Al” returned to Indiana, moving to Greenwood, outside of Indianapolis. He set up a studio and reconnected with making and recording music. He and some of his old band mates actually did “get the band back together” and they called themselves “The Viagraphonics”. Their marketing motto was “Rock Hard After All These Years.” They played a few places and even recorded a live concert CD. It was great until Pfizer lawyers sent them a “cease and desist” letter. The band didn’t last much longer and quickly faded into Indiana history.
Al loved attending IPMBA Conferences and keeping in touch with old friends. It was at one of these conferences that a couple of his EMS friends first noticed something wasn’t quite right with his gait and other neurological things. Not long afterwards, Al was diagnosed with Parkinson’s. As Allan Howard noted in his article, Al came to a couple of IPMBA conferences and though he appeared quite obviously affected and hobbled by the disease, he wasn’t afraid or embarrassed to be seen by his friends and long-time associates. He knew that was his life, and he had accepted it. Over several years, the disease progressed, and, as predicted, he continued to decline.
My wife and I went to visit Al at his care center in January 2023, a few months before he passed. His memory was waning, and he confused some family members with others. I was told he might not remember me. But Al never lost his love for IPMBA. Most days he wore one of his IPMBA conference Instructor shirts. His daughter Sharissa told me that in his mind he was still a police officer, and was still teaching bike patrol. I was blessed that Al did still remember me after the many classes we co-taught, our many stints as roommates, our time driving around the country, and countless shared meals. His smile, beaming through his otherwise confused expression, told me he recognized and remembered me. Somehow that little twinkle in his eyes shined through, and I knew that he knew. Not every memory was there, but they weren’t all gone. We could tell he was still a little confused as he tried to explain the benefits of police bicycle patrol to me…I could only smile.
I brought Al a couple of gifts. I brought him a framed photo of him taken at the IPMBA Conference in Indianapolis in which his help was instrumental to its success. I also brought him a bowl of chili from Nick’s Chili Parlor in Indianapolis. He loved to bring me there whenever I visited. He said that, besides Cheddars, it was his favorite place. He was sitting at the dinner table digging into the chili when we had to head out. Let me tell you – that last goodbye was a tough one – I figured that would be the last time I saw my old friend alive. Sadly, it was.
Al’s funeral was May 25th, in Greenwood, Indiana. He was dressed in a high-viz yellow IPMBA Conference Instructor shirt. The two-tone blue Olympic bike patrol jacket so many of us had seen him in over the years was hanging next to him. His trusty, and still unbroken, Smith and Wesson Police bike was resting on its stand alongside the casket, ready to roll. He had personalized license plates in two states that read “IPMBA”; one of them was also on display nearby. Al Simpson lived, breathed, and died IPMBA.
IPMBA to the end – just the way a legend would want to go.
Kirby retired after 28 years with Coon Rapids (MN) Police Department. He has 14 years of police bike patrol experience. A founding member and past President of IPMBA, he was co-creator of the IPMBA Police Cyclist Course and Instructor Course. He contributed to both the Complete Guide to Police Cycling and the Complete Guide to Public Safety Cycling. He can be reached at kirby@kbeckconsulting.com.