WINDFALL — The lyrics to Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird” carried across an open yard in Windfall shortly after 10 a.m. Sunday.
As the song continued, it began to fade as the low rumble of 234 motorcycle engines began to drown out the music.
A DJ stopped the music as the coiled rows of bikes began snaking out in line to begin their six-hour trip through Tipton, Howard and Blackford counties to remember their fallen friend.
The ride, which stopped in Phlox, Montpelier, Hartford City and Windfall, was in honor of Capt. Matt Thompson, who was the jail commander for the Tipton County Sheriff Department.
Thompson died at age 47 in July 2006 after a van collided with his Harley Davidson at the intersection of 200 West and 300 North in Tipton.
At the time, Thompson, a 24-year veteran of the department, was running for sheriff.
Joy Thompson, Matt’s wife, said the motorcycle ride was originally planned as a fundraiser for her husband’s campaign.
But when his life ended, the fundraiser did not.
Instead, Joy said, they used the motorcycle ride to raise money for a high school scholarship in Matt’s honor, and it has continued every year since.
Matt was an avid softball enthusiast who was a Tri-Central High School varsity coach and had two daughters who played.
“We ate, lived and breathed softball,” Joy said.
To honor his love for the sport, the scholarship is given out at the end of each school year to a graduating senior softball player. A committee of some of Matt’s family and friends select the recipients after viewing applications.
Last year, the motorcycle ride raised about $6,000 in scholarship money with 205 riders’ registrations and other sales, including T-shirts and 50/50 raffle tickets.
The scholarship epitomizes what Matt’s friends and family described as a giving nature, even when he didn’t always seem to be that type of person.
To his loved ones, Matt was a “giant teddy bear.”
“He was as big as life,” Joy said. “Everyone thought he was rough and tough, but he wasn’t.”
During a choked-up speech and prayer before the ride, Matt’s friend Denny Pearson told the crowd about the shrine to honor Matt located at the intersection where the accident occurred.
“I live approximately 300 yards from the intersection where he had his accident,” Pearson said. “I consider myself the mayor of that corner. It’s officially Thompson Corner as far as I’m concerned.”
Pearson said he often hears bikers rev their engines as they pass through the intersection, which he considers is their way to honor his friend.
“There was even a cold one sitting there when I went out there [Sunday] morning,” he said.
Joy said it would have made her late husband happy to see hundreds of people show up for the memorial ride every year.
“This happens every year — we didn’t think they were coming,” Thompson said. “Then, all of a sudden, there was a rolling thunder, and they start coming in.”
• Daniel Human is a Kokomo Tribune staff writer. He can be reached at (765) 454-8570 or at daniel.human@kokomotribune.com.
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A ride to remember
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