Recent News
Recent News
The Deacons of Deadwood Motorcycle Club was formed by Sam Allen and Ricky Cook in April 2002. The idea for the Club came from the many trips to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally that Sam, Ricky and the original members of the Deacons took with Ricky’s father, the infamous David Cook. Everyone always stayed at the Bullock Hotel in Deadwood, South Dakota, which is about eight miles from Sturgis. The group would take up nearly the whole hotel, and everybody got their rooms through David. He used to joke that there were so many bikers in our group from Houston that we were the “Deacons of Deadwood.”
David was diagnosed with cancer in 2001 and missed the Rally that year. Sam and Ricky bought him a commemorative brick on Main Street Sturgis that said: “The David Cook Show—Returns in 2002".
Sadly, David never made it back to Sturgis. After he died in late 2001, Sam and Ricky thought about forming a motorcycle club in David’s memory, and of course, the name would be The Deacons of Deadwood. Sam and Ricky came up with the design for the Club’s colors and other patches and ran their ideas by several of their bike-riding friends, all of whom knew and rode with David. The idea spread quickly, and the Deacons of Deadwood Motorcycle Club was officially formed in April 2002 as a Texas non-profit corporation with about 13 members.
Although the Club was formed primarily as a motorcycle club, all the original members recognized early on that the Club should be more than just a social organization. During the early months after formation, the Club began plans for the “2002 Deacons of Deadwood Make-a-Wish Ball,” which was held at Rockefeller Hall on October 5, 2000.
The Deacons did a lot of riding in the first year. Sam Douglas, his son Preston who owns Harley-Davidson of Corpus Christi, and Fred Farner, all original Deacons, have for several years organized an annual ride to the Texas Hill Country. The 2002 Hill Country Ride was the first official Deacons of Deadwood ride, and it was the ride in which Club members first flew the Colors. Almost all of the Deacons made it, along with about 70 other riders from all over Texas.
In October 2002, the Club made a ride to Big Bend in West Texas. The Deacons really showed their mettle when they set out on a 500 mile ride to Marathon, Texas, in the rain. It was worth it. By the time the Deacons got to Marathon, the rain had cleared and they enjoyed three days of some of the most beautiful rides available anywhere in the country.