Dick Koos1922-2008:Triumph MC Champion The Byrds Easy Rider

Dick a World War II hero,awarded the Silver Star for heroism in house to house fighting in Herlesheim, at the time of the Battle of the Bulge. Sgt Koos was in charge of a machine gun squad until the end of the war. He remained as a MP sargent in the motorcycle police in Germany.
Dick was a legend in Erie PA as TT Tri state champion for many years, riding mostly Triumphs. It is said that the full size photo of Dick with his 1950 TT Champioship Trophy, astride a Triumph, was a cause for Marlon Brando’s 1953 Wild One Movie on a Triumph with a smaller trophy on the handlebars. Koos Motor Sports was the second oldest Triumph dealer in the US when he retired.

Koos was on the cover of the Sunday Erie Times riding his MC through a ringed wall of fire. IMAGINE THAT.
I was so honored to be his son in law.

PS:
Richard T. Koos, 86, husband of the late Dorothy Irene (Shields) Koos, of
Douglassville, PA and New Port Richey, FL, formerly Harbor Creek, PA, passed
away on Monday, April 28, 2008, in the Pottstown Memorial Medical Center.
Born in Erie PA, he was a son of the late Nicholas and Mary Veronica
(Sullivan) Koos. Dick’s grandparents founded Sullivan’s on the waterfront &
owned much of the dock on Lake Erie.

Mr. Koos served as a dispatch rider and motorcycle instructor in the United
States Army, during World War II. While overseas, he was with the 12th
Armored Infantry Division. He received a Silver Star for heroism, while in
charge of a machine gun crew in Herleisham, during the Battle of the Bulge,
and the Bronze Star of the Premier Armee Francaise After the war ended,
he became Military Police on motorcycle patrol.

Dick began a lifelong love of motorcycles in 1937, when he traded his mother’s

sewing machine for a 1929 Harley Davidson J.D. He began his racing career
in 1939 by hill climbing an Indian Chief, before being issued number 90u by
the American Motorcycle Association.

In 1949 he won the Pennsylvania Champion Racing Tourist Trophy. Koos became
the short track Tri-State (Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania) Champion for three
consecutive years. Dick as owner of the former Koos Cycle Sports, in Harbor
Creek, participated in the Road and Gypsy Motorcycle Tours for forty years,
sponsored many motorcycle and snowmobile racing machines.

In the early fifties, Dick Koos drove his Triumph through a ringed wall of
fire (IMAGINE THAT) for publicity for the Fair. This event was the cover of
the Sunday Erie Times.
Koos introduced the Erie area to snowmobiles, by bringing the first
snowmobile to the United States from Canada.

Mr. Koos is survived children Colleen and Richard, Bruce Smith and Hy
Mayerson, six grandchildren, 10 great-grandchildren, eight nieces, three
nephews, two sister-in-laws, and two brother-in-laws.

In addition to his his beloved Dorothy, Dick was preceded in death by daughter Debra Koos and brothers Donald, Edward,
and Jack.

Relatives and friends are invited to attend the Graveside Service at Erie
Cemetery, on Saturday, May 3, 2008 at 1 PM. In lieu of flowers, memorial
gifts may be made to the Heartland Hospice, 4 Park Plaza, Suite 105,
Wyomissing, PA 19610. Online condolences may be made at
www.CattermoleKlotzbachFuneralHome.com.

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