Ed Youngblood, who directed the American Motorcyclists Association (AMA) from 1981 to 1999 and led the association through a period of its most dynamic growth and influence, died on Sunday (March 10) afternoon at a hospice facility in Lecanto, Florida, after suffering for several years from a rare lung disease. He was 80.

When Youngblood took the reins at the AMA, the association was going through a difficult period of unstable leadership and financial stress. His leadership and executive decisions saw the AMA experience a strong comeback to financial stability as well as steady membership growth.

Youngblood was also a driving force behind the AMA’s growing involvement with the Federation Internationale Motocycliste (FIM), the world governing body for motorcycling. Working within the FIM meant that the AMA had greater influence on worldwide issues pertaining to motorcycling. Other major developments that took place under Youngblood’s guidance were the establishment of a Motorcycle Hall of Fame and the moving of the AMA headquarters to a site in Pickerington, Ohio, a move designed to accommodate future growth of the association.

Youngblood grew up in Oklahoma and began riding motorcycles at the age of 14. While in college at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, he began helping as a mechanic for a friend who was a flat track racer. To help support his travel Youngblood picked up a camera and a notepad and began sending race reports to Cycle News. After graduating with a master’s degree, Youngblood accepted a job offer to become editor of Cycle News East.

Motorcycling was experiencing a huge boom during Youngblood’s years at Cycle News. Youngblood recalls his time at Cycle News as fun and exciting. “It was an interesting era of motorcycling when we started becoming much more involved politically due to helmet laws and land-closure issues,” Youngblood remembers. While at Cycle News, Youngblood helped launch the first state-level political organization for motorcyclists’ rights started in Ohio.

Youngblood joined the AMA in September of 1970 as managing editor of American Motorcyclist Magazine (which was then called AMA News).

During the 1970s Youngblood served as interim general manager of the AMA, and as the association’s director, all while continuing his duties with the magazine. Youngblood was later given charge of the AMA’s Government Relations department.

After being appointed Executive Director and later President of the AMA, Youngblood not only strengthened the AMA’s Government Relations department, he worked with other national motorcycling organizations, by way of the FIM, to form their own government relations branches patterned after the AMA’s.

In the 1980s Youngblood recognized the need to document and preserve motorcycling’s history and formed American Motorcycle Heritage Foundation, which eventually led to the opening of the American Motorcycle Heritage Museum.

Youngblood explained his feelings on the importance of remembering and appreciating motorcycling’s heritage:

“I do not see history as just a thing in the past that happened some time ago,” he said. “I see history as an understanding of who we are and how we got where we are. When any culture, nation or industry faces a crisis, those that have the will to survive are the ones that have a deep understanding and appreciation of who they are and where they came from. That’s what gives us an understanding of our own value and gives us a will to fight for what we are and what we believe in.”

Youngblood served 25 years as a delegate to the FIM, where he rose to the position of deputy president, the organization’s second-highest post. He also served as a trustee of the Clayton Foundation, which gives financial aid to seriously injured motorcycle racers, and the Motor Sports Hall of Fame.

A lawsuit relating to the AMA’s Pro Racing division, which ultimately cost the AMA a three-million-dollar judgment, led to Youngblood leaving the association in 1999.

Post-AMA Youngblood turned to writing books about motorcycling. Perhaps his best known book was “Mann of His Time”, a biography of Hall of Famer racer Dick Mann. Other books included “John Penton and the Off-Road Motorcycle Revolution”, “Take It to the Limit – The Dave Mungenast Way”, “The Heroes of Harley-Davidson”, and several more including kids’ books on the sports of Superbike, flat track and motocross racing.

Youngblood also launched an influential motorcycle history website called MotoHistory.net and was curator for several museum programs, including “Motocross America” held at the AMA’s Motorcycle Hall of Fame. Youngblood was also a 1999 inductee to the Motorcycle Hall of Fame.

In his later years Youngblood enjoyed retirement in Florida with his partner in life Debbie Selsavage. He was an avid cat lover, Waffle House aficionado and assisted in Debbie’s company Coping with Dementia.  Ed and Debbie also launched a non-profit to help advocate for dementia patients and their families.

Ed is survived by Debbie, his sons Chris and Ruben, his ex-wife Margaret and older brother William.

“He was working until the very end,” Debbie said. “When he entered the care facility last week, he told me he wanted to bring two things, his laptop and a little model of his BMW motorcycle.”

Youngblood left a legacy in several fields and a lasting impression to those lucky enough to have known him.