The initial effort to nominate Danny and Arlene Liska into the American Motorcyclist Association's Hall of Fame began with Eddie James, a former director of road riding for the AMA, finisher of multiple Iron Butt Rallies, a co-founder of Minnesota's TeamStrange, and a close personal friend of Arlene's. Following his untimely death in 2009, his project languished.In the summer of 2019, Lisa Erbes, Jim Winterer, Rick Corwine, and Bob Higdon agreed to breathe new life into Eddie's dream. Lisa and Jim went through the archives of scores of newspapers and magazines, unearthing 169 media references to the Liskas going back more than 60 years; Rick assumed the job of sorting through a mountain of photographs, cleaning them up, and digitizing them; and Bob put the results of everyone else's work together, filled out the required paperwork, and submitted the 20-page joint applications to the AMA Hall of Fame on December 24, 2019.The AMA requires that the submission contain, among other things, "Support material and copies of media coverage highlighting the applicant's achievements." In the case of the Liskas that would amount to attaching a book. Michael Kneebone, president of the Iron Butt Association, graciously agreed to host a large but representative sample of media that we believe fairly represents their monumental achievements.The material here is arranged as follows:AMA Hall of Fame application
Photos - Liskas
Photos - The Americas
Photos - Europe and Africa
Butler & Smith advertising campaign
Video interview of Arlene Liska
Chronological collection of newspaper and magazine articles
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------AMA Hall of Fame applicationCover letter (PDF download)Danny Liska application (PDF download)Arlene Liska application (PDF download)Biographical statement (PDF download)Photos - LiskasDanny and Arlene Liska in the late 1950s (jpg format)Danny in South Africa (jpg format)Danny dressed as an Egyptian (jpg format)Arlene on an Arabian dhow in the Red Sea (jpg format)Arlene in an African market (jpg format)Front cover of "Two Wheels to Adventure" (jpg format)End jacket photo of "Two Wheels to Adventure" (jpg format)Photos - The AmericasDanny crosses into Alaska from Canada (jpg format)Danny waits out a border crossing in Central America (jpg format)Here in desperate straits in the middle of the Darien Gap, Danny prepares to try the specialty of the house: monkey paw soup (jpg format)Up to the axles in mud in Patagonia (jpg format)On the day before he reached the bottom of South America in Ushuaia, Argentina, Danny recorded that he had dropped the bike more than 50 times in snow, mud, and ice (jpg format)Danny approaches Ushuaia on his last day on the road (jpg format)Photos - Europe and AfricaAt Nordkapp a reflective Danny, more than 650 miles north of the Arctic Circle, looks out at the Barents Sea (jpg format)Danny visiting a nomadic family in Libya (jpg format)Arlene Liska fixes dinner at the Ksar Ouled Soltane, originally a 15th-century Bedouin granary in southern Tunisia. Years later George Lucas would use this area in a couple of "Star Wars" films. (jpg format)Visiting the Pyramids (jpg format)Arlene tries to take in the enormity of the temples at Abu Simbel in Egypt before they were moved during the construction of the Aswan dam (jpg format)Arlene is silhouetted at their camp site in the Sahara at sunset (jpg format)Danny wrestles the R60 through a section of deep sand in Sudan (jpg format)Danny and his bike ferrying on an Arabian dhow across the Red Sea to Yemen (jpg format)Arlene poses with some European students at the port of Aden in Yemen (jpg format)Arlene poses at the equator in Uganda (jpg format)Crossing into Tanganyika (jpg format)Arlene taking photographs with the locals in Tanganyika (jpg format)Arlene poses at the Tropic of Capricorn in South Africa (jpg format)Butler and Smith advertising campaignIn the years 1959 through 1964 when Danny and Arlene's big rides were taking place, Butler & Smith was the sole importer of BMW motorcycles into the U.S. Sensitive to the attendant publicity of Danny's ride to Alaska in 1959, the company decided to become an unofficial sponsor of the Liskas, providing partssupport when Danny broke down in South America and in 1963 arranging with BMW for the donation of a new R60 that the Liskas could pick up in Europe and use on their second great ride.Our research has discovered eight advertisements that Butler & Smith ran from February 1966 through February 1967. Some of them are undated, and there arelikely others, but it is nonetheless clear that Danny and Arlene had become the poster children of BMW during that era. February 1966 - Iconic photo taken toward the end of the trip through Africa (jpg format)March 1966 - Overlooking the Barents Sea from a cliff at Nordkapp (jpg format)April 1966 - At the Rock of Gibraltar (jpg format)May 1966 - Danny meets an Indian chief in Ecuador (jpg format)1966 (month unknown) - Buried in mud during the construction of the Pan-American highway (jpg format)1966 (month unknown) - Arlene takes a test ride on a camel, prefers the BMW (jpg format)February 1967 - The Liskas meet another BMW rider near Mount Kilimanjaro (jpg format)(Date unknown) - The Liskas' BMW appears at the equator in two hemispheres (jpg format)Video interview of Arlene LiskaA short interview of Arlene Liska conducted on November 5, 2019 in Niobrara, Nebraska (MP4 download)
Chronological collection of newspaper and magazine articlesSeptember 20 1959 (Omaha World-Herald) - Danny returns to Niobrara after a two-week trip to Circle City, Alaska (PDF download)December 1959 (American Motorcycling) - Liska wins long-distance riding award after returning from Alaska (PDF download)May 25 1960 (Plainview NE News) - Danny's first article in a column called "Fancy Free" wherein he expresses his desire to take his readers back on the road with him (PDF download)December 2 1960 (Omaha World-Herald) - Danny and Arlene cross 39 rivers between Costa Rica and Panama (PDF download)December 14 1960 (Plainview NE News) - Danny and Arlene reach Panama, where he now faces the Darien Gap (PDF download)December 28 1960 (Plainview NE News) - Danny succeeds in trekking through 70 miles of "impassable" jungle (PDF download)August 30 1961 (Plainview NE News) - "Danny Makes It!" (PDF download)September 3 1961 (Omaha World-Herald) - Danny reaches the end of the road in Ushuaia, Argentina, on August 23, 1961, late winter in the southern hemisphere (PDF download)November 4 1961 (Omaha World-Herald) - Danny finds a job as an extra in a movie being filmed in Argentina (PDF download)January 5 1962 (Omaha World-Herald) - Danny returns home to the farm in Niobrara with a shaved head, having been gone so long even his dog doesn't recognize him (PDF download)January 10 1962 (Plainview NE News) - The favorite son of Plainview, Nebraska returns home (PDF download)September 9 1962 (Omaha World-Herald) - Expanded story of Danny's work as a stand-in and stunt double for Yul Brynner in the movie "Taras Bulba" (PDF download)January 25 1963 (Omaha World-Herald) - Danny and Arlene receive a pennant from the Chicago Adventurer's Club and begin planning a ride from the top of Europe to the bottom of Africa (PDF download)September 5 1963 (Niobrara NE Tribune) - While their hometown newspaper reports that Danny has left for Europe, it inexplicably fails to mention Arlene's departure and participation on the ride that will take them 15 months to complete (PDF download)November 28 1963 (Niobrara NE Tribune) - The Liskas' hometown newspaper dutifully reports that Danny had made it to northernmost tip of Norway and then had turned south, but again completely ignores Arlene's participation in the trip (PDF download)July 11 1964 (Omaha World-Herald) - A report of the Liskas' travel along the Mediterranean Sea from Morocco to Egypt, following the Nile upriver to Lake Victoria, visiting Ethiopia and Yemen, then trekking south through Somalia on their way back to Kenya (PDF download)August 5 1964 (Plainview NE News) - After nearly a year on the road Danny and Arlene reach Mombasa, Kenya (PDF download)October 28 1964 (Omaha World-Herald) - Liskas reach Johannesburg, South Africa (PDF download)December 1 1964 (Omaha World-Herald) - Mission accomplished as Liskas reach Cape Agulhus, the southernmost point on the African continent (PDF download)December 9 1964 (Omaha World-Herald) - Liskas arrive in Omaha from Chicago in a 1947 pickup truck, recounting to a reporter their 40,000-mile and 15-month record-breaking ride (PDF download)December 10 1964 (Omaha World-Herald) - Liskas return to Niobrara (PDF download)February 3 1965 (Plainview NE News) - Danny and Arlene entertain an audience of 500 with a slide show and lecture (PDF download)April 25 1965 (Omaha World-Herald) - The first of a series of African adventure stories written by Danny and Arlene for the Sunday edition of the Omaha World-Herald's "Magazine of the Midlands" (PDF download)October 31 1965 (Omaha World-Herald) - Danny and Arlene recall their experiences traveling up the Nile in the "Magazine of the Midlands" series (PDF download)March 10 1966 (Omaha World-Herald) - Arlene appears as a guest on the popular ABC television game show "To Tell the Truth" and stumps three of the four panelists (PDF download)May 6 1967 (Omaha World-Herald) - Rebuffed in his attempts to travel in Antarctica, Russia, and Mongolia, Danny's thoughts turn toward writing a book about his extensive travels (PDF download)December 23 1970 (Davenport IA Times-Democrat) - Danny reflects on his travels (PDF download)January 17 1971 (Omaha World-Herald) - The slide show and lecture scheduled by the Liskas in Omaha develops a conflict with an appearance in the city by President Nixon, but the show must go on (PDF download)May 17 1995 (Plainview NE News) - "Lifetime of Adventures Ends" (PDF download)May 1995 (Norfolk NE Daily-News) - Danny Liska obituary (PDF download)October 1997 (American Motorcyclist) - Book review of "Two Wheels to Adventure" (PDF download)Fall 2015 (Living Here magazine) - "Motorcyclists, adventurists, and motorcycle clubs from all over the world stop in Niobrara to meet 'the queen of endurance riding," seek her advice, listen to her adventure stories, and gain inspiration." (PDF download)Lisa ErbesJim WintererRick CorwineBob Higdon
Five Continents, 25 Cities And More Than 40,000 Miles Movie Download In Mp4
2ff7e9595c
Comments