Motorcyclists pay tribute to Harley dealer Smaltz

As the casket bearing the body of William J. "Stretch" Smaltz was lowered into the earth yesterday, the minister's wife saluted a larger-than-life character.

"Wow! What a ride," exclaimed Linda Grill, and applause arose from the sea of mourners crowded into the church cemetery near Skippack.

The burial service punctuated a daylong, 40-mile tribute to the 68-year-old Smaltz, a well-known figure in motorcycling circles.

From 1993 until his death last week from cancer, the Honey Brook resident and his wife, Karen, ran a popular Harley-Davidson dealership in Eagle, Chester County. He was even better known as an activist, having helped organize the Philadelphia Ride for Freedom 17 years ago to support POWs and MIAs - an annual event that attracts more than 4,000 motorcyclists.

Hundreds of them accompanied Smaltz on his last ride yesterday. It began at St. Peter's Church in West Brandywine, Chester County, where the 2,000 seats were not enough to hold the mourners. The procession took a circuitous route so as to pass Smaltz's shop, which was closed in his memory.

The long column, which included a state police escort, then roared north up Route 100 to Route 422, blocking traffic. More than an hour later, the cycles arrived at Wentz's United Church of Christ in Worcester, Montgomery County. It took almost 15 minutes for everyone to make the turn off Skippack Pike into the cemetery.

"They generally don't close roads unless it's the president or the pope," said Mike Tomcavage, 58, of Norristown, a close friend of Smaltz's. "Lots of folks must have been wondering who he was."

As word spread that Smaltz had lost his long battle with kidney cancer Friday, friends said, they were inundated with requests from police departments, fire companies and civic leaders.

"Everyone said, 'What can we do?' " said Russell Smith, president of the Blue Comets motorcycle club.

Smith said Smaltz's services, which included a Coast Guard flag-presentation ceremony and a luncheon at the Blue Comets headquarters, was a collaborative effort that evolved almost automatically. It brought together mourners ranging from businesspeople in suits to bikers in leather and colorfully patched denim.

Tomcavage said he was fortunate to know exactly who Smaltz was.

"Stretch would do anything for you. That says it all," he said. "Anyone else here is going to say the same thing."

Smaltz was a charter member of the Philadelphia chapter of Rolling Thunder, a national nonprofit group dedicated to raising awareness of POW and MIA issues. But his compassion also manifested itself closer to home. In 2006, after the Amish schoolhouse shootings in Nickel Mines, Lancaster County, Smaltz helped organize a ride to benefit the victims that raised more than $42,000.

Ted Barrett, 66, of West Norriton, said members of the Amish community had visited Tuesday to pay their respects.

"There was only one Stretch," he said.

Lorraine Leaming, 60, a fellow Harley-Davidson dealer from Salem County, recalled Smaltz as "very passionate about motorcycles and people."

"Just to show you his magnitude," she added, the president and vice president of Harley-Davidson came from Milwaukee for the services. Smaltz was a past president of the Eastern Harley-Davidson Dealer Association.

Karen Smaltz said she was overwhelmed by the outpouring of support and affection for her husband.

"It was exactly what he would have wanted," she said. "He's definitely smiling."