None of you have ever met a tougher guy than this old dude. When he was 13, him and his friends around Somerset, played around the railroad tracks after school every day. They would hop the slow moving train, ride about a mile and then jump off. "Crip" Bolin, guess where his nickname came from, fell under the train one day and cut off his left leg and arm. Probably motivated him to do more things than the average person could do. He was one of the best race car drivers around here in the 50's, 60's, 70's, and a little bit up into the 80's. He would take a crutch under his right shoulder and right hand and cross it over to the left side and could walk as good as anyone. He mowed his own lawn, (push mower) won water skiing championships and was king of racing for many years. He could climb the ladder at the Somerset Country Club swimming pool and dive off the high board. He was a marathon swimmer also. He made his living racing and trading. He opened a pawn shop in Danville years ago called the Fox and Crow. Never figured out if he was the fox or the crow, the fox I think. About 25 or 30 years ago he lived on Perryville Road and due to the nature of his business was known to have cash and diamonds with him all the time. One night 3 guys knocked on his door about midnight wanting to sell him some diamonds. He told his wife Ruby Nichols Bolin, (Chester's sister) to put on a pot of coffee and invited the guys to sit at the kitchen table. They pulled guns and shot crip 3 or 4 times while sitting at the table, he was able to hop to the kitchen cabinet, get a pistol out and shot all 3 of them. One made it to Ohio and went to the hospital with one dead buddy in the car with him. After daylight the next morning the Boyle County cops found the other one dead under Crip's pickup in Crip's driveway where he had crawled trying to get away from Crip. Crip recovered. Then in the early 80's, Crip was at a radiator shop in Danville and rested his crutch to talk to some guys and didn't know he had set his crutch in grease. The crutch slipped out from under Crip and he fell into a vat of radiator acid and he spent about a year in the Houston Texas Burns Hospital. Everyone always said nothing or nobody could ever kill him, that he would die of old age. Looks like they were right. Shelley, April, and maybe Brandy remember that Bobby Paul bought Crip's race car, the blue 74 Chevelle that I drove for a year, won a bunch of races at Richmond. I first raced against Crip in 1967 at the Old Somerset Speedway and have told his story around the 10 states that I have raced in, to amazed race fans.
Wanted to go the the funeral home tonight or the funeral tomorrow, but hell, I'm afraid to. I might have bumped him once on the race track years ago and he might not have forgotten it. When I'm sure he is really dead I will visit his grave.
Thank you Ronnie Bates for letting me share this story.
Click on the link below to read obit
http://www.amnews.com/stories/2009/12/02/obi.766407.sto
1 comment:
Thanks so much for the story. Danville is my childhood home & I recall when the 3 men attempted to rob Mr. Bolin, but didn't remember the exact outcome.
I also happen to think his brother inlaw, Chester, is one of the finest people I've ever known. He sure helped me out many times with my old car & I think of him often.
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