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Mark "Hammy" Hamilton
Mark "Hammy" Hamilton
Friends of Mark "Hammy" Hamilton line up their motorcycles at Tremors on Center Avenue before a tribute ride Monday for the bar owner.
Mark "Hammy" Hamilton's wife Suzanne is comforted by her brother Steve Steinke near a banner in front of Hammy's bar on Center Avenue in Janesville before a procession of motorcyclists paid tribute to hammy with a ride by.
Cyclists tied leather strings around their arms for the tribute ride for Mark "Hammy" Hamilton.
JANESVILLE — Most of us will pass from this life honored only by whispered condolences.
Mark "Hammy" Hamilton will enter the hereafter accompanied by the roar of more than 125 motorcycles.
And not any wimpy motorcycles, either, but Harley-Davidsons, with growling engines, rumbling pipes and leather-clad riders.
Mark Hamilton, 50, died Thursday when his Harley collided with a truck on Highway 60 in Sauk County. The crash remains under investigation.
Hamilton was the owner of Hammy's Roadside Bar, 2131 Center Ave., Janesville.
On Monday morning, almost 200 of his friends, patrons and fellow members of the Janesville Harley Owners Group chapter gathered in the parking lot near Tremors , 1802 Center Ave., to give Hamilton his send off. The pack traveled down Center Avenue to the Highway 11 bypass and then back up Court Street toward the First Presbyterian Church, where services were being held.
It was an impressive send-off for an impressive guy.
"He'd do anything for anybody," said Linda Knudson, a friend of his for more than 20 years and one of his bartenders.
He was the kind of bar owner who always seemed to be ready to host benefits or be a stop on the "poker runs," fund-raising events held by the local HOG chapter.
Hamilton also was the kind of bar owner who gave patrons a ride home if they were a shade over the limit.
"He loved everybody, and everybody loved him," Knudson said.
Just a few minutes later, another person described him using the same words.
Dan Powers was friends with Hamilton for five years and had known him for nine.
"No one was more generous than Mark," Powers said. "There was a cancer benefit at Jumbo's, and he won the 50/50 raffle. He gave all the proceeds to the family."
It didn't matter that it wasn't his bar, "that had no bearing on it," Powers said.
Hamilton also owned Hammy's Wearables, a business that made T-shirts, hats and other gear printed with logos or sayings. Often, he donated items to HOG chapter fund-raisers, or simply gave things away.
"I bet he never made any money on that business," one mourner joked.
On Monday, Hamilton's white Tahoe LE led the procession. An honor guard followed.
Then, leading the long double row of motorcycles was Powers.
Beside him was an open spot.
That's where Hamilton would have ridden.