Leroy, I got some sad news last night regarding an old friend, Sgt. Ron Goates from the CHP. He died this past Friday Feb. 7 near his home in Morrilton, Arkansas at age 84 from abdominal and cardiac issues. He was well known throughout the law enforcement community in the South Bay, and I think some of your readers may remember him.
Ron was born in Arkansas and spent his formative years there before heading west and settling in the Southern California area. In 1965 Ron began his career with the CHP, working the streets and freeways of Los Angeles. He eventually transitioned to motors and was assigned to the Santa Fe Springs area. Ron was natural on the motorcycle and when an opening for motor instructor at the CHP Academy occurred, Ron applied and was accepted for the position. When the TV series “CHIPS” was in development, the producer Richard Rosner and stars Eric Estrada and Larry Wilcox were sent to Sacramento to attend a mini version of the 2-week motor school conducted by Ron and his teammates. The purpose was to have the actors best resemble the professionalism of a CHP motor officer. Ron later said that the only attendee from the CHIPS program who would have passed the training was Larry Wilcox because of his background in riding off road dirt bikes. Eric Estrada and his custom made $200 lambskin gloves would have failed miserably.
In 1977 several motor officers and supervisors from the Dallas and Fort Worth police departments attended the motor school. Ron and John Glover helped train those men and became friends with many of the Texans. They stayed in touch and made plans to meet on a motorcycle ride the following summer at the Grand Canyon. Thus, was born the tradition of the Cal-Tex rides that still occur today, some 45 years later. I had the opportunity to attend 2 of those cross-country rides. In 1979 we left the CHP academy and rode to Yellowstone. The following year our destination was Colorado Springs.
After spending 5 years at the academy, Ron transferred to the San Jose CHP office. His family was still living in the Sacramento area and he needed a place to stay on his working days. Don Hale and I were renting a house in Willow Glen with a vacant bedroom, so Ron moved in with us. He eventually bought a house in Almaden and moved his family.
Ron promoted to Sgt. and was first transferred to Redwood City and then back to the LA area, settling in Redondo Beach. In early 1983, Ron called me and said a Honda shop in Placerville had been flooded and that a southern California auto wholesaler had bought about 20 of those motorcycles. He was selling them without a warranty but at a 50% discount. I flew down the next weekend and we both bought fully dressed Goldwing’s. Before riding the new bike up to San Jose, Ron and I headed out onto the LA freeways for a familiarization-shakedown ride. We were cruising along when suddenly a large green Rolls Royce made an abrupt lane change directly in front of us, nearly causing a major high-speed collision. I couldn’t see the driver but did see the female passenger, a blond with very big hair. The license plate read PRO 3. When I returned to work, I immediately headed to records and got a registration check on that plate. The owner was Patrick Ryan O’Neal so the passenger must have been his girlfriend at that time, Farah Fawcett.
When Ron retired after almost 30 years with the CHP, he was working out of the Chico office in northern Calif. His retirement party was held at the Chico Elks Club and several of us from SJPD attended that party to wish our good friend well on his next journey. Ron retired to his home state of Arkansas and for a while worked as bailiff before retiring once again.
Ron is survived by his wife Liz and his two daughters Rhonda and Janice.
That is sad news, Ron was a great guy and a fantastic motor Sgt. I recall him visiting me in the hospital after my on duty crash. RIP my friend.
Wow, that is some sad news. Ron was my instructor at the CHP Motor training center. He made everything look easy when he would demonstrate what we were to do. He never seemed “rattled” when a trainee would mess up. He would simple say, “Thats not how you do it, do it again.” He had a full life, and left a great legacy for law enforcement community. I was very thankful for all I learned from him. There is a empty motorcycle somewhere. Keep the dirty side down my friend.