Steven 'Bo' Keeley
Encyclopedia
Steven Bo Keeley, born in February 1949, is an American adventurer, naturalist
, holistic healer
, veterinarian
, professional athlete, commodities market consultant, garage publisher, and executive tour guide, who in 2000 left civilization for a desert burrow in southern California, then, in 2009, became a world-traveling expatriate
.
(MSU). His father was an electrical and later nuclear engineer, and mother a Welcome Wagon
activist as the family moved through fifteen cities in as many years to settle in Jackson, Michigan
. Steven Keeley won the Jackson Junior Chess
Championship, and, at MSU, multiple intramural sports
championships for Farmhouse
Fraternity to place them first in the all-fraternity competition for the first time in 100 years. After veterinary school
he moved to California where a bureaucratic licensing issue caused him to seek a sports career in professional racquetball
and paddleball
, in which he gained national prominence.
Titles. Keeley won the National Paddleball
Singles Championship in 1971, 1973, 1974, 1976 and 1977. He captured the National Paddleball Doubles Championship in 1974 with Len Baldori and in 1976 with Andy Homa. Keeley was the second player in history to win a Professional Racquetball
Tournament after Steve Serot, when he defeated Charlie Brumfield
21-8, 21-17 in the finals of the NRC Long Beach Pro Am in October 1973. Keeley won the Canadian National Racquetball
Singles Championship in 1974. Keeley won his last Professional Racquetball
Title in 1980 defeating Marty Hogan 21-5, 21-6 in the finals of the Voight Championship in Los Angeles. During his racquetball career, he defeated every US National Singles Champion from 1968–82, and every professional champion of his era including ex-housemates Marty Hogan (Racquetball), Charlie Brumfield
and Bud Muehleisen
, as well as, Bill Schultz, Bill Schmidtke, Craig Finger, Davey Bledsoe and Mike Yellen.
He became one of the game’s foremost instructors and an author during the 1970s golden era with approximately 100 articles published in Ace, IRA Racquetball, National Racquetball and other trade magazines. In 2002, he refused induction into the USRA Hall of Fame. where incumbent inductees credited him with instructing their games. He was the 2003 racquetball historian
and psychologist
for the Legends pro tour, and the same year co-invented (with Scott Hirsch
) Hybrid Racquetball using a racquetball with wood paddleball paddles.
He wrote what many have called the Bible of the sport, Complete Book of Racquetball (1976, 200,000 sold), and opened racquetball doors in every state, Central and South America with hundreds of clinics and exhibitions, once beating Miss World
runner-up with a Converse
tennis shoe in a Sports Illustrated
exhibition, and others with a seven-inch mini-racquet. Keeley was a stroke and strategy trendsetter, and the first apparel-sponsored pro, flaunting multicolored Converse Chucks tennis shoes. He was featured in Sports Illustrated
and other publications as an unusual combination of athlete, intellectual, and 'flake.'
Also a California B-division handball
champion, Keeley is the only player to consistently beat handball legend Paul Haber
in mano a racqueta exhibitions. He started a silent scholarship
fund of personal prize money plus contributions to bring rising East Coast stars to train at the racquetball mecca, Gorham’s Sports Center in San Diego, California. In 2007 he was awarded the prestigious NPA Earl Riskey Sportsmanship
Trophy.
, Michigan, in a one year’s self-experiment including not blinking for 24-hours, sitting in a homemade sensory deprivation
crate, a one-week water fast, reading books upside-down and mirror writing
, sleep deprivation
, bladder control, induced color blindness
, riding a bike for 24-hours, and developing fluent ambidexterity
.
He created a small publishing company, Service Press Inc., in the garage foyer and self-published two books in one day, It’s a Racquet! and The Kill and Rekill Gang.
He has written eight books on sport, travel, and the maverick personality, including the 2011 Keeley’s Kures of alternative treatments for common ailments from boxcars, veterinary medicine
, and world healers, while carrying on an informal e-mail practice.
from Jacksonville, Florida, to New York and borrowed a suit to dine with George Soros
at the Four Seasons Restaurant. He railed on 360 freight trains as a 'boxcar tourist' through the USA, Canada and Mexico, and taught and wrote the textbook Hobo Training Manual for the first college sociology
hobo class ‘Hobo
Life in America’ in 1985 at Lansing Community College
. The graduating class traveled to Britt, Iowa
for the National Hobo Convention
.
During the late 1980s, 'just for fun,' he drove a Chevy van around the USA with an invisible fish-line attached to a waving seven-foot stuffed rabbit riding next to him. Some additional exceptional experiences include:
In 1988 he guided a San Francisco Chronicle
journalist to Mt. Shasta for a story that won ‘Bay Area Best Sunday Feature’. Later, a 2001 epic along the First Transcontinental Railroad
with four executives ended on 9/11/2001. In 2005 he crossed Canada by rail with South African accountant Tom ‘Diesel’ Dyson, and later that year the pair, disguised as Mexicans, rode atop freights with Central American immigrants through Mexico to the border where the US Border Patrol apprehended them swimming the Rio Grande
with expired Mexican visas.
He sat in the National Hobo Association (NHA) Los Angeles clubhouse during the ‘80s when the NHA formed the central nervous system of yuppie
, musician and movie-star hobos, contributing regularly to their Hobo Times newsletter. In 2010, Fort Worth Weekly
Peter Gorman
’s ‘Renaissance on the Rails’ profile won 1st place for the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies
best feature of the year.
Indicators gathered around the world—such as cigarette butts being shorter in a down market—were seriously considered by Wall Street
investors and the press. He espoused his analytical methods at global banking seminars and he rode boxcars to speak on hobo economics
at the 1985 Aspen Eris Society and the 1995 New York Junto.
A 1997 13-country tour to identify investment opportunities in emerging markets
for speculator Victor Niederhoffer earned millions in Turkey, but in the Black Friday, October 27, 1997 mini-crash
losses from buying Thai bank stocks that had fallen heavily in the Asian financial crisis combined with a 554-point single day decline of the Dow Index (the second largest decline to date in index history) forced the company to close its doors for a year, and The New Yorker
took a swat at Keeley.
(1987), The Coffee Coaster and Swans
Magazine have documented many of his exploits such as:
American folk artist Linda Mears features seven of his exploits in Adventure Art (1996). One painting called ‘African Safari’ where Keeley suffering cerebral malaria was nearly mauled by a lion, is sold as a jigsaw puzzle
.
technical degree in 1985 from Lansing Community College, followed by one year of volunteer work in six psychiatric wards and senior living facilities to study the developing mind
. Keeley has been called ‘one of the greatest individualists in America.’ In 2007, he founded Executive Tour Services as a businessmen’s outward bound
on the American rails and hikes to Spanish missions in Baja
.
"My life follows the vicissitudes of Buck the Dog in Jack London’s Call of the Wild
," he once explained, "From comfortable back yards across America, boxcars on every major railroad, 100+ countries under a backpack
, hiking the lengths of Florida, Colorado, Vermont, California, Death Valley
, and Baja, Mexico, to finally semi-retire and write my memoirs in a dessert burrow in California."
The burrow lies one mile east of the Chocolate Mountain Aerial Gunnery Range
where a 2008 near-miss caved the entry that he shored with old mine timbers. Keeley was the resident advisor to neighbor Phil Garlington’s book, Rancho Costa Nada: The Dirt Cheap Homestead.
In 2007, he became the first California substitute teacher
to be fired for trying to prevent a playground ‘skirmish.' He left to ride the rails, and then became an itinerant expatriate writing from select exotic locations including Iquitos
, Peru, San Felipe, Baja
, and Lake Toba
, Sumatra.
Naturalist
Naturalist may refer to:* Practitioner of natural history* Conservationist* Advocate of naturalism * Naturalist , autobiography-See also:* The American Naturalist, periodical* Naturalism...
, holistic healer
Holistic health
Holistic health is a concept in medical practice upholding that all aspects of people's needs, psychological, physical and social should be taken into account and seen as a whole. As defined above, the holistic view on treatment is widely accepted in medicine...
, veterinarian
Veterinarian
A veterinary physician, colloquially called a vet, shortened from veterinarian or veterinary surgeon , is a professional who treats disease, disorder and injury in animals....
, professional athlete, commodities market consultant, garage publisher, and executive tour guide, who in 2000 left civilization for a desert burrow in southern California, then, in 2009, became a world-traveling expatriate
Expatriate
An expatriate is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country and culture other than that of the person's upbringing...
.
Early life
Keeley grew up in Idaho and Michigan, and graduated in 1972 with a DVM from Michigan State UniversityMichigan State University
Michigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act.MSU pioneered the studies of packaging,...
(MSU). His father was an electrical and later nuclear engineer, and mother a Welcome Wagon
Welcome Wagon
Welcome Wagon is a business in the United States operated by that contacts new homeowners after relocation, providing them with coupons and advertisements from local businesses. The company's full name is Welcome Wagon International, Inc....
activist as the family moved through fifteen cities in as many years to settle in Jackson, Michigan
Jackson, Michigan
Jackson is a city located along Interstate 94 in the south central area of the U.S. state of Michigan, about west of Ann Arbor and south of Lansing. It is the county seat of Jackson County. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 33,534...
. Steven Keeley won the Jackson Junior Chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
Championship, and, at MSU, multiple intramural sports
Intramural sports
Intramural sports or intramurals are recreational sports organized within a set geographic area. The term derives from the Latin words intra muros meaning "within walls", and was used to indicate sports matches and contests that took place among teams from "within the walls" of an ancient city...
championships for Farmhouse
Farmhouse
Farmhouse is a general term for the main house of a farm. It is a type of building or house which serves a residential purpose in a rural or agricultural setting. Most often, the surrounding environment will be a farm. Many farm houses are shaped like a T...
Fraternity to place them first in the all-fraternity competition for the first time in 100 years. After veterinary school
Veterinary school
A veterinary school is a tertiary educational institution, or part of such an institution, which is involved in the education of veterinarians. To become a veterinarian one must first complete a veterinary degree A veterinary school should not be confused with a department of animal science...
he moved to California where a bureaucratic licensing issue caused him to seek a sports career in professional racquetball
Racquetball
For other sports often called "paddleball", see Paddleball .Racquetball is a racquet sport played with a hollow rubber ball in an indoor or outdoor court...
and paddleball
Four wall paddleball
Four-wall paddleball, or simply "paddleball" is a popular court sport in the upper Midwest, particularly in Michigan and Wisconsin, on the West Coast of the U.S., particularly in Southern California, and in the Memphis, Tennessee, area...
, in which he gained national prominence.
Athletic career
Keeley was one of the top three racquetball players in the world from 1971 to 1976 and in the top ten until 1979, while winning seven NPA National PaddleballFour wall paddleball
Four-wall paddleball, or simply "paddleball" is a popular court sport in the upper Midwest, particularly in Michigan and Wisconsin, on the West Coast of the U.S., particularly in Southern California, and in the Memphis, Tennessee, area...
Titles. Keeley won the National Paddleball
Four wall paddleball
Four-wall paddleball, or simply "paddleball" is a popular court sport in the upper Midwest, particularly in Michigan and Wisconsin, on the West Coast of the U.S., particularly in Southern California, and in the Memphis, Tennessee, area...
Singles Championship in 1971, 1973, 1974, 1976 and 1977. He captured the National Paddleball Doubles Championship in 1974 with Len Baldori and in 1976 with Andy Homa. Keeley was the second player in history to win a Professional Racquetball
Racquetball
For other sports often called "paddleball", see Paddleball .Racquetball is a racquet sport played with a hollow rubber ball in an indoor or outdoor court...
Tournament after Steve Serot, when he defeated Charlie Brumfield
Charlie Brumfield
Charlie Brumfield is an American attorney and former professional racquetball player as well as a noted paddleball player. For much of his professional racquetball career, Brumfield was the marquis player for Leach Industries, the leading manufacturer of racquetball rackets at the time...
21-8, 21-17 in the finals of the NRC Long Beach Pro Am in October 1973. Keeley won the Canadian National Racquetball
Racquetball
For other sports often called "paddleball", see Paddleball .Racquetball is a racquet sport played with a hollow rubber ball in an indoor or outdoor court...
Singles Championship in 1974. Keeley won his last Professional Racquetball
Racquetball
For other sports often called "paddleball", see Paddleball .Racquetball is a racquet sport played with a hollow rubber ball in an indoor or outdoor court...
Title in 1980 defeating Marty Hogan 21-5, 21-6 in the finals of the Voight Championship in Los Angeles. During his racquetball career, he defeated every US National Singles Champion from 1968–82, and every professional champion of his era including ex-housemates Marty Hogan (Racquetball), Charlie Brumfield
Charlie Brumfield
Charlie Brumfield is an American attorney and former professional racquetball player as well as a noted paddleball player. For much of his professional racquetball career, Brumfield was the marquis player for Leach Industries, the leading manufacturer of racquetball rackets at the time...
and Bud Muehleisen
Bud Muehleisen
Bud Muehleisen is a dentist in San Diego, California, and a racquetball and paddleball player. A left-handed player, "Dr. Bud" Muehleisen was the first person inducted into the , and is considered the best racquetball player and the best paddleball player of the 1960s era, and one of the best...
, as well as, Bill Schultz, Bill Schmidtke, Craig Finger, Davey Bledsoe and Mike Yellen.
He became one of the game’s foremost instructors and an author during the 1970s golden era with approximately 100 articles published in Ace, IRA Racquetball, National Racquetball and other trade magazines. In 2002, he refused induction into the USRA Hall of Fame. where incumbent inductees credited him with instructing their games. He was the 2003 racquetball historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
and psychologist
Psychologist
Psychologist is a professional or academic title used by individuals who are either:* Clinical professionals who work with patients in a variety of therapeutic contexts .* Scientists conducting psychological research or teaching psychology in a college...
for the Legends pro tour, and the same year co-invented (with Scott Hirsch
Scott Hirsch
- Online marketing :Scott Hirsch is the founder of Appsbar a unique tool that empowers anyone to make complex mobile apps easily. Appsbar Inc is located in Deerfield Beach, Florida Hirsch got his start in online when he marketed contact lenses and other products on-line as early as 1992, well...
) Hybrid Racquetball using a racquetball with wood paddleball paddles.
He wrote what many have called the Bible of the sport, Complete Book of Racquetball (1976, 200,000 sold), and opened racquetball doors in every state, Central and South America with hundreds of clinics and exhibitions, once beating Miss World
Miss World
The Miss World pageant is the oldest surviving major international beauty pageant. It was created in the United Kingdom by Eric Morley in 1951...
runner-up with a Converse
Converse
Converse is an American shoe company that has been making shoes, lifestyle fashion and athletic apparel since the early 20th century. Converse is one of the earliest pioneers in the sneaker and sporting good industry founded in 1908.- 1908–1941: Early days :...
tennis shoe in a Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...
exhibition, and others with a seven-inch mini-racquet. Keeley was a stroke and strategy trendsetter, and the first apparel-sponsored pro, flaunting multicolored Converse Chucks tennis shoes. He was featured in Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...
and other publications as an unusual combination of athlete, intellectual, and 'flake.'
Also a California B-division handball
Team handball
Handball is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each pass a ball to throw it into the goal of the other team...
champion, Keeley is the only player to consistently beat handball legend Paul Haber
Paul Haber
Paul Haber was an American one, three, and four wall National Handball Champion. Haber is credited with being the first player to use the ceiling offensively and did so very effectively. He was inducted into the United States Handball Association Hall of Fame in 1983.Haber's peak years for national...
in mano a racqueta exhibitions. He started a silent scholarship
Scholarship
A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...
fund of personal prize money plus contributions to bring rising East Coast stars to train at the racquetball mecca, Gorham’s Sports Center in San Diego, California. In 2007 he was awarded the prestigious NPA Earl Riskey Sportsmanship
Sportsmanship
Sportsmanship is an aspiration or ethos that a sport or activity will be enjoyed for its own sake, with proper consideration for fairness, ethics, respect, and a sense of fellowship with one's competitors...
Trophy.
Author and Publisher
Disenchanted toward the end of his career with a faster ball and oversized racquets, Keeley, in 1978, moved to an unheated garage on Lake LansingLake Lansing
Lake Lansing is a lake in Haslett, Michigan just a few miles northeast of the state's capital city of Lansing.-Overview:Lake Lansing was originally known as Pine Lake, and was a highly popular recreation site in the early 1900s. The name was changed to Lake Lansing in 1927...
, Michigan, in a one year’s self-experiment including not blinking for 24-hours, sitting in a homemade sensory deprivation
Sensory deprivation
Sensory deprivation or perceptual isolation is the deliberate reduction or removal of stimuli from one or more of the senses. Simple devices such as blindfolds or hoods and earmuffs can cut off sight and hearing respectively, while more complex devices can also cut off the sense of smell, touch,...
crate, a one-week water fast, reading books upside-down and mirror writing
Mirror writing
Mirror writing is formed by writing in the direction that is the reverse of the natural way for a given language, such that the result is the mirror image of normal writing: it appears normal when it is reflected in a mirror. It is sometimes used as an extremely primitive form of cipher...
, sleep deprivation
Sleep deprivation
Sleep deprivation is the condition of not having enough sleep; it can be either chronic or acute. A chronic sleep-restricted state can cause fatigue, daytime sleepiness, clumsiness and weight loss or weight gain. It adversely affects the brain and cognitive function. Few studies have compared the...
, bladder control, induced color blindness
Color blindness
Color blindness or color vision deficiency is the inability or decreased ability to see color, or perceive color differences, under lighting conditions when color vision is not normally impaired...
, riding a bike for 24-hours, and developing fluent ambidexterity
Ambidexterity
Ambidexterity is the state of being equally adept in the use of both left and right appendages . It is one of the most famous varieties of cross-dominance. People that are naturally ambidextrous are rare, with only one out of one hundred people being naturally ambidextrous...
.
He created a small publishing company, Service Press Inc., in the garage foyer and self-published two books in one day, It’s a Racquet! and The Kill and Rekill Gang.
He has written eight books on sport, travel, and the maverick personality, including the 2011 Keeley’s Kures of alternative treatments for common ailments from boxcars, veterinary medicine
Veterinary medicine
Veterinary Medicine is the branch of science that deals with the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease, disorder and injury in non-human animals...
, and world healers, while carrying on an informal e-mail practice.
American Nomad
In the 1980s, Keeley turned to travel. He rode a boxcarBoxcar
A boxcar is a railroad car that is enclosed and generally used to carry general freight. The boxcar, while not the simplest freight car design, is probably the most versatile, since it can carry most loads...
from Jacksonville, Florida, to New York and borrowed a suit to dine with George Soros
George Soros
George Soros is a Hungarian-American business magnate, investor, philosopher, and philanthropist. He is the chairman of Soros Fund Management. Soros supports progressive-liberal causes...
at the Four Seasons Restaurant. He railed on 360 freight trains as a 'boxcar tourist' through the USA, Canada and Mexico, and taught and wrote the textbook Hobo Training Manual for the first college sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
hobo class ‘Hobo
Hobo
A hobo is a term which is often applied to a migratory worker or homeless vagabond, often penniless. The term originated in the Western—probably Northwestern—United States during the last decade of the 19th century. Unlike 'tramps', who work only when they are forced to, and 'bums', who do not...
Life in America’ in 1985 at Lansing Community College
Lansing Community College
Lansing Community College is a two-year public college founded in 1957. The college's main campus is located on an urban, 42-acre site in downtown Lansing, Michigan spanning seven city blocks approximately two blocks from the state capital...
. The graduating class traveled to Britt, Iowa
Britt, Iowa
Britt is a city in Hancock County, Iowa, United States, and is the home of the National Hobo Convention. The population was 2,052 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Britt is located at ....
for the National Hobo Convention
National Hobo Convention
The National Hobo Convention is held on the second weekend of every August in the town of Britt, Iowa, organized by the local Chamber of Commerce, and known throughout the town as the annual "Hobo Days" celebration...
.
During the late 1980s, 'just for fun,' he drove a Chevy van around the USA with an invisible fish-line attached to a waving seven-foot stuffed rabbit riding next to him. Some additional exceptional experiences include:
- playing chessChessChess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
with U.S. open champion Art BisguierArthur BisguierArthur Bernard Bisguier is an American chess Grandmaster, chess promoter, and writer. Bisguier won two U.S. Junior Championships , three U.S. Open Chess Championship titles , and the 1954 United States Chess Championship title. He played for the United States in five chess Olympiads... - playing pingpong with world champ Marty ReismanMarty ReismanMarty Reisman is an American champion table tennis player and author. He was the 1958 and 1960 U.S. Men’s Singles Champion and the 1997 U.S...
- matching wits against three-time Jeopardy winner Ira Brody
- chatting with LibertarianLibertarianLibertarian may refer to:*A proponent of libertarianism, a political philosophy that upholds individual liberty, especially freedom of expression and action*A member of a libertarian political party; including:**Libertarian Party...
presidential candidate Harry BrowneHarry BrowneHarry Browne was an American libertarian writer, politician, and free-market investment analyst. He ran for President of the United States as the nominee of the Libertarian Party in 1996 and 2000.... - being visited by EntrepreneurEntrepreneurAn entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
of the Year 1989, Stan Mason - swapping travel tales with Investment Biker Jim RogersJim RogersJames Beeland Rogers, Jr. is an American investor, author, and occasional financial commentator. He is currently based in Singapore. Rogers is the Chairman of Rogers Holdings and Beeland Interests, Inc...
- hoboing with financial author Doug CaseyDoug CaseyDouglas "Doug" Casey is an American-born free market economist, best-selling financial author, and international investor and entrepreneur...
- looking through a microscope with DNADNADeoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
discoverer James D. WatsonJames D. WatsonJames Dewey Watson is an American molecular biologist, geneticist, and zoologist, best known as one of the co-discoverers of the structure of DNA in 1953 with Francis Crick... - living one year in the stairwell of speculator Victor NiederhofferVictor NiederhofferVictor Niederhoffer is a hedge fund manager, champion squash player, bestselling author and statistician.Victor Niderhoffer was born in Brooklyn to a Jewish family. His father, Arthur, graduated from Brooklyn Law School but went to work in the police. Victor’s mother, Elaine was a teacher....
- inventing Checkers Proverbs with world champ Tom Wiswell
- flying with LinuxcareLinuxcareLinuxcare was founded in San Francisco in 1998 by Dave Sifry, Arthur Tyde and Dave LaDuke. The company's initial goal was to be "the 800 number for Linux" and operate 24 hours a day...
pilot-founder Art TydeArthur TydeArthur Tyde is an American software entrepreneur and private investigator based in San Francisco and SE Asia. He has been an advocate for Open Source software since founding the first Linux Users Group in the San Francisco / Silicon Valley Area... - being mentored under photographer Art ShayArt ShayArt Shay is an American photographer and writer. Born in 1922, he grew up in the Bronx and then served as a navigator in the U.S. Army Air Forces in World War II, during which he flew 52 bomber missions . Shay joined the staff of Life magazine, and quickly became a Chicago-based freelance...
- riding the rails with Hobo King Steam Train Maury Graham.
In 1988 he guided a San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
journalist to Mt. Shasta for a story that won ‘Bay Area Best Sunday Feature’. Later, a 2001 epic along the First Transcontinental Railroad
First Transcontinental Railroad
The First Transcontinental Railroad was a railroad line built in the United States of America between 1863 and 1869 by the Central Pacific Railroad of California and the Union Pacific Railroad that connected its statutory Eastern terminus at Council Bluffs, Iowa/Omaha, Nebraska The First...
with four executives ended on 9/11/2001. In 2005 he crossed Canada by rail with South African accountant Tom ‘Diesel’ Dyson, and later that year the pair, disguised as Mexicans, rode atop freights with Central American immigrants through Mexico to the border where the US Border Patrol apprehended them swimming the Rio Grande
Rio Grande
The Rio Grande is a river that flows from southwestern Colorado in the United States to the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way it forms part of the Mexico – United States border. Its length varies as its course changes...
with expired Mexican visas.
He sat in the National Hobo Association (NHA) Los Angeles clubhouse during the ‘80s when the NHA formed the central nervous system of yuppie
Yuppie
Yuppie is a term that refers to a member of the upper middle class or upper class in their 20s or 30s. It first came into use in the early-1980s and largely faded from American popular culture in the late-1980s, due to the 1987 stock market crash and the early 1990s recession...
, musician and movie-star hobos, contributing regularly to their Hobo Times newsletter. In 2010, Fort Worth Weekly
Fort Worth Weekly
Fort Worth Weekly is an alternative weekly newspaper that serves the Greater Fort Worth area . The newspaper has an approximate circulation of 75,000. The Fort Worth Weekly is published every Wednesday and features news, editorials, profiles, and reviews of art, books, theatrical productions, food,...
Peter Gorman
Peter Gorman
Peter Gorman an investigative journalist and former editor-in-chief of High Times magazine. He lives in Joshua, Texas, and spends at least 3 months of every year living in Peru, where he works with Ayahuasca and other plant based medicines, as well as doing political work...
’s ‘Renaissance on the Rails’ profile won 1st place for the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies
Association of Alternative Newsweeklies
The Association of Alternative Newsmedia is a diverse group of covering every major metropolitan area and other less-populated regions of North America. AAN members have a combined weekly circulation of over 6.5 million as well as a print readership of nearly 17 million active, educated and...
best feature of the year.
Finance
In the mid-1990s, Keeley turned to commodities where his financial Low-LifeLow-Life
Low-Life is the third studio album by English rock band New Order. Released in May 1985 by Qwest Records, Low-Life is considered to be among New Order's strongest work, displaying the moment in which the band completed its transformation from post-punk hold-overs to dance rock pioneers...
Indicators gathered around the world—such as cigarette butts being shorter in a down market—were seriously considered by Wall Street
Wall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
investors and the press. He espoused his analytical methods at global banking seminars and he rode boxcars to speak on hobo economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
at the 1985 Aspen Eris Society and the 1995 New York Junto.
A 1997 13-country tour to identify investment opportunities in emerging markets
Emerging markets
Emerging markets are nations with social or business activity in the process of rapid growth and industrialization. Based on data from 2006, there are around 28 emerging markets in the world . The economies of China and India are considered to be the largest...
for speculator Victor Niederhoffer earned millions in Turkey, but in the Black Friday, October 27, 1997 mini-crash
October 27, 1997 mini-crash
The October 27, 1997 mini-crash is the name of a global stock market crash that was caused by an economic crisis in Asia. The points loss that the Dow Jones Industrial Average suffered on this day still ranks as the eighth biggest point loss in its 114-year existence...
losses from buying Thai bank stocks that had fallen heavily in the Asian financial crisis combined with a 554-point single day decline of the Dow Index (the second largest decline to date in index history) forced the company to close its doors for a year, and The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
took a swat at Keeley.
World Traveler
Bo Keeley's unconventional life situation has resulted in numerous adventures, several noted in online publications online or in print: For example, Daily Speculations, International Man, LibertyLiberty
Liberty is a moral and political principle, or Right, that identifies the condition in which human beings are able to govern themselves, to behave according to their own free will, and take responsibility for their actions...
(1987), The Coffee Coaster and Swans
Swans
Swans can refer to:*Swan, the birdMusic*Swans , an American band formed in 1982*Swans , an EP by the above band*Swans, an EP by the Filipino electronic act Names Are For Tombstones...
Magazine have documented many of his exploits such as:
- Journeying through the Mid-East during the Gulf WarGulf WarThe Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...
- A knife attack in CaracasCaracasCaracas , officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela; natives or residents are known as Caraquenians in English . It is located in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range...
resulting in loss of thousands in venture capitalVenture capitalVenture capital is financial capital provided to early-stage, high-potential, high risk, growth startup companies. The venture capital fund makes money by owning equity in the companies it invests in, which usually have a novel technology or business model in high technology industries, such as... - A four-ft.-wide open mouth hippopotamusHippopotamusThe hippopotamus , or hippo, from the ancient Greek for "river horse" , is a large, mostly herbivorous mammal in sub-Saharan Africa, and one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae After the elephant and rhinoceros, the hippopotamus is the third largest land mammal and the heaviest...
entering his Lake TurkanaLake TurkanaLake Turkana , formerly known as Lake Rudolf, is a lake in the Great Rift Valley in Kenya, with its far northern end crossing into Ethiopia. It is the world's largest permanent desert lake and the world's largest alkaline lake...
pup tent - Being held captive at macheteMacheteThe machete is a large cleaver-like cutting tool. The blade is typically long and usually under thick. In the English language, an equivalent term is matchet, though it is less commonly known...
point by the Amazon Mayoruna - Guiding twenty Brazilian evangelists with a penlight from a jungle bus crash
- Chasing rhinocerosRhinocerosRhinoceros , also known as rhino, is a group of five extant species of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. Two of these species are native to Africa and three to southern Asia....
horn smugglers after being deputized and armed with a pistolPistolWhen distinguished as a subset of handguns, a pistol is a handgun with a chamber that is integral with the barrel, as opposed to a revolver, wherein the chamber is separate from the barrel as a revolving cylinder. Typically, pistols have an effective range of about 100 feet.-History:The pistol...
in NamibiaNamibiaNamibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March... - Being robbed behind the Great Sphinx (and 99 other times around the world)
- Surviving abandonment in the AndesAndesThe Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...
jacketless in winter - Having 150 close encounters with rattlesnakes
- Petting the head of a Sri LankaSri LankaSri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
snake charmerSnake CharmerSnake charmer can mean:*Snake charming, the practice of "hypnotizing" snakes*Snake Charmer, a 1983 album by guitarist The Edge, bassist Jah Wobble, multi-instrumentalist Holger Czukay, drummer Jaki Liebezeit, and DJ/remixer François Kevorkian...
's 12-ft. King CobraKing CobraThe king cobra is the world's longest venomous snake, with a length up to 5.6 m . This species, which preys chiefly on other snakes, is found predominantly in forests from India through Southeast Asia to the Philippines and Indonesia...
American folk artist Linda Mears features seven of his exploits in Adventure Art (1996). One painting called ‘African Safari’ where Keeley suffering cerebral malaria was nearly mauled by a lion, is sold as a jigsaw puzzle
Jigsaw puzzle
A jigsaw puzzle is a tiling puzzle that requires the assembly of numerous small, often oddly shaped, interlocking and tessellating pieces.Each piece usually has a small part of a picture on it; when complete, a jigsaw puzzle produces a complete picture...
.
Iconic Individualist
Keeley earned a psychologyPsychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
technical degree in 1985 from Lansing Community College, followed by one year of volunteer work in six psychiatric wards and senior living facilities to study the developing mind
Mind
The concept of mind is understood in many different ways by many different traditions, ranging from panpsychism and animism to traditional and organized religious views, as well as secular and materialist philosophies. Most agree that minds are constituted by conscious experience and intelligent...
. Keeley has been called ‘one of the greatest individualists in America.’ In 2007, he founded Executive Tour Services as a businessmen’s outward bound
Outward Bound
Outward Bound is an international, non-profit, independent, outdoor educationorganization with approximately 40 schools around the world and 200,000 participants per year...
on the American rails and hikes to Spanish missions in Baja
Baja
-Geography:* Baja California peninsula, a peninsula in North America* States of Mexico** Baja California** Baja California Sur* Baja Arizona* Baja, Hungary* Baja Verapaz, a department of Guatemala...
.
"My life follows the vicissitudes of Buck the Dog in Jack London’s Call of the Wild
Call Of The Wild
-Track listing:All songs written by Ted Nugent, except where indicated:#"Call of the Wild" – 4:51#"Sweet Revenge" – 4:06#"Pony Express" – 5:21#"Ain't It the Truth" – 4:57#"Renegade" – 3:33...
," he once explained, "From comfortable back yards across America, boxcars on every major railroad, 100+ countries under a backpack
Backpack
A backpack is, in its simplest form, a cloth sack carried on one's back and secured with two straps that go over the shoulders, but there can be exceptions...
, hiking the lengths of Florida, Colorado, Vermont, California, Death Valley
Death Valley
Death Valley is a desert valley located in Eastern California. Situated within the Mojave Desert, it features the lowest, driest, and hottest locations in North America. Badwater, a basin located in Death Valley, is the specific location of the lowest elevation in North America at 282 feet below...
, and Baja, Mexico, to finally semi-retire and write my memoirs in a dessert burrow in California."
The burrow lies one mile east of the Chocolate Mountain Aerial Gunnery Range
Chocolate Mountain Aerial Gunnery Range
The Chocolate Mountain Aerial Gunnery Range , is a 456,000 acre restricted area, approximately 20 miles wide, east to west, and 50 miles long, northwest to southeast, which is used by the Navy and Marines for aerial bombing and live fire aerial gunnery practice...
where a 2008 near-miss caved the entry that he shored with old mine timbers. Keeley was the resident advisor to neighbor Phil Garlington’s book, Rancho Costa Nada: The Dirt Cheap Homestead.
In 2007, he became the first California substitute teacher
Substitute teacher
A substitute teacher is a person who teaches a school class when the regular teacher is unavailable; e.g., because of illness, personal leave, or other reasons. "Substitute teacher" is the most commonly used phrase in the United States, Canada and Ireland, while supply teacher is the most commonly...
to be fired for trying to prevent a playground ‘skirmish.' He left to ride the rails, and then became an itinerant expatriate writing from select exotic locations including Iquitos
Iquitos
Iquitos is the largest city in the Peruvian rainforest, with a population of 370,962. It is the capital of Loreto Region and Maynas Province.Located on the Amazon River, it is only above sea level, although it is more than from the mouth of the Amazon at Belém on the Atlantic Ocean...
, Peru, San Felipe, Baja
Baja
-Geography:* Baja California peninsula, a peninsula in North America* States of Mexico** Baja California** Baja California Sur* Baja Arizona* Baja, Hungary* Baja Verapaz, a department of Guatemala...
, and Lake Toba
Lake Toba
Lake Toba is a lake and supervolcano. The lake is 100 kilometres long and 30 kilometres wide, and 505 metres at its deepest point. Located in the middle of the northern part of the Indonesian island of Sumatra with a surface elevation of about , the lake stretches from to...
, Sumatra.
Books
Bo Keeley has written the following books:- Keeley, Steven, The Complete Book of Racquetball, DBI, 1976, ISBN 0695806513
- Keeley, It’s a Racquet, Service Press Inc., 1978, ISBN 0931824028
- Keeley, Racquetball Lessons Made Easy, McDonald Pub., 1976 https://picasaweb.google.com/bokeely/FotozLinkFcbk#5576430082379748962
- Keeley and Shannon Wright, Women’s Book of Racquetball, Contemporary Books, 1980, ISBN 0809270641
- Keeley, Stroke Minder Racquetball Flip Book Series, Stroke Minder Pub.,1978
- Keeley and Debbie Ravens, The Kill & Rekill Gang (Cartoon book), Service Press Inc. 1978
- Keeley, Steven Bo, Hobo Training Manual, Burrow Books, 1986.
- Keeley, Steven Bo, Keeley’s Kures, Free Man Publishing Co., 2011 (http://www.amazon.com/Keeleys-Kures-Alternative-world-champion-hobo-adventurer/dp/1461077737/)
- Keeley, Steven Bo, Executive Hobo: Riding the American Dream, Free Man Publishing Co., 2011 (http://www.amazon.com/Executive-Hobo-Riding-American-Dream/dp/1463676980/)
External links
- Executive Tour Services http://www.bokeelytours.com
- Adventure Art by Linda Mears http://bokeelytours.com/art/index.html
- Catman Chart http://internationalman.com/article-keely-20110312.php
- Short Bio http://bokeelytours.com/stories/bio.html
- Keeley Timeline http://www.dailyspeculations.com/keeley/keeley_timeline.htm
- Keeley’s Kures http://www.amazon.com/Keeleys-Kures-Alternative-world-champion-hobo-adventurer/dp/1461077737/
- Executive Hobo http://www.amazon.com/Executive-Hobo-Riding-American-Dream/dp/1463676980/