Milwaukee baseball and television personality Bob Uecker led the United Performing Arts Fund Ride for the Arts as honorary chairman from 1982 until 1990.
The 1982 ride was named Uecker’s Ride for the Arts, and it was sponsored by Blue Cross & Blue Shield United of Wisconsin, which had sponsored a somewhat similar rally for Milwaukee’s UPAF in 1981.
The bike tour was intended for people of all abilities, including entire families, on routes of 13 and 28 miles long that went through northeastern Milwaukee County, beginning at the Blue Cross & Blue Shield headquarters in downtown Milwaukee and finishing at the Performing Arts Center.
The final year of Uecker’s participation in the ride attracted 13,000 participants and raised $218,000 for the UPAF drive. When Miller Brewing Co. replaced Blue Cross & Blue Shield United of Wisconsin as the ride’s major sponsor in 1991, it became known as the Miller Lite Ride for the Arts.
Participants in the 1991 Miller Lite Ride for the Arts saw a change of scenery with new routes through Milwaukee’s southern communities, and extending as far south as Racine County. It had two 30-mile routes and a 50-mile route through the Bay View neighborhood and the communities of St. Francis, South Milwaukee, Oak Creek and Caledonia. More than 12,000 riders participated that year with two honorary chairmen joining the ride: Quinn Buckner, formerly with the Milwaukee Bucks, and Bert Jones, formerly a quarterback with the Baltimore Colts.
The 2026 UPAF Ride for the Arts presented by Miller Lite continues as Wisconsin’s largest recreational bike ride and family-friendly Milwaukee tradition. This year’s ride is May 31. For more information, visit upaf.org
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Sports legend Bob Uecker was leader of the pack of Ride for the Arts
Reporting by Elaine Rewolinski, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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