Ken Magri

ARC Armando Magri Memorial Scholarship
Armando Magri – April 14, 1914, to April 21, 2001. Described by author David Wright as ‘the patriarch of Harley-Davidson dealers’, he came from Chico, CA where, as teens, he and his brother Ernie were taught to ride a 1926 Harley by a 19 year old girl named Jeanne Boutin. Armando ended up riding, racing, selling and restoring Harleys for the next 72 years. In 1936 He moved to Sacramento, eventually securing a job with Frank Murray’s Harley-Davidson dealership, while also racing for Murray throughout Northern California. As a Class C racer he matched skills with the area’s best, like Ed Kretz, Jack Cottrell, Sam Arena, Ray Eddy, and his old friend from Chico, Mario Stillo. Magri never had the best equipment, but he was a rugged competitor and consistent top finisher. His most unlikely finish was 3rd place at the 1938 AMA National Miniature TT in Marion, Indiana. After winning his heat on the bike he rode to Marion, Magri started the main event in neutral, then rode with abandon in a nine minute race to catch the entire pack and actually challenge for 2nd. Walter Davidson saw Armando’s performance that day, and it started a lifelong friendship between the two. Magri’s biggest win was the 1941 AMA Pacific Coast Championship in Hollister, California. In 1939 Armando married Ludella (Lu) Tritten, who quickly became a willing partner in the racer’s life. After a stint in the US Army during WWII, Magri briefly returned to racing, taking 4th at the 1948 Riverside National. But at the request of his pregnant wife, he hung up the skid shoe for good. In 1950 he and Lu purchased the Sacramento Harley dealership from his old boss Murray. They built the new dealership around Lu’s business acumen and Armando’s ability to mix with all levels of riders (from the Harley and Davidson families to Hells Angels). The couple retired in 1983, leaving a large, healthy dealership behind. In his retirement years Armando wrote his autobiography Then and Now" and restored antique Harleys, including a 1936 EL, a 1950 panhead sidecar, a replica of his old WLDR racing machine, and a 1926 sport twin, the same model he learned to ride on. Later he and Lu donated that sport twin to the Harley factory museum in Milwaukee. Magri’s exploits as the ultimate Harley enthusiast have been the subject of many books on the brand. His restored motorcycles appear in dozens of publications, as does the HD memorabilia collection he and Lu amassed. After his death a website, armandomagri.com was created for him by his son, ARC professor Ken Magri. It contains excerpts from “Then and Now” and more than 500 photographs from the Magri family collection."

ARC Lu Magri Nursing
Lu Magri was born Ludella Tritten in 1921, and just two years old when her parents came out from Minnesota to California on a 1920s land scam. Expecting acres of orange groves and lush crops, the Trittens wound up on grassy land out in Rio Linda, where the hard pan made it inhospitable for orchard farming. So her Pa Tritten got a job with the railroad and turned their place into a tiny chicken ranch. As a kid Lu said her hardest chores were cleaning out the chicken coup and getting pecked at while harvesting eggs. Nevertheless it gave her a feeling of accomplishment, a job well done. In a time without TV, she and her siblings found plenty of ways to amuse themselves. They practiced regularly on a punching bag that Pa Tritten installed in the wash house. She wrote, “I would step up on a stool and let go. Practicing over and over for long periods, I got quite good at it.” Even in her 80s, Lu could hit that thing hard enough to make boards fall down from the storage racks above. In April of 1938 Armando Magri was working at the Sacramento Harley-Davidson dealership when Lu walked in with a friend. As Armando described it, “she really lit up my switchboard. She was 5 feet three inches tall, 112 pounds of loveliness wearing bobby sox, a blue skirt, and a blue angora sweater. One look told me everything I needed to know.” It took a bit longer for Lu, but she quickly fell in love with Armando, his motorcycles, and his larger-than-life persona. Eighteen months later Lu married Armando Magri. In 1950 the couple gambled all the money they could raise on buying the Harley-Davidson dealership in Sacramento, and ran it successfully for 33 years. Ludella rode Harleys until breaking her collarbone in a fall. From then on she rode on the back with Armando, while running the dealership with him. She became a corporate Vice President in the 1960s, when they incorporated. In 1973 they built a brand new store on Arden Way. Lu and Armando eventually moved to Arden Park, raised a family and built up their financial security. In retirement they traveled, fished, gardened, enjoyed their mountain cabin in the Sierras, and played with their grandchild. Lu was aided greatly in her last decades by three heart surgeries and other procedures. That’s why she wanted to create an endowment at American River College for Nursing scholarships; to say thank you for all the health professionals who helped her make it to 90 years, and to help some young students get their start.