Gotta love Google. I actually remember reading this when it was published.
Jose Yanez, BMX Action march 1985 : About seven months ago I went down to Salt River in Phoenix - it's a big ol' river where everybody goes and parties down. I had the idea of bringing a ramp and jumping my bike into the river. Pretty soon I began thinkin' that it'd be neat to do a flip on my bike."
One day the ABA called and asked me if I could jump some water beds for a promotion. I told them, 'if you build me the ramp, I'll do a flip for you.' So one day I went over there and there it was - they'd built it. I had no choice 'cause they'd gone to a bunch of trouble and expense. I had them get me a whole bunch of safety gear; I had pads sticking out everywhere - I mean I was padded out.
The first time, I said, 'YEAH, I did it!,' even though my feet slipped off the pedals, 'cause I didn't crash and I didn't kill myself.