Matt Bernhard’s demise According to his family’s Facebook post, Matt Bernhard, the creator of the iconic RAGBRAI sign Mr. Pork Chop, passed away on Monday, March 25.
For several years, Bernhard—also referred to as Mr. Pork Chop Jr.—drived the recognizable pink Mr. Pork Chop bus. Along the trip, he stopped daily to grill and serve thick Iowa-cut chops to the riders and indulge in salty banter. He drove the bus along the route of the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa.
Paul, his father and the original Mr. Pork Chop, started serving RAGBRAI in 1983. After the elder Bernhard retired after the ride in 2007, Matt Bernhard, who had worked alongside him for a considerable amount of time, took over the company. Paul Bernhard, who was 88 years old, passed away in 2016. Matt Bernhard was a Bancroft resident who was in his late 50s when he passed away.
The post that the family posted on the Mr. Pork Chop Facebook page had no information about his real age or the circumstances surrounding his death on Sunday. Furthermore, the business did not respond to any requests for comment.
After the RAGBRAI event moved through Bancroft, retired farmer Paul Bernhard—a longstanding supporter of using “soundness” (good health) as a criterion for appraising swine—became a mobile vendor.
His porkchops booth was a hit. As he called out, “Pork chooooooooooooooooooooooooooop!” to greet the hungry riders who swarmed to his roadside grills, he fell in love with a cycling community that accepted him as their carnivorous king. Because the group recognized him as its king, he enjoyed it.
He’d joked the previous summer about his kid’s comparable love of farming and the ride, while grilling chops for riders taking part in the RAGBRAI route inspection ride.
Even vegans, he claimed, enjoyed his pork. Former world-champion cyclist Lance Armstrong swung over to say hello as part of the trip. Longtime RAGBRAI rider Scott Horsley of NPR Economics Correspondent highly recommends Mr. Pork Chop’s skills.
