Benny Koske of Palm Bay remembers his friendship with Pony Wilson.

  • Man cleaning out friend's home finds cache of memorabilia
  • Sherman 'Pony' Wilson died in 1999
  • He was Palm Bay Police's 1st police officer and chief

They became friends more than 60 years ago, in the early 1940s as they traveled the country.

"We were in the show business, crashing cars, putting cars on two wheels, stuff like that,” Koske said.

They performed in what was known at the time as “thrill shows.”

“This is him going through a wall of fire with his motorcycle," said Koske, as he held up a black-and-white picture of Wilson, who died in 1999.

By chance a few weeks ago, while cleaning out Wilson’s vacant home, Koske found something he had forgotten: memorabilia from Wilson's time with the Palm Bay Police Department.

“He’s the first police officer we ever had,” Koske said.

Sherman “Pony” Wilson was Palm Bay's first police chief, serving in 1958. Now, dozens of pictures dating back to the 1950s — including Wilson's police badge — have been donated to the police department.

Before last week. Palm Bay Police didn’t know about Wilson.

“I thought it was very exciting," Chief Mark Renkens said. "The family came in and dropped off some memorabilia. He’s probably the most important chief we have — he is the first."

Police said they plan to place his picture on their wall, making him the city's 12th official police chief.

And although it was hard for Koske to relive his friend's past, he says he’s glad he’ll now be honored and remembered.

“I didn’t really want to clean out his things, because everything had a memory to it, but I had no idea it would mean this much to people living in Palm Bay," Koske said.