Wednesday, April 5, 2017 // The Statement
4B
Wednesday, April 5, 2017 // The Statement 
 
5B

The Pedicab Man

the story behind Boober Tours

b y Av i S h o l k o f f, Daily Sports Writer
“

Boober Tours! The only way!”

Pedestrians stare at Kevin Span-

gler, the six-foot-five man wearing a 

long black jacket who is pedaling on a 

pedicab on a mid-afternoon day.

“Boober Tours! The only way!” 

Spangler shouts again, hoping someone will notice 

him. It’s a typical day for Spangler. He bikes all 

around Central Campus and downtown Ann Arbor, 

from the Diag to Rick’s to Blank Slate Creamery.

Some recognize him. A man in a red pickup truck 

rolls down his window at a traffic light and strikes 

up a chat. A group of men seated on the sidewalk 

outside Salads Up excitedly yells at Kevin: “Boober 

Tours!” followed by “What’s up Kevin?”

Others seem more mystified by the man peddling 

on the pedicab, but are friendly nonetheless such as 

the young couple pushing a stroller, or the elderly 

duo in matching Michigan gear.

To most Ann Arborites, Spangler is an omnipres-

ent, optimistic feature of their downtown. Most 

don’t know of his multiple stints in prison, his strug-

gles with alcoholism or his homelessness.

All they see is a man cheerfully laughing, some-

times wearing a banana suit as he solicits riders.

“For extra tips,” he explains to me.

***

Spangler grew up in Manchester, a modest town-

ship roughly 20 minutes southwest of Ann Arbor, as 

the son of a corrections officer and a nurse. From 5 

years old until the time he graduated high school, he 

dealt with attention deficit disorder, taking Ritalin 

and Adderall throughout his education. Spangler 

developed severe anxiety and socially isolated him-

self. After serving in the military, he began dealing 

drugs.

“When you’re taking medication for ADD, it 

makes you into a robot,” Spangler recalls. “I never 

talked to anybody, I never really had any friends 

in school, and then it wasn’t until I quit taking the 

medication that I became this social butterfly. I got 

into dealing drugs.”

Joining the Navy straight out of high school, he 

was able to end his Ritalin addiction. However, alco-

hol became his new drug of choice. After leaving 

the service, he worked as a chef for the Washtenaw 

Country Club and became the locker room manager, 

a position he worked for a year. Because of his suc-

cess in his position, he found himself traveling to 

outside of Los Angeles to work as a locker room man-

ager at Moorpark Country Club — considered one of 

the best country clubs in the United States in 2002.

But then his drinking problem brought his for-

tunes down. He lost that job because of a DUI viola-

tion, the first of many.

By 2010, Spangler married, but soon divorced 

because of a “marijuana business that got out of 

control,” according to an article he wrote in Ground-

cover News.

As a drug dealer, he still grappled with alcohol 

addiction. By June of 2015, he had been given a total 

of five DUIs and a prison sentence.

In December 2015, he left prison for the final 

time. Although he had been in and out before, this 

time was different. He learned he would be having 

a son — named Romando — and he was motivated to 

change his life.

With few job prospects available because of his 

criminal record, Spangler needed to flex his creative 

muscles. As he emphasized throughout our inter-

view, he remained undeterred.

“When you get in trouble, you lose your rights to 

get a regular job,” Spangler explained. “When they 

do a criminal check, you could be the best person 

in the world, but if you have a criminal record, you 

don’t get the job. I’ve had to struggle, start my own 

businesses, wait tables, anything I can.”

After prison, Spangler found a safe haven in the 

Robert J. Delonis Center, a homeless shelter on West 

Huron Street, where he lived for three months. 

While in Ann Arbor, he discovered Groundcover 

News — a community newspaper that employs local 

homeless people as vendors and writers — from 

existing vendors around town. Spangler wrote regu-

larly for a year, according to publisher Susan Beckett.

“The thing that touches me most is how commit-

ted he is to his son,” Beckett said. “When he started 

(at Groundcover), his girlfriend was pregnant and he 

made it clear he wanted to turn his life around and 

be the kind of father he always wanted to be, and 

he’s doing that. He’s gone from living in the shelter to 

now having a place where his son can be with him.”

Though he no longer consistently writes for the 

paper, he often attends the organization’s socials 

once or twice a month, according to Beckett. Dur-

ing our ride last Thursday, he waved and exchanged 

pleasantries with a vendor on State Street too.

“I don’t regret anything I have ever done, as it has 

made me the person I am today,” Spangler wrote in 

the January 2016 edition of Groundcover. “I own it 

and I am using everything I ever went through as a 

tool to help me with future.”

Spangler enrolled at Washtenaw Community 

College briefly, but as was the case earlier in his life, 

classes proved challenging for him because of his 

ADD. Spangler realized that college wasn’t the path 

for him. Groundcover provided some financial liter-

acy and budgeting courses, something that Spangler 

emphasized was essential to avoiding the plagues of 

drugs and alcohol.

Spangler explained that he had heard extensive 

complaints from Uber and Lyft drivers in town who 

complained about their experiences with their par-

ent companies. If the drivers were unhappy, Span-

gler asserted, their riders were equally unsatisfied, 

thus opening the space for a pedal-powered on-

demand transportation service.

By January 2016, he saved up to purchase his first 

pedicab. Day and night, residents and citizens of 

Ann Arbor would begin to notice the tall man wear-

ing a costume outside Skeeps at 2 a.m.

At first, he kept the pedicabs behind a bus station 

on the outskirts of town, underneath some tarps. 

Then, he expanded his fleet and moved them into a 

small storage unit, but that soon became too tight as 

well.

He initially intended to have three pedicabs by 

the summer of 2016. After finding large demand, 

however, he expanded it to 10.

Riding with Boober Tours is free, though cus-

tomers are encouraged to give their pedalers tips, 

and they often do. Spangler’s company is funded by 

donations. Because of his work at Groundcover, Ben-

nett explained that Boober is eligible for donation 

matches from Groundcover. Thus far, he’s received 

$5,000 in donations and $2,200 in loans. He addi-

tionally reinvests earnings from cab rides back into 

his company.

His first pedicab merely served as his first step. 

Spangler dreams of a ride-hailing app, of even add-

ing cars and perhaps trolleys to his network. Pres-

ently, though, he focuses on his 14 pedicabs, manned 

by a pool of seasonal and full-time pedalers — only a 

year after he began Boober Tours.

While Spangler’s company has experienced tre-

mendous growth in just over a year, he still sees 

greater returns on the horizon. As spring turns into 

summer, Spangler will look to hire additional pedi-

cab drivers to expand his business.

In the winter, fewer people drive because of 

weather and reduced demand, but that doesn’t faze 

Spangler. He’ll drive rain or shine. He never wants to 

have a boss again.

***

But starting Boober Tours isn’t enough for Span-

gler. He seeks to additionally help those who strug-

gled like himself, recovering drug addicts or those 

with ADD.

As a former addict, Spangler says he comprehends 

how an addiction can affect not only an individual 

but his or her family and social circle as well. He uti-

lizes his business to find positions for those just out 

of rehab or struggling with drugs or alcohol. A hand-

ful of his current employees are recovering addicts.

“I want to inspire people,” Spangler said. He aims 

to create economic opportunity for those whom 

society — and many of its employers — has all but 

closed its doors on.

For Spangler, his own personal struggles with 

drug addiction are vital to his empathy with those 

who have gone through similar tragedies.

Walking into the warehouse where Spangler 

stores his pedicabs, there’s a whiteboard filled with 

ideas: plans for Boober, plans for other businesses, 

advertising and for his personal future.

“I have a tiered process of how I’m going to get 

there over the next year-to two years,” Spangler said. 

“Back in December, I knew I was going to turn this 

company into a million-dollar company, but then 

I was like, ‘Why stop at a million dollars? Why not 

make this a billion-dollar company?’ ”

With 14 pedicabs, Spangler may well be on his 

way. Riding through the Diag on a Thursday after-

noon, he seemed comfortable on the University of 

Michigan campus, waving to a number of students 

and even stopping to answer questions.

One man asked him about any events happening 

around Ann Arbor in the upcoming weekend. “Hash 

Bash,” he replied with a smile. “It’s a good day for 

business.”

Riding throughout the city, Spangler holds a smile 

on his face, complimenting the beautiful 55-degree 

weather, uncharacteristic for a March in Ann Arbor.

Spending time with Spangler, it becomes evident 

that he simply wishes to make the most of life. That 

sentiment is echoed by others, such as LSA sopho-

more Brendan Genaw, the incoming president of 

OptiMize — a social entrepreneurship student orga-

nization — who has spoken with him a number of 

times.

Genaw explained that Spangler came in contact 

with Jeff Sorenson — the founder of OptiMize and 

a University alum — who encouraged Spangler to 

attend a workshop. While at OptiMize, he discussed 

his business model and success. He even gave some 

of the students a ride home afterward.

At another workshop, Spangler became more 

personal. He told them his origin story, how he pro-

gressed from prison to his current position.

“That was something cool for our people to hear 

because a lot of them actually know what Boober is,” 

Genaw said. “It’s not like he’s the CEO of some super 

high-tech company that no one is ever aware of. He’s 

someone that’s in Ann Arbor and they’re constantly 

around him too.”

The positive experience that Genaw explained is 

a constant feature during a Boober tour with Span-

gler. He’ll ask customers about their goals, their 

motivations and their dreams. He’ll play music from 

an auxiliary cord, and he’ll do what he can to engage 

his riders.

This positivity radiates from Spangler not just on 

his pedicab but in conversation as well. His enthusi-

asm is contagious. You speak to him and he has such 

a joy, a passion for his work and for life.

“I just kind of felt when I was growing up as a 

child that I was going to do something massive to 

help the world,” Spangler said. “I always had that, 

but I feel like I had to go through the struggles I 

went through (in order to do it). To help somebody, 

you need to go through what they’ve been through. 

I’ve kind of mastered it and now in the future I want 

that for my company, since it’s second chance jobs for 

people in recovery.”

But Spangler wasn’t always this positive, hap-

py-go-lucky individual. At times in his life, he felt 

depressed and at one point suicidal. Starting Boober 

Tours reversed his outlook.

He explains that, as a pedicab driver, he exercises 

every day and engages in breathing exercises such 

as the Wim Hof method and the Nam Myoho Renge 

Kyo, a Buddhist breathing technique he learned 

from his aunt.

Now a year in and about 19 months sober, he 

reflects on how he began. His parents barely took 

care of him in prison.

“There’s a difference between Democrats and 

Republicans: Democrats take care of their kids in 

prison, Republicans don’t,” he quipped.

But they did send Spangler books. Anthony Rob-

bins’s self-help book “Awaken the Giant Within” par-

ticularly inspired him. He set goals for himself, goals 

he continues to look at each day. Without these “mas-

sive goals,” Spangler explains, he would have strug-

gled to accomplish anything. He says goal-setting is 

imperative for struggling individuals.

***

It’s likely you’ve seen the tall, lanky man on a 

Boober. Perhaps you’ve been slightly intoxicated 

at 2 a.m., or perhaps you’ve been walking in the 

Diag in the middle of a school day.

But maybe now, you’ll know why the man is 

wearing a ridiculous costume. Maybe, instead of 

shaking your head, you’ll ask him for a ride and 

ask about his story.

It’s safe to say, however, that no matter the 

time or day, Spangler wears a smile on his face. 

He’ll wave and exchange pleasantries with those 

he knows and make small talk with those who 

doesn’t.

It’s not weird, it’s normal. It’s how Spangler 

acts.

Like Boober Tours, it’s the only way.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 PHOTOS BY: ALEXIS RANKIN/DAILY

