New book tells how, at a time when cycling was the world’s most popular sport, dominated by whites, Taylor broke the color line and disproved racist theorists
Taylor, back in form again in 1908, the second year of his comeback, at the Buffalo Velodrome in Paris. The handlebar extension that he pioneered is clearly visible here. Photo by Branger, Agence Roger Viollet, Paris.
The son of a soldier who had fought for the Union in the Civil War, Taylor had been raised in Indianapolis before moving to Massachusetts. He had raced and often won amateur competitions, but he had never participated in anything like the race at Madison Square Garden. This would be Taylor’s professional racing debut.
Taylor crossed Madison Square Park, in the shadow of the nation’s largest billboard — illuminated by fifteen thousand lights at a time when many lower-income people in New York City did not even have one bulb burning at home — that advertised resorts on Coney Island. The nearby blocks had been transformed from a row of elegant residences to an array of stores, theaters, and hotels.
First came the preliminary races, including a half-mile contest in which Taylor would make his professional debut. Taylor, wearing skintight racing clothes, pushed his bike to the track’s starting line. Taylor won his qualifying heat, and now he lined up against some of the world’s fastest racers for the final round. It was here that Taylor first faced the man who would become one of his greatest rivals, Eddie “Cannon” Bald.
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