Marshall W. Major Taylor #1468
$ 8.00
Caption from poster__
“ Life is too short for a man to
hold bitterness in his heart.”
Marshall W. Major Taylor
The riders were drenched in sweat as they pumped their pedals
hard and sped toward the finish line at Queen’s Park velodrome
in Montreal, Canada. It was August and four men chased victory
in the one-mile sprint of the world cycling championships. Suddenly,
20-year-old Marshall W. “Major” Taylor edged out in front of his
competitors, thrilling the crowds in the stands. Taylor sailed across
the finish line in first place and rode a victory lap around the
stadium as cheers washed over the young champion. “My national
anthem took on new meaning for me,” Taylor later wrote in his
autobiography, The Fastest Bicycle Rider in the World. “I never felt
so proud to be an American before, and indeed I felt even more
American at that moment than I had ever felt in America.”
MARSHALL W. TAYLOR World Champion Cyclist 1878-1932 Marshall "Major" Taylor was born in Indianapolis, Indiana on November 21, 1878. While working in the bicycle plant of white ex-cyclist Louis Munger, who urged and assisted Taylor at the start of his career, Taylor won his first amateur race in Lexington, Kentucky at the tender age of 13. It wasn t long before Taylor was racing internationally, competing in races in Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. In 1899, he reached the top of the cycling world by winning the world title and thus becoming America s first Black world champion cyclist. During his nearly 16 years of competition, Taylor won numerous championships, which included the American Sprint Championship titles 1898, 1899, 1900, and established several world records. His career consisted of nearly 168 races which included 117-1st place finishes and 32-2nd place finishes. Taylor was later inducted into bicycling s Hall of Fame. In honor of his accomplishments, one of the world s most renowned cycling venues, the Major Taylor Velodrome, located in Indianapolis, is named in his honor.
