Major Taylor
DFW Cycling

Born in Indianapolis in 1878 to a Black coachman and his wife, Marshall Taylor was given a bicycle by his father's wealthy employer. By thirteen he was performing trick-riding stunts outside a bike shop in a soldier's uniform — earning the nickname "Major" that would follow him into history.

His talent caught the eye of Louis "Birdie" Munger, a white former champion who became his trainer and moved with him to Worcester, Massachusetts. The press dubbed him "The Worcester Whirlwind."

In 1899, at age twenty, he won the World 1-Mile Sprint Championship in Montreal — becoming the first Black American world champion in cycling and only the second Black world champion in any sport. He went on to set seven world records.

He raced through extraordinary racism. He was barred from Southern tracks, refused hotel rooms, attacked by competitors who tried to run him into railings. In Europe and Australia he was a star treated as royalty; at home he was a target. A devout Christian, he refused to race on Sundays even when it cost him purses.

He retired in 1910 worn down by years of bigotry and stress. He lost his fortune in bad investments and the Depression. On June 21, 1932, he died penniless in the charity ward of a Chicago hospital and was buried in an unmarked pauper's grave. He had spent his money helping people the world had forgotten.

In 1948 a group of his fellow athletes paid to relocate his remains to a proper marked grave at Mount Glenwood Cemetery. Today there are more than 40 Major Taylor cycling clubs across the country. We are one of them.