Omaha daily bee., 1897-02-28
WHEEL RACING In NEBRASKA
Something Of the Men Who Have Ridden
to Victory.
FACTS CONCERNING EARLY CYCLE MEETS
Gatherings where Local wheeImen
Have Made Records that Have
Placed Them Mt the Head
of the Procession.


The first bicycle tournament in Nebraska
was held in this city in September, 1884.
II was under the auspices of the Omaha
Bicycle club, and was a one-day meet, with
a half-dozen amateur events upon the card.
1t was held upon the clubs quarter-mile
track, which was located in the old Athletic
park on North Sherman avenue. The ma
jority of the races we're won by John @.
Hitchcock, a local man who proved himself
to be more than an ordinary rider In those
days. At that time such thing as the
modern geared safety was unheard OF, ana
the good old high wheels predominated.
mile then in 1920 was considered good time'
and man who spoke Of riding 100 miles In
a day on wheel would have been considered
a fit subject for the insane asylum. Since
that time, however, hundreds of races and
race meets have been held in the state, and
through the modern methods Of science and
the increased knowledge Of training, the
time for mile, as we'll as for other dis
tances on the bicycle, has been reduced until
it is far below that Of anything travelling
upon land or water, with the exception oil
crafts propelled by electricity and steam. A
racing man nowadays who cannot ride mile
in two minutes or better Is not considered
much of a rider therefore 1t will be seen
that in less than fifteen years the time for
the mile has been reduced by about one-half
and in this advanced age, when but few
things are considered impossible. 1t would
be unwise to say that it nas reached It's
lowest mark, as another ten years may see
| it far below the minute.
FOR FUN AND BUSINESS.
Professional bicycle racing was tried in a
small way some ten years age, when there
| were comparatively few racing men and
fewer race meets. 1t proved to be failure,
Since then until the present date, the sport
| has rapidly gained in popularity. Racing
men have sprung up all over the country
and race meets have been held by the thou
sand. Racing men ceased to participate In
| the sport for glory, and the result was the
makers amateur, who was PAID 10
ride and advertise some certain make
| of bicycle, then the League Of American
Wheelmen racing board improvised
| "Class b." or what might be more prop
| erly termed a semi-professional class. 1t
| took but two short years for the public to
| tire Of this and it began clamoring for out
| and-out professionalism, which the League
of American Wheelmen, body that has
nursed and controlled cycle racing since It's
l
declaring that there would be but two
| classes viz, amateur and professional, after
| March l. 1896. The result was marvellous
Immediately racing men began to multiply
| rapidly and the majority of the best ones
! being in the business for livelihood, joined
| the professional ranks Race meet promoters
| offered fat cash prizes and the races con-
| tanned double the number of entries that
| they formerly did. Thus the increased num-
| ber of riders made competition hotter and
! interest greater.
| The number of racing men in Nebraska
| has almost doubled within the last year and
| where there were but one or two proies-
| sionals a few years ago, there are at least
| twenty now.
But going back to the original subject, the
second meet held in the state occurred at the
same place and under the same auspices as
| the first. This time however, 1t was a two
day affair and the dates upon which 1t oc-
| Cured were October and 10, 1885, 1t was
at this meet that the young and unsophlsti-
Gated bicyclers of the state had their first
| experience with a trigger" He came from
Toronto Can, and sailed under the name
| of Harry Patterson, but in fact was none
other than Fred Westbrook one of the
| spesdiest of all the Canadian professionals
He entered most all of the races and liter
ally ran the amateurs to death, beating them
at every stage of the game, and carried on
nearly all of the desirable prizes, as wei
as considerable roll of the money which
outside.
This woeful experience, together with theil
| monetary losses on the tournaments, mad'
the boys sick of race meets and they gaV'
no more until nearly Ave years after, whei
, their former experience in this line had beer
forgotten
i. PRINCE UPON THE SCENE.
II was in the winter of 1886 that the re
doubtable John S. Prince struck Omaha. Tn
Exposition building which then stood at tn
corner OF Fourteenth street and Capitol ave
nue. was an ideal place to hold indoor bi
cycle races. Jack realized this and forth
with had ten-lap track put down and wen
to work to get up some races. After feN
match races with other professionals, !
which Prince came out victorious, he pu
on a six-day race, eight hours each day. II
had imported such swift professionals a
Dingley, Schock, Ashinger and others, and,
3 increase the public interest, induced prom
|, Using young local amateur by the name c
Bullock to enter the race.
Omaha people took to bicycle racing the
like a duck takes to water and the resul
was that the Exposition building was crowde
each night OF the race. Prince was OF cours
victorious, with Dingley second and Bulloc
third. Following this came series OF mate
professional races and a few amateur races
the prominent amateurs at that time bein
Peabody, Mittauer, Lytle, Blackmore an
Smith.
In the spring OF 1887 Prince leased the oil
ball grounds on Twentieth and Miami streets
which is now known as University park, an
put in a fine quarter track which h
opened to the public by giving gran
tournament on June 2627. The professions
events had such men as Whitaker Ashingel
Prince, Knapp, Eek, Bullock and Dingley a
starters. Whitaker had an easy thing, win
ming everything in sight and simply maxim
monkeys of the other riders. In the amateu
events such old-timers as Peabody, Vert;
Smith and Dukes OF Omaha, and Savage
Sellers and Sailor Of Minneapolis were pitte
against each other. Peabody was the WHINE
In these races and easily demonstrated tina
he was the swiftest amateur in the ives
1t was at that meet that Willie Pixley rod
his first race, which was a one-half-mil
match against kid, Jules Barthell from S
| Louis, who was easily defeated. Sewers
other match races and tournaments wei
held upon this track, which was used unit
the fall of 1883, when Prince built th
Coliseum on North Twentieth street. whic
q is now known as the Knights OF Ak-Sar- BE
a Castle. In this place some races were hel
II that will go down into history as famol
h events. The first race OF Importance was
/ six-day, eight-hour- -per-day affair In whic
n Knapp, Reading. Ashinger Morgan, Dngle
i Armaindo and Eek participated This WI
d the race in which Ned Reading, the soldl,
Il bicyclist, made his debut ss an unknow
n The race drew immense crowds, and,
Reading was making a hard fight for fir
l., place and being a local rider the intere
y was naturally very great. After a spiritC
n contest Knapp won, covering I'll 4-1O mile
n Reading second, 40 $40; Ashinger thir
6S4 2-10.