Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1920-12-02
BY o. d. KELLER

Robert Howe Walthour, known
better in Atlanta and to all the world
as Bobby" Walthour, the greatest
bicycle racer who ever lived, was
Monday granted a divorce decree
from Mrs. Blanche Walthour, on
grounds of cruel Observation-Disclosures
ing threats against his life, he said
land Immediately after receiving the
decree from Judge G. H. Howard,
sitting in place of Judge Bell, Bob
by" announced that he intended to
give up his business career and re-
enter the racing game in Europe.
I'm n - tired II OF being a business
while his divorce suit has been pend
ing, has been working for a big
sporting goods firm in Boston. II
want to get back in the racing game
n tbo 6,d not 2f in this sc country u | love
the United States when you reach
forty you'd just as well be eighty
five. He's an old man. they say.
They want kids, over here. No mat
ter If l can trim the best of the kid
bike racers-I'm an old man. Now in
france, they rate man by what he
can do. And I'm going back to the
old game. at forty-one. Going back
to France where lived fifteen years
not as an old married man. but as
young single man. I'm going back
to. the game"
The two Walthour children, a son
and daughter, both are of age and
Independent, Bobby said, adding that
his retirement from the game" had
been made necessary by the constant
worry and annoyance incident to his
domestic troubles and disagreements
with Mrs. Walthour
Remarkable Athlete
Bobby Wa1thO11r
tas own, stands today as perhaps
the most remarkable athlete living:
man who won and retained cham
plonshlpS in one of the severest and
most intensive of sports over period
or more than twenty years He
started the racing game in Atlanta,
AFTER beginning to show his speed as
a bicycle messenger. He raced here
many times in the old days, under the
supervision Of Jack Prince, and by
1902 he was a world-figure in the mo-
tor-paced game, then having an i'm
mense vogue.
Bobby won championships in Amer
lea, France, Germany-all over the
world. He has held perhaps the only
recognized world championships in
the bicycle game; and his marks at
many distances, notably from one
to thirty miles, still stand unequaled.
For fifteen years the World Almanac
printed Bobby Walthour' opposite
| all the records up to thirty miles,
which latter distance he had negotiat-
ed in 31.52-a mark so unapproach-
able in these later days, when they
| minutes. that the Walthour marks
| finally. and unfairly, were expunged
from the World Almanac. In Ger
| many. he holds a record Of fifty
! miles and fraction in one hour-an-
other absolutely unapproached mark.
C n
| iron man in more ways than one.
| Sound as a dollar today, hard as
| nails: a medium-siZed blond athlete
| weighing 100 pounds, he has survived
numberless desperate spills and &C
cidents so severe that three times
| he was pronounced dead. For exam
pie, he has suffered a fracture of the
| collar-bone twenty-siX times. Both
| legs and arms have been broken;
and his skull fractured. In one spill
| his hurting body snapped thick
| wooden stanchlon at the side Of the
| track-and that wasn't one Of his
hardest falls. either.
Taught French Soldiers
In the war period, Walthour de-
voted much of his time to teaching
| American athletics to French SOL
! diers, in classes that at times num-
| bered over 1000. He was we'll known
to the French people. and immensely
| popular, and it is said that his ath-
| letic lessons were taught In all to
more than 100000 French soldiers.
Monday afternoon Bobby talked
with boyish fire and enthusiasm
| over his expected venture abroad,
which he expected to make in jan
uary.
| "I'll ride German make Of wheel"
! he said. For that type of track rae
ing-motor paced-it will be geared
| to 1885, perhaps 100 for the big
| tracks. For sprint racing never use
gear higher than 90: The bike
| weighs about 10 pounds"
| And this time Bobby will make
the venture alone. Always in the
old days Mrs. Walthour was with
| him. Their early married life was
not lacking in romance and senti.
ment. Mrs. Walthour always had a
| box at the races when Bobby was
riding-that fact is well remembered
| in Atlanta. And once. over in Ger.
| many nearly ten years ago, Bobby
was in a terrible spill, and the doc
tors gave him up for dead, and had
| turned away from his senseless form,
| when Mrs. Walthour rushed to his
| side and fairly compelled them to
| turn back and work at the seemingly
| homeless task of reviving him
| Now, however. Bobby appears to
| agree with Kipling, that "he travels
| fastest who travels alone" And he
will go back to France, he says. a
| young man-to start again in the
| racing game, alone.