Page:The fastest bicycle rider in the world - 1928 - Taylor.djvu/64

 Manhattan Beach track on a mid-summer afternoon 28 years ago.

We found the three-lap cement track at Manhattan Beach lightning fast on that torrid afternoon, because of the absence of the usual gale which swept the track. In the grandstand and strewn out along the rail that bordered the track was one of the greatest throngs that ever witnessed a sporting event in this country. Newspapers had



devoted considerable space to the event because of the spectacular way in which this special match race was brought about. Mr. William A. Brady, of New York, who was manager of James J. Corbett when he was the heavyweight champion boxer of the world, was looking after my interest at the time. His challenges on my behalf fell on deaf ears as regarded the other crack sprinters of the day. The great Eddie (Cannon) Bald refusing to be matched against me on grounds that it would affect him socially. In desperation he assembled the sporting editors of the New York daily papers and requested them to broadcast his willingness to wager $1,000 on a winner-take-all basis, and that I could defeat any one of them in a one-mile paced sprint race. Jimmie Michaels was the only one of the bunch that accepted the defy. It was agreed between Michaels and myself that