Marshall Taylor

Marshall Walter ( "Major" ) Taylor ( born November 12, 1878 in Indianapolis, † June 21, 1932 in Chicago ) was a racing driver from the United States. It was after the boxer George Dixon, the second black athlete in sports history, the world champion.

His career as a cyclist Taylor began at the age of 14 years when he performed a local bicycle dealer tricks on his bike. He was so excited by the boy that he put it on a uniform (hence the later nickname "Major" ) and had to advertise for themselves. First small race was won by Taylor already consider as a teenager. Since in Indianapolis was a very racist attitude, he left his hometown and moved to Worcester, Massachusetts.

Two years later, Taylor was among the best track sprinters in the country, with 18 years, he played his first professional race in New York's Madison Square Garden and at 20 he became Sprint World champion. There were always problems because he was discriminated against and disadvantaged of the white competitors. The " League of American Wheelmen " refused him membership.

In the following years, therefore, Taylor started preferably in Europe, especially in France, where he grew fewer disadvantages of his skin color. Legend has it that he ( for religious reasons ) never started on Sunday and ( superstition ) always demanded the car with the number 13. In 1899 he became railway sprint champion, 1900 U.S. champion in the same discipline.

1910, at age 32, ended the " Black Miracle" his racing career, but lost because of bad investments and the global economic crisis all of its assets. After his death, Taylor was buried in a pauper's grave, but exhumed at the initiative of wealthy cycling fans in 1948 and buried at Mount Glenwood Cemetery in Illinois. Today the Velodrome Indianapolis bears his name, and his memory is maintained by the Major Taylor Foundation, whose honorary chairman is Olympic gold medalist Edwin Moses. 2008 a monument was erected in his honor in front of the City Library of Worcester.