One Of The Bigger Wheels

Last February, when The New York Sports Museum & Hall of Fame inducted 90 charter members, cyclist Alf Goullet was an obvious choice. In the early 1920s, Goullet was so popular with the crowds for the six-day races at Madison Square Garden that they set attendance records, and Goullet was paid appearance fees of $1,000 a day. At the time, a National Football League franchise could be bought for just a few hundred dollars.

One of Goullet's greatest admirers was Damon Runyon, a writer known for his stories of professional athletes and Broadway characters. Runyon knew a champion when he saw one and often wrote articles comparing Goullet to Babe Ruth. After Goullet's dramatic victory in the Garden's December 1921 six-day race, Runyon devoted an editorial in the New York American to the bicyclist, pronouncing him king of the six-day racers and proclaiming, "Long live the king!"

Prophetic words: Last April 5, Goullet celebrated his 99th birthday. He appears to be much younger than his age. In 1982 he appeared before a Newark City Council meeting to testify in favor of setting aside city property for a cycling track. Those who were called on before Goullet had stepped up to a microphone, but when Goullet's turn came he stood in the aisle and delivered his remarks unamplified in a clear, resonant voice.

"My name is Alf Goullet, and I came to Newark from my native Australia in 1910 to race bicycles professionally," he said. His argument for a velodrome was a highlight of the meeting, though the track has not yet been built.

When Goullet arrived in Newark at age 19, cycling was thriving. The local cycling arena, which could seat 12,500 for the twice-weekly programs, was often sold out; those turned away could go to Wiedenmayer Park to watch the Class A Newark Bears play baseball. Today, to most Americans, bicycle racing means Greg LeMond riding the roads of Europe in races such as the Tour de France. When Goullet first came to the U.S., an American racing circuit lasting almost the entire year produced such homegrown world champions as August Zimmerman, Major Taylor, Bobby Walthour Sr. and Frank Kramer. "Every really good cyclist wanted to come to America because the best riders came here to compete," says Goullet.

The races in which Goullet first made his name were often held outdoors on steeply banked board tracks, most measuring six laps to the mile. Race promoters usually charged an admission price of 25 cents and put on a variety of events: handicap races, matched sprints pitting two or three star riders over the course of a mile, and massed-start races with dozens of cyclists competing at distances up to 50 miles.

Goullet went wherever the sport took him, which in 1912 was Salt Lake City. There he set three world records, at distances of two thirds of a mile, three quarters of a mile and the mile. After that summer ended, he and a coterie of riders went to Europe to race on indoor tracks.

In January 1913, he competed in the inaugural Paris six-day race; to this day, that event continues to draw some of the best international talent. In Paris, Goullet teamed up with Joe Fogler of Brooklyn, and they were triumphant, beating such stars as Tour de France champions Octave Lapaize and Lucien Petit-Breton.

What grew to be the Super Bowl of international bicycling, though, was the six-day race held in Madison Square Garden, where, day after day, the event drew standing-room-only crowds.

In November 1914, Goullet teamed with Alfred Grenda of Tasmania for the Garden's six-day race, and set a world record for the event that still stands. An attack of appendicitis kept Grenda on the sidelines during the final hour of the grueling race, forcing Goullet to fend off the other teams alone. But Goullet battled back to win the final sprint. During the six days, the two bicycled 2,759.2 miles, the distance from San Francisco to Buffalo, and 638.2 miles farther than this year's Tour de France, which was won by LeMond in 21 days of racing.