grind: time magazine's 1933 article on torchy peden
This Christmas, I received a pretty cool gift from one of my friends. Inspired by my blog post about the Burnaby SixDay, my now-Toronto-resident friend Jamie ordered a copy of the December 11, 1933 issue of Time Magazine off of eBay. It didn't arrive in the mail in time for our annual gift exchange amongst good friends, but it did show up shortly thereafter.
And in its entirety, here's the reason why Jamie found the magazine and bought it for me.
And what a brilliant gift it was.
Grind
Time Magazine: December 11, 1933
pp 37-38
In the final hours of the 55th International Six-Day Bicycle Race in Manhattan's Madison Square Garden last week it was necessary to watch only two of the ten teams whirling around the pine-board saucer. They were the red-jerseyed team of Peden & Letourner, and the red-white-&-blue clad Hill & Debaets.
William "Torchy" Peden
Image courtesy of the Thunder Bay Cycling Club's SixDay website
Tied for first place, each team had gained the same number of laps over the rest of the pack. William John ("Torchy") Peden, 27, a rangy Canadian with a flaming mop above his scarlet jersey, was the tallest, heaviest (216 lb.) rider in the race. Since starting in 1928 he had entered 37 six-day races, won 17. Alfred Letourner, teamed with Peden this autumn for the first time, is an excitable little Frenchman who wolfs six thick mutton chops at a swoop. His oldtime partner was now his opponent: Belgian Gerard Debaets, a clown who enlivens dull hours of the grind by sailing around the track with a parasol, a bustle or false whiskers.
Letourner and Debaets had squabbled over a girl. The race press-agents diligently nurtured their feud, even persuaded them to pose for newspictures, shaking fists at each other. Once during last week's race Letourner took a punch at Debaets for cutting in front of him. Debaets pulled the Frenchman off his wheel and both men went sprawling. Letourner was fined $25. Debaets' partner, Norman Hill, a handsome youngster from San Jose, Calif., is all-around bicycle champion of the U.S.
Grinding around, around, around with the eight other teams, the four leaders eyed each other like fighting cocks. Suddenly at the end of one sprint "Torchy" Peden shot ahead of the pack and was 50 yd. in the lead before the chase began. Crafty little Letourner was ready for him as Peden came scooting around to shove him to a flying start. Crouched low over the handlebars, their fundaments raised high, Debaets & Hill pedaled madly. Eleven times they zipped around the bowl, the red-shirted team pulling farther and farther ahead until finally Peden caught up with Hill from behind, and the lap was gained. A dozen times thereafter Hill or Debaets gamely started out to recoup their loss, but Peden & Letourner stuck to them like lice. The closing gun, at midnight, found Peden & Letourner winners by that single lap and 1354 points for sprints, to the runner-up's 714 points. Peden & Letourner collected $5000 of the $30,000 purse. Peden sped on to Cleveland to begin another grind three days later. For the whole meet, 1064 laps were stolen, a new U.S. record.
The victory of Peden & Letourner was less surprising than the complete collapse of the aging "iron man," Reginald James McNamara. Nobody expected McNamara, at 46, to win, but likewise no one expected him to do so miserably. Rusty, battered, wearing 47 scars, McNamara and his blond partner, Charles Winter, had tied for the lead briefly in the early stages. At the end they barely kept their wheels turning, finished last, 18 laps behind the winners.
--------------------------
Lots of good stuff there. Interestingly, Letourner would go onto to ride a bike called "The Red Devil" to a speed of 174kmh in 1941. This bike and its 252" gear was on display 2 blocks from my office last summer as part of the Tour de Gastown exhibit. Caps Bicycle Store apparently has the bike and showed it off along with some other wide and wonderful bikes.
The writing is funny in the piece. Comments about mutton chops and "sticking to them like lice" was worth a good laugh.
What isn't funny is the serious cash they picked up for this event. The total prize purse in 1933 was $30,000. According to this inflation calculator, that winds up being $406,389.23 -- meaning that Torchy picked up a sweet $67,731 for his six days of riding. Given he'd won 17 of these things in 5 years, you can see how these guys were some of the highest paid athletes of their time. I found this nifty 60 second video online the claims he was the 3rd highest paid athlete of his day, behind Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig...
Of course, Babe Ruth made $80,000 in 1930 ($864,000 in 2005 dollars), apparently $5000 more than President Hoover, to which he said, "I had a better year than he did."
And the rest of the Time Magazine is brilliant. Articles about the Nazi's in Germany, an article about Newfoundland before it joined Canada, and of course the ads! The ads are priceless. They, in many ways, say more about 1933 than the articles do.
And in its entirety, here's the reason why Jamie found the magazine and bought it for me.
And what a brilliant gift it was.
Grind
Time Magazine: December 11, 1933
pp 37-38
In the final hours of the 55th International Six-Day Bicycle Race in Manhattan's Madison Square Garden last week it was necessary to watch only two of the ten teams whirling around the pine-board saucer. They were the red-jerseyed team of Peden & Letourner, and the red-white-&-blue clad Hill & Debaets.
William "Torchy" Peden
Image courtesy of the Thunder Bay Cycling Club's SixDay website
Tied for first place, each team had gained the same number of laps over the rest of the pack. William John ("Torchy") Peden, 27, a rangy Canadian with a flaming mop above his scarlet jersey, was the tallest, heaviest (216 lb.) rider in the race. Since starting in 1928 he had entered 37 six-day races, won 17. Alfred Letourner, teamed with Peden this autumn for the first time, is an excitable little Frenchman who wolfs six thick mutton chops at a swoop. His oldtime partner was now his opponent: Belgian Gerard Debaets, a clown who enlivens dull hours of the grind by sailing around the track with a parasol, a bustle or false whiskers.
Letourner and Debaets had squabbled over a girl. The race press-agents diligently nurtured their feud, even persuaded them to pose for newspictures, shaking fists at each other. Once during last week's race Letourner took a punch at Debaets for cutting in front of him. Debaets pulled the Frenchman off his wheel and both men went sprawling. Letourner was fined $25. Debaets' partner, Norman Hill, a handsome youngster from San Jose, Calif., is all-around bicycle champion of the U.S.
Grinding around, around, around with the eight other teams, the four leaders eyed each other like fighting cocks. Suddenly at the end of one sprint "Torchy" Peden shot ahead of the pack and was 50 yd. in the lead before the chase began. Crafty little Letourner was ready for him as Peden came scooting around to shove him to a flying start. Crouched low over the handlebars, their fundaments raised high, Debaets & Hill pedaled madly. Eleven times they zipped around the bowl, the red-shirted team pulling farther and farther ahead until finally Peden caught up with Hill from behind, and the lap was gained. A dozen times thereafter Hill or Debaets gamely started out to recoup their loss, but Peden & Letourner stuck to them like lice. The closing gun, at midnight, found Peden & Letourner winners by that single lap and 1354 points for sprints, to the runner-up's 714 points. Peden & Letourner collected $5000 of the $30,000 purse. Peden sped on to Cleveland to begin another grind three days later. For the whole meet, 1064 laps were stolen, a new U.S. record.
The victory of Peden & Letourner was less surprising than the complete collapse of the aging "iron man," Reginald James McNamara. Nobody expected McNamara, at 46, to win, but likewise no one expected him to do so miserably. Rusty, battered, wearing 47 scars, McNamara and his blond partner, Charles Winter, had tied for the lead briefly in the early stages. At the end they barely kept their wheels turning, finished last, 18 laps behind the winners.
--------------------------
Lots of good stuff there. Interestingly, Letourner would go onto to ride a bike called "The Red Devil" to a speed of 174kmh in 1941. This bike and its 252" gear was on display 2 blocks from my office last summer as part of the Tour de Gastown exhibit. Caps Bicycle Store apparently has the bike and showed it off along with some other wide and wonderful bikes.
The writing is funny in the piece. Comments about mutton chops and "sticking to them like lice" was worth a good laugh.
What isn't funny is the serious cash they picked up for this event. The total prize purse in 1933 was $30,000. According to this inflation calculator, that winds up being $406,389.23 -- meaning that Torchy picked up a sweet $67,731 for his six days of riding. Given he'd won 17 of these things in 5 years, you can see how these guys were some of the highest paid athletes of their time. I found this nifty 60 second video online the claims he was the 3rd highest paid athlete of his day, behind Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig...
Of course, Babe Ruth made $80,000 in 1930 ($864,000 in 2005 dollars), apparently $5000 more than President Hoover, to which he said, "I had a better year than he did."
And the rest of the Time Magazine is brilliant. Articles about the Nazi's in Germany, an article about Newfoundland before it joined Canada, and of course the ads! The ads are priceless. They, in many ways, say more about 1933 than the articles do.
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