The Baseball Hall of Fame has a home in Cooperstown, and the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame is based in Cleveland. What about cycling?
The U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame is currently housed in a temporary space in Somerville, New Jersey. The directors are seeking a new home for the hall after its original location of some 20 years was sold for redevelopment.
The Hall displays bicycles, jerseys, photos, trophies and other memorabilia of more than 100 years of US cycling history. It also celebrates the sport of cycling by inducting Hall of Famers every year and coordinating annual bike races.
Somerville
Somerville has a rich cycling history. Nearby Newark was home of the world renown outdoor cycling track — the Newark Velodrome — where world sprint championships were held for many years.
Ten years after it closed in 1930, local bike shop owner Fred “Pop” Kugler launched a 50-mile bike race on the roads around Somerville to keep central Jersey's cycling tradition alive.
Inductees
The New Jersey Assembly appropriated money to create the Bicycling Hall of Fame in Somerset in 1986, and nearly 100 men and women have been inducted since then.
Among the cycling inductees are such historical figures as multiple world sprint champion Frank Kramer, who raced at the Newark Velodrome, and Marshall “Major” Taylor, the first African-American to win world pro championships in any sport. Modern inductees include the likes of Greg LeMond, Alexi Grewal and Rebecca Twigg.
Relocation
When they moved the facility into temporary space, the directors of the non-profit Hall of Fame began a nationwide search for a new home. (See details at Request for Proposal.)
The Hall requires about 15,000 square feet of usable space to display cycling memorabilia and inductee information, a conference room, work space to set up displays and restore the cycling artifacts, as well as space for a library and retail sales.
It's expected to be a magnet for pro cyclists and fans, in addition to scholars researching cycling history and sports history in general. It will be the site of the annual Hall of Fame dinner and ceremony (the 2008 dinner will be held in Davis, California, a platinum level Bicycle Friendly Community).
The search
Boston.com says one of the towns in the running is Worcester, Massachusetts, home of Hall of Famer Major Taylor. (Worcester is unveiling a statue of the famous cyclist in ceremonies on May 21.)
William Brunner, search committee chairman, said that he also toured Allentown, Pennsylvania, recently.
Future
The Hall expects to launch some new programs when it finds a new home. It will begin collecting more items from US cycling history, such as programs, club records and historical bicycles and other artifacts.
It will also launch an oral history project to interview many of the athletes and supporters who made cycling history.
In the meantime, you can browse the collection and read up on the Hall of Famers at the Hall of Fame website. Check with curator Vincent Menci if you'd like to visit.
Read more about the search for a new home at CyclingNews.
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