Honoring Major Taylor, America’s first black world champion

Looking back from the vantage point of today’s sports-crazed society, it seems inconceivable that the first African American world champion from the United States would be relegated to obscurity. Yet that’s the lot of Marshall (Major) Taylor, the star-crossed cyclist who, more than a century ago, was this country’s most recognizable and wealthiest sports figure.

“I wish for him a much bigger legacy, because he deserves it,” says Todd Balf, author of Major: A Black Athlete, a White Era, and the Fight to be the World's Fastest Human Being