DAVIS, Calif. (June 20, 2023) – The U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame will induct four legends of American cycling in ceremonies on October 7, 2023 in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The honorees represent several disciplines within the sport of cycling. The inductees are Sarah Hammer (Modern Road & Track Competitor), George Chapman (Veteran Road & Track Competitor), Steve Tilford (Off-Road Competitor) and Peter Rich (Contributor to the Sport). The Raleigh Century Road Club of America Team will receive a Special Recognition. With the Class of 2023, there are now 178 Inductees in the U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame.
Induction weekend will take place October 7 in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Tickets for the 35th USBHOF induction are available for purchase online at: https://squareup.com/market/us-bicycling-hall-of-fame. For more information, visit: www.usbhof.org
The Class of 2023 will be inducted at the biennial event along with the Class of 2022 inductees who include: Kristin Armstrong (Modern Road & Track Competitor), Les Barczewski (Veteran Road & Track Competitor), Melissa “Missy” Giove (Off-Road Competitor), and Dean Crandall (Contributor to the Sport).
The Class of 2023 Inductees include:
Sarah Hammer- Modern Road and Track: With eight world championship titles between pursuit and omnium, Sarah Hammer has been called America’s most decorated track cycling athlete. She held the world pursuit record for 9 years, from 2010 to 2018. Hammer is also a four-times Olympic silver medalist. Sarah Hammer began racing bicycles at age nine and won her first junior national title in 1995. She raced for the better part of 26 years, from 1991 to 2017. She has coached USA Paralympians and co-founded an elite training facility in Colorado Springs.
Steve Tilford – Off-Road: Steve Tilford had great success in the off-road categories of cyclo-cross and mountain biking. He represented the US in both road and off-road world championships.
He represented the United States on the National Road Team, racing throughout Europe and South America including 4 stints on the US team at the World Championships. He also represented the US at the UCI world cyclo-cross championships. He took up Mountain Biking in 1983 winning the first NORBA championships.
Steve also represented the United States on 4 World Championship Road Teams. He won two UCI World Mountain Bike Championship Masters titles and raced well into his 50’s. He was inducted into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame in 2000.
George Chapman – Veteran Road and Track: Competing from 1918 to 1932, George Chapman was a great US motorpace racing champion with 7 consecutive American Professional Motorpace Championships from 1920 to 1926. Championships of that era were determined by a season-long competition…. or by a series of select events. At least one of Chapman’s championships consisted of a grueling 24 race season.
Pedaling at high speeds inches behind a motorcycle, motorpace riders raced distances of 50 miles or 100 kilometers at speeds averaging 30 miles per hour with bursts of speed to over 60 miles per hour. Races in the 1920’s attracted crowds of more than 18,000 spectators witnessing the danger and glamor of motorpace bike racing.
Peter Rich – Contributor: Peter Rich has been an influential visionary in American cycling. From founding a newsletter in 1961 that became “Bicycling Magazine” to starting the first international stage race in the US (the first Tour of California stage race in 1971), Rich pioneered many ideas for modern US cycling. He helped build early US-made racing frames while mentoring many custom frame builders. He developed, mentored, and supported a number of crucial American champion cyclists as well as pioneered radical (at the time) training ideas such as cross-training with weight training for road cyclists.
Raleigh Century Road Club of America Team – Special Recognition The Raleigh-CRC of A team in the early 1970’s raced in some of the first international cycling competitions of the post World War II era. The team’s riders, results and tactics brought increased legitimacy and attention to US road racing as it performed on the international stage with transformative sponsorship by an English bicycle company.
Raleigh-CRC of A team members included: John Allis, John Howard, Flip Waldteufel, Stan Swaim, Dave Chauner, John Gromek, Doug Dale, Jim Huetter, Bill Humphreys, Bobby Phillips, Richard Dunn, Allan Bell, Craig Kissock, Dave Boll and John Bare. Fred Kuhn, the owner of Kopp’s Cycles in Princeton, New Jersey, assembled and supported the team. In the intervening years some team members have individually been inducted into the U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame.
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