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Who was Louis A. Lamory? He was born in 1871, and grew up in Santa Clara, which was rural at that time. His family moved to Oakland in 1880. He lived on Telegraph Avenue. He worked for his brother-in-law, a produce commission merchant, in San Francisco as a clerk. He had fun. He did bicycle trips, or "runs". He defended his sister. ("If Fately has any regard for his own person he will stay away from the pretty white house at Temescal and avoid his wife's big brother and uncle.") He was a member of the Acme Athletic Club in 1891, AKA the Acme Wheelmen. I'm assuming L. L. Lamory was a typo, below. Many of the names of these charter members come up again and again in my posts about the Acme Wheelmen. I'm working on more. You'll see them again.
Sun, Aug 2, 1891 – 4 · The San Francisco Call (San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States of America) · Newspapers.com
This clipping from 11/23/1891 shows that "L. A. Lamory" of the Acme Athletic Club was still racing the 'ordinary' - what we call a penny-farthing or high-wheeler bicycle - as opposed to the 'safety' bicycle, which is what we now know as a bicycle. Note that Louis won the "one-mile ordinary club champion" competition, beating Waller, Dowdle, Lund and Pickard. This means that he was likely racing an ordinary at the Scottish Thistle Club games, where he won the medal at the top of this blog post. By about 1892, everyone was on safeties.
He died in 1896. He was 24. Cause of death was consumption, which usually meant tuberculosis. His pall bearers were members of the Acme Athletic Club.
Louis Lamory Buried Wed, Apr 29, 1896 – Page 6 · Oakland Tribune (Oakland, Alameda, California, United States of America) · Newspapers.com
In this June 16, 1946 section of the Oakland Tribune called "The Knave" we read these reminiscences of "Lou Lamory" from James M. Shanly - who was one of Louis' pall-bearers almost exactly 50 years previous:
High-Wheeled Days
The Knave's recent article "Recalls Cycling Days," caused James M. Shanly of Auburn to dig into old possessions to uncover a picture of the times when the cycles had high wheels in front and the cyclists made imposing pictures in group formation and on cross-country runs. "On a typical run," says Shanly, one could see Lou Lamory on his big '56', bucking the Alvarado afternoon wind with Everett Dowdle, an athlete of marked ability, on his '42' riding on the lee side, both riding under the Acme Athletic Club's colors . . . a red-winged acorn on a black background . . . now used by the Athens Club, the dies for which were presented when that club came into being. On a recent Sunday those remaining of the Acme celebrated its 64th anniversary at which time the champions of their day reveled in stories of racing on ordinaries (high wheels), 'safeties', boxing, wrestling, fencing, rowing, swimming, gym work, track racing, field activities, handball and the 'parlor athletes' will have their inning. An 'ordinary' race, track or road, was always both fascinating to witness and a hard grind to the participants. The clubs participating usually being: The Bay Cities, Garden Cities, San Jose Road Club, Alameda Cyclers, Olympic Club Wheelmen, Sacramento Cycles, Reliance Club and the hard-riding Acmes. O. L. Pickard, Acme, was the first to ride the 100 miles from San Francisco to Oakland via San Jose. His record held for years. At about the height of 'ordinary' racing Bert Lund, unattached, entered the races held at the Oakland Trotting Park for benefit of building fund for the Fabiola Hospital. He had a cushioned-tired wheel and, in memory, some of those alive can hear the 'heluva protest' that went up. But it was a wheel to the judges and that was that.
Early Boxing Bouts
"A club run on 'ordinaries' was a grind. Along dirt roads, not so bad, up grade it was a case of dismount and 'shove,' down a steep grade a small tree was dragged to retard progress - if one could get the tree. Various types of hard-tired 'safeties' soon displaced the high wheels and these were followed by cushioned-tired, spring fork bicycles and then came the 'pneumatic tired' racing machine - a Phoenix, 36 pounds. Of the 10 men who rode the first 100-mile relay race around the Bay six are expected to be at the reunion: George Neece, Andy Bedburry, Theodore Schleuter, Jack Sampson, Manuel Rose and George Faulkner. Willis Sharpe was captain. Boxing conversation among the old-timers begins in 1882, when Rufus Hepburn named the club, and run through a list of such men as Eddie Wixcox, [sic, should be 'Eddie Wilcox' -MF] Jack Kitchen, Frank Leavitt, J. Mack Polk, Bert Brown, Eddie Smith, Joe Fields, Billie Gallagher, George Simpson, Billie Hughes, Jim Drew, Jed Hanifin, Dr. Walter Smythe, Jimmie Fox and Charlie Slamberg. One fight, never to be forgotten tops for excitement, was that between Walter Tye and George Kelley. The boys were disturbed by Chief of Police Thomas and the entire detective force (Shorey and Holland) in their first go on Eighth Street bridge. So decided to hold the next event under the auspices of the Acme Club, without the chief's sanction. A fellow named J. M. J. Kane, allegedly tipped it off and a raid was staged. As Kane went through the door Fred Schleuter landed a haymaker on him, at the next landing Mack Polk took a flying kick and as he went through the door one of the boys gave him 'the foot.' Which brings to mind another bout the chief interrupted and, it was told, the same fellow tipped it off. The affair took place in the early morning hours at the Coliseum Theater, 12th near Webster, between 'Buffalo' Castello and Tom Cleary. The place was surrounded by the police. All strangers were apprehended as were citizens not too well known, but men of 'standing' were permitted to pass with nod. Each thinking how lucky he was to have a 'pull.' One such person was Hugo Fuegal who, on the strength of his standin went bail for many but that afternoon four officers were busy serving warrants on those with the 'pull.' The names of Tim Scanlon, Harvey Sloper, Tom Mulvaney (Nolan's Big Boot at 11th and Broadway), George DeGolia, Clay Hawbaker, Judge Johnnie Allen, the Van Court boys, Billie Hynes, Myron Whidden, Dr. O. D. Hamlin all conjure memories of those who not only made amateur athletics what they were but the club what it was.When Shanly writes "... Lou Lamory on his big '56', bucking the Alvarado afternoon wind with Everett Dowdle, an athlete of marked ability, on his '42' riding on the lee side..." he's referring to the diameter in inches of the front wheel. The bigger the wheel, the farther it went with one pedal revolution. When cyclists talk about gear-inches, they're trying to back-calculate to a time when the inches traveled with a pedal stroke were a fixed quantity, relating to the front wheel's outside diameter.
Sizing chart from www.standardhighwheels.se
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