Fast Digs: The Lordsburg Athletic Club

With N. S. Slim as President, L. L. Curtis as both Secretary and Treasurer, and Thomas Keeling [?] serving as General Manager, the Lordsburg Athletic Club was founded on 14 January 1903 and charged with promoting amateur sport within the city. The club immediately endeavored to fulfill their mission by holding their first athletic competition, at the Lordsburg College (now known as the University of La Verne) track on 17 January. In addition to three running events, a two-mile and one-mile bicycle race, and quarter and half-mile pursuits were held. William Bardlow came out on top in both the two-mile and quarter-mile races, with N. S. Slim second each time. In the one-mile race William Murphy came first, ahead of L. L. Curtis, while in the half-mile pursuit Slim managed to get his win by beating out Ole Olsen.

It was the Clubs' intention to hold meetings on a monthly basis and, in the near future, construct a "suitable" club house. At their founding the Club had a membership of forty athletes and enthusiasts. With the demise of the Los Angeles Velodrome two years earlier, as well as the track at Los Angeles Athletic Park at an even earlier date, most track racing for bicyclists during the early 1900s would have taken place in similar circumstances - on college and high school tracks.