The Rise and Demise of Saxon Williams

Having completed some repairs to the board track he had helped to design and build, at the San Francisco Civic Auditorium, Saxon Williams mounted one of the nearby racing bikes to test out the work. Crashing "suddenly to the infield," he was "pronounced dead on arrival at the Central Emergency Hospital." At the time of his death, on 14 March 1934 Williams was recognized as a holder of five worlds' records. Two of those records were set in 1909 at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City - the five-mile unpaced which he rode in ten minutes thirty-eight seconds, and the 2/3 mile which he raced in 1:12. 

Though, apparently, from Buffalo, New York originally, Williams cut his teeth racing as a novice and amateur in New Haven, Connecticut during 1896 and 1897, but in May 1898 was registered as a professional (#1,024) with the League of American Wheelmen. Between that date and 1916 when he appears to have competed in his last professional race, he started races against and with every one of the fastest men in the nation, including Arthur Gardiner, Otto Zeigler, Owen Kimble, Floyd McFarland, Major Taylor, Bobby Walthour and Frank Kramer. While most of his racing took place on the northeastern tracks, he also competed on the southern circuit, the midwest and, for a number of years, at Salt Lake City, before he retired to Long Beach, California.

While Williams' racing was focused on the boards, he could also be found pedaling through long distance training rides on the road, particularly during his time in Utah. One incident of interest during some of those road miles was witnessed and reported in the Salt Lake Tribune in April 1905. While riding up North Temple Street and "carefully keeping on the right-hand side, a large Scandinavian" came riding down the street on the same side, and thus against traffic. "This plain disregard for the law of the road aroused the ire of Mr. Williams. He steered straight for the Scandinavian, trusting to his superior skill and the strength of his wheel to inflict more damage than he received." A game of chicken quickly began and the Scandinavian "put on steam. The wheels came together. They shot into the air," though both riders slid off their bikes in time "to escape nasty spills." A shouting match ensued with "the vocabulary of the two languages" becoming "worn to a frazzle." Eventually the two combatants picked up cobble stones, but "fear of injuring the wheels" and, perhaps, the intrusion of cooler heads convinced them to ride away, each in his own direction. 

Saxon Dale Williams is among the many racers who competed in Los Angeles area races during the years between 1900 and 1929 that you will be able to read about in the forthcoming second volume of Fast Digs. Remember, Fast Digs volume one is still available here.

(Besides being an accomplished racer, Williams was also quite artistic - the illustration of him above, is a self-portrait)