Harlem’s Herbie Francis grew up racing in New York City for Union Sportiva Italiana, one of New York’s oldest cycling clubs, and made history in 1960 when he made the US Olympic team, becoming the first African-American Olympic cyclist for the United States. He attended George Washington High School and competed for the Continental Sports Club. Francis was a sprinter who did not like contact and usually rode from the front to make the 1960 team along with Jackie Simes. Francis raced locally in 1961-62 around New York. He lost to Simes in the quarter-finals of the 1963 US Nationals in Northbrook, Illinois, and then faded from the scene. Francis had a few early season results in 1964 at the Flushing Velodrome but did not go to the 1964 Olympic Trials. He later joined the US Army and served in Vietnam.
United States