Indiana U. Bans Director of All-Black Cycling Team for Alleged Recruiting Violations
BLOOMINGTON, Ind.
The Indiana University Student Foundation, which helps run the annual Little 500 bicycle race, has banned the director of one of the cycling teams it said because he violated recruiting practices by promising scholarships to riders.
The foundation took no action against other members of Team Major Taylor, IU’s first all-Black team, and team representatives would not confirm whether they would race this year.
In 2002, former team riders reported to university officials that the team’s director, Courtney Bishop, offered them scholarships to cover tuition and room and board to ride in the Little 500, an annual bicycle race made famous in the 1979 movie “Breaking Away.”
It was a promise that the foundation said Bishop never fulfilled causing the two riders substantial debt. One rider said he was forced to transfer from IU to New York University.
Offering scholarships to participate in the race is a clear violation of the Little 500 rules, Rob Rhamy, foundation director and former race coordinator, said when the controversy started.
