Started by local bike shop owner Fred “Pop” Kugler, the first 50-mile race through the streets in and around Somerville was held on Memorial Day, May 30, 1940. The event attracted 130 competitors from the Northeast, Midwest and Canada, and to “Pop’s surprise 20,000 people showed up to watch his son Furman win the multi-lap race in a time of 2 hrs, 6 minutes, beating Johnny Webber of Milwaukee by two bike lengths. Deemed a “huge” success by cycling clubs, townspeople and the media, the race was held in 1941, with Furman Kugler winning again, this time wearing the jersey of a National Champion which he won in Detroit the summer before. Furman Kugler decided not to ride in 1942, clearing the way for his friend and training partner Carl Anderson of Clifton, NJ, to claim victory. The race was suspended from 1942 until 1947 as a result of World War II, which tragically saw both Kugler and Anderson losing their lives in that conflict. Re-instated in 1947 as the Kugler-Anderson Memorial “Tour of Somerville,” the event’s popularity and status grew nationally with the post-war boom. This set the stage for the first back-to-back winner other than Kugler as Olympian Donald Sheldon of Nutley, NJ, won in 1947 and 1948 before ever-increasing crowds and media coverage. Finally, in 1949, a rider from another state lifted New Jersey riders’ grip on the Cromwell Cup champion’s trophy. In a dramatic field sprint finish in front of the County Courthouse and bleachers packed with cheering spectators, Frank Brilando of Buffalo, NY won, elevating Somerville as a national classic at decade’s end.
