April 15, 1909
The Unione Sportiva Italiana (USI), which is now one of the oldest cycling clubs in the United States, was formally incorporated in the state of New York. The English translation for the club’s name is “Italian Sporting Union,” and it is generally acknowledged that the founders of this group in New York City were for the most part a combination of Italian-Americans and recent immigrants from Italy.
The club had been founded in 1908 to give its members better-than-before opportunities to pursue such athletic activities as cycling, basketball, boxing, rowing, and running. It was cycling, however, that soon became the new club’s main focus. In this context, the USI reflected the trend of community-based American cycling groups dating back to the establishment of the Boston Bicycle Club in 1878. The USI also epitomized those cycling clubs organized along ethnic lines in the nation’s urban centers. In New York City and elsewhere in the United States during this era, for example, there were also German, French, Belgian, and Norwegian cycling clubs and a variety of other groups with similarly strong nationality connections. While the USI was among the first of these cycling clubs, and one of the few still around today, the group did not limit itself only to individuals of Italian ancestry. Starting early on in its existence, this club welcomed just about anybody willing and able to ride a bicycle.
The USI set up its initial headquarters in Manhattan and, within a decade after being incorporated, stood out as one of the most talented and formidable amateur cycling clubs in the New York City region. One of the notable members of the USI at this point in its history was Louis Rabbino, whose tough-to-match accomplishments on a bicycle were highlighted by the New York Times on November 1, 1915.
“Rabbino Leads in Cycling,” announced a headline in that day’s edition. The article reported, “Louis Rabbino scored the greatest number of points in the competition for the bicycle championship of the Unione Sportiva Italiana by accounting for eighteen out of twenty in a series of four races, two of which were held yesterday on the Eastern Boulevard, Bronx.”
The New York Times went on to note that the distances for this series were one mile (1.6 kilometers), three miles (4.8 kilometers), five miles (8.1 kilometers), and ten miles (16.1 kilometers). This newspaper then stated, “Rabbino scored first in the three, five and ten-mile events, and fielded third in the one-mile race.” (The accompanying photo of Rabbino on a bicycle was published around this time in Motor Cycle Illustrated magazine.)
The reputation of the USI as a force to be reckoned with was further confirmed when it earned the Goodrich Trophy — given by the Goodrich Tire & Rubber Company for excellence in competitive sports in various areas of the United States — in recognition of the club’s cycling achievements during the 1916 and 1917 seasons.
Photo Credit: Motor Cycle Illustrated (4 November 1915)
For more information on the Unione Sportiva Italiana (USI), please check out https://italiancyclingjournal.blogspot.com/2012/01/unione-sportiva-italiana-new-york-ny.html
A video about this club can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54V9kzwqefs
Transportation History 
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