 So the second inductee tonight We'll see a video for Robin Morton coming up Robin Morton Contributor to the sport Philadelphia native Robin Morton started her involvement with cycling when her husband Glenn began racing with the Pennsylvania bicycle club in Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia in 1980 2014 bicycling Hall of Fame inductee Jerry Kasal was the president of the club at the time and he became Robin's mentor as she assisted with the amateur racing team and club races Robin moved from amateur cycling to the professional ranks by organizing the Geos team for the inaugural tour of America in 1983 in 1984 Robin organized and registered a US men's professional road racing team Making Robin the first female team director in the history of professional cycling the team sponsored by Gianni Mota Was the first US team to enter a grand tour the 1984 Giro d'Italia at the time European cycling rules prohibited women from the race caravan Before each race the organizers would vote on whether Robin could even be allowed to ride in the team car The team she put together the following year in 1985 Xerox Benotto was the first US team to compete in the Vuelta a España the criterion Dauphiné Libaré and others Robin managed teams for nine years and her professional cycling teams competed throughout Europe North and South America She then transitioned into event management working with Jerry Kasal and Dave Chowner at threshold sports for 17 years As the technical director for cycling events, which included professional national championships UCI races and the 1996 Atlanta Olympic and Paralympic Games In 2005 Robin and Alice Armstrong Founded G4 Productions a women owned event production company They have organized races non-profit fundraising rides and the US professional road racing championships and the US masters and paracycling national championships With her extensive team and event experience at the highest levels Robin Morton has become a groundbreaking contributor to the sport of cycling And here she is Robin Morton Well, I'm so honored to be here and to be inducted this evening It was such amazing athletes that have accomplished so much in our sport and especially my friend Mari You know It's been an amazing Trip for me 30 years an adventure something that I really never anticipated getting involved in I'm probably the only inductee who has never raced doesn't ride and I'm here because I didn't like sailing My husband Glenn Wanted a sailboat even though neither of us knew how to sail and Instead of taking sailing lessons or starting out with a day sailor We bought a sailboat and headed out to sea and as you can imagine that didn't end well So Glenn bought a racing bike and he did join the Pennsylvania bike club There were a lot of notable racers that came out of the PBC including Dave Choner and Miji Riyadh who were in the Hall of Fame Bruce Donagy and John Eustace Was the winner of 1982 and I went to an end of the season club party and was introduced to John and At that time John was one of the few Americans that had a contract on a European pro team One of the other ones was George Mount David Mayer Oaks Jonathan Boyer and so I started talking to John at the party I was introduced to him and he mentioned that he was pretty burned out from living in Europe and Didn't have a contract for the following year and was interested in putting together an American team to race in Europe and Was I interested in helping him? So I don't know I must have had sucker written all over me but I said yes and so The first team we had was for Geo's for that tour of America, which was a great event It was a small stage race in northern, Virginia and Washington DC and it was organized by capital sports they were actually boxing promoters and They brought a lot of big teams over from Europe had a good budget Unfortunately, it was only around for one year but through Geo's I met Gianni Moda and Gianni was an ex-pro turn bike manufacturer for those of you who don't know him He is a big celebrity in Italy blonde blue-eyed very outgoing He had won the Giro third in the Tour de France Won the Tour Switzerland just about every single day event in Italy And he wanted to have an American team on his bikes in Italy So in 1984 we put the team together. It was basically then comprised of a lot of free agent pros Some Europeans and in April we headed over to Italy And it was you know, I was completely unprepared for all of the Press and attention that I received being the first Woman to manage a men's professional team As the as you know It was said in the video that they had to vote as to whether or not I could even be in the team car in the caravan I don't know what they what I would have done if they said no because I was already there So I guess things would have changed and I wouldn't be here now if they had said no But um I made a lot of friends that I still have to this day and and one of those is riccardo migrini Riccardo was an italian pro. He was captain of the metro mobility team He spoke english was very funny. I actually looked like jerry louis And that year in the Giro Ranchelio was a sponsor of the Giro. They manufacture espresso machines And every day they would come to the stage start and bring their RV and give out free shots Of espresso to everybody So one day riccardo says to me hey, you know, we want you to come and be part of the ranchelio club The ranchelio club is it was loosely called They would allow the team captains to hang out inside the rv before the stage each morning to kind of get away from the public and You know have a few minutes up to themselves. So off we went and we're sitting there and they're all chatting away having a good time At least that's what I thought because I didn't speak italian But um, so we're just hanging out and riccardo gets up and he says to me well Since you're part of the ranchelio club And now we think of you of one of the guys, but you're missing one thing So i'm thinking okay, they're going to give me some like really great sign Malia rosa or some one-of-a-kind Giro memorabilia and riccardo stands up And he hands me a tray now keeping in mind the ranchelio club It's all the captains of the teams like seroni And mozer and vincentini and finyone and all the big riders of the day and me And so he stands up and he hands me this tray and he says This is for you now you'll be like us and on the tray Was an arrangement of vegetables made to look like male genitalia So it wasn't all that spontaneous because they actually had a photographer there taking a picture of the whole thing So, you know, I was really mortified. They thought it was completely hysterical And I I tried to be a good sport about it, you know and and take it in the spirit in which it was intentioned Because the only way I would have been accepted is if I kind of just went with the flow and didn't Expect them to make exceptions because I was a woman Um, the next year we had a team in the vuelta, which was crazy hard rugged race The vuelta was in april then and then I managed teams for the next six or seven years Usually they had an italian component That enabled us to race part of the season in europe And after that, I was really lucky that I was hired by dav chon and jerry casale as their technical director And I worked with a great team of people and we put on some of the best UCI races in the country including san francisco of philadelphia Thrift drug classic. We did the first tour of georgia And now with my partner alice and g4 We still produce the philly race and i'm really proud to say that it's one of the few world tour races only two in this country for women We have equal prize money for the women and it's the featured event of the day And so So I just want to leave you with this one story In the giro The riders contracts were written So that they had to finish in order to get paid Right, this is cycling. So that's not a big surprise. So they had to finish in order to get paid And one of our sponsors didn't want to pay them So he managed to talk one of our mechanics Into tightening their bottom brackets. So every day after they turned their bikes in to get cleaned and whatever He would tighten their bottom brackets just a little bit more So that by the end of the giro, they told me it was like pedaling in wet cement So but they all finished they all finished and so For me the lesson is that You know cycling Is just like life sometimes Just finishing Is winning Thank you Robin Morton everybody