Théodore Vienne
Encyclopedia
Roubaix
Roubaix is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is located between the cities of Lille and Tourcoing.The Gare de Roubaix railway station offers connections to Lille, Tourcoing, Antwerp, Ostend and Paris.-Culture:...
France, 28 July 1864, died Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
1 March 1921) was a textile manufacturer in Roubaix
Roubaix
Roubaix is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is located between the cities of Lille and Tourcoing.The Gare de Roubaix railway station offers connections to Lille, Tourcoing, Antwerp, Ostend and Paris.-Culture:...
who with Maurice Perez founded the Paris–Roubaix cycle race in 1896. It is one of the oldest cycle races in the world.
Vienne was a sports entrepreneur, building Roubaix velodrome
Velodrome
A velodrome is an arena for track cycling. Modern velodromes feature steeply banked oval tracks, consisting of two 180-degree circular bends connected by two straights...
and the town's bullfighting
Bullfighting
Bullfighting is a traditional spectacle of Spain, Portugal, southern France and some Latin American countries , in which one or more bulls are baited in a bullring for sport and entertainment...
ring. He also promoted Greco-Roman wrestling
Greco-Roman wrestling
Greco-Roman wrestling is a style of wrestling that is practised worldwide. It was contested at the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 and has been included in every edition of the summer Olympics held since 1908. Two wrestlers are scored for their performance in three two-minute periods, which can...
, professional boxing
Professional Boxing
Professional boxing, or prizefighting, emerged in the early twentieth century as boxing gradually attained legitimacy and became a regulated, sanctioned sport. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse which is divided among the fighters and promoters as determined by contract...
and billiards
Billiards
Cue sports , also known as billiard sports, are a wide variety of games of skill generally played with a cue stick which is used to strike billiard balls, moving them around a cloth-covered billiards table bounded by rubber .Historically, the umbrella term was billiards...
. He was described by the New York Times as "the leading fight promoter of France." He owned the Grande Roue de Paris (then the largest Ferris wheel
Ferris wheel
A Ferris wheel is a nonbuilding structure consisting of a rotating upright wheel with passenger cars attached to the rim in such a way that as the wheel turns, the cars are kept upright, usually by gravity.Some of the largest and most modern Ferris wheels have cars mounted on...
in the world) and founded the 'Wonderland Français' sports arena in Luna Park, Paris
Luna Park, Paris
Luna Park was an amusement park near Porte Maillot in Paris, France from 1907 to 1931. Features of the park included a shoot-the-chutes ride, a scenic railway, "Le Chatouilleur" , a river ride through the mountain that was the base of the scenic railway, and a...
.
Family
Vienne's father, Emmanuel Ignace Vienne, was born in LilleLille
Lille is a city in northern France . It is the principal city of the Lille Métropole, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the country behind those of Paris, Lyon and Marseille. Lille is situated on the Deûle River, near France's border with Belgium...
, of which Roubaix is now a part, on 23 April 1824. He died in Roubaix on 11 April 1873. His mother, Elisa Marie Joseph Lesur was born in Tourcoing
Tourcoing
Tourcoing is a city in northern France. It is designated municipally as a commune within the département of Nord.Tourcoing is situated near the cities of Lille and Roubaix and the Belgian border.-Main sights:...
on 24 November 1825 and died in Roubaix in 1878. His grandfather, Jean Baptiste Vienne, was born at Menin
Menin
Menin may refer to:*Menin , office in Ancien Régime France*Umberto Menin, Italian artist*The French name for the Belgian town of Menen *Menin, a tumor suppressor associated with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1....
around 1786 and died at Ghent
Ghent
Ghent is a city and a municipality located in the Flemish region of Belgium. It is the capital and biggest city of the East Flanders province. The city started as a settlement at the confluence of the Rivers Scheldt and Lys and in the Middle Ages became one of the largest and richest cities of...
, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, on 12 January 1830. His grandmother, Léocadie Potteuw, was born at Gheluwe, Belgium, in 1786 and died in Roubaix on 20 April 1859. Théodore Vienne was married in Bondues
Bondues
Bondues is a commune in the Nord department in northern France.-Heraldry:-Twin towns: Haywards Heath, West Sussex, England Wülfrath, Germany -References:* -External links:* *...
on 26 November 1887 to Louise Marie Crepel, who was born in Bondues on 21 January 1865.
Background
Roubaix, a town and now a suburb of Lille on the Belgian border of northern France, was a fast-growing industrial town in the 19th century. Its politics were strongly socialist and its mayor, Henri Carette, was the first Collectivist mayor in the country. His campaigns for a better life for workers included encouraging sports events. The Fédération Cyclopèdique du Nord was founded on 8 March 1890 as part of his work.The first races were held on paths in Barbieux park but they proved dangerous to participants and to walkers in the park. Théodore Vienne and his friend and business associate, Maurice Perez, both cyclists, had a mill in the rue du Pays in the town. They organised their first race in 1894. Its success led them to build Roubaix velodrome on 46,000 square metres at the corner of the rue Verte and the route d'Hempempont. It opened on Sunday 9 June 1895 to shouts from the crowd of "Vive Roubaix!" It stood opposite a fashionable horse-racing society and beside a tramway to bring spectators from the centre of town. The track's suspended bankings were considered architecturally avant-garde.
Vienne — described as "immensely rich" — and Perez held several meetings on the track, one including the first appearance in France by the American sprinter Major Taylor, then looked for further ideas.
Paris–Roubaix
In February 1896 they hit on holding a race from Paris to their track. It gave them two problems. The first was that the biggest races started or ended in Paris and that Roubaix would be seen as too provincial a destination. The second was that they could organise the start or the finish but not both. They spoke to Louis Minart, the editor of Le VéloLe Vélo
-External links:*...
, the only daily sports paper. Minart was enthusiastic but said the decision of whether the paper would run the start and provide publicity belonged to the director, Paul Rousseau. Minart may also have suggested an indirect approach because the mill owners recommended their race not on its own merits but as preparation for another. They wrote:
Dear M. Rousseau, Bordeaux–Paris is approaching and this great annual event which has done so much to promote cycling has given us an idea. What would you think of a training race which preceded Bordeaux–Paris by four weeks? The distance between Paris and Roubaix is roughly 280km, so it would be child's play for the future participants of Bordeaux–Paris. The finish would take place at the Roubaix vélodrome after several laps of the track. Everyone would be assured of an enthusiastic welcome as most of our citizens have never had the privilege of seeing the spectacle of a major road race and we count on enough friends to believe that Roubaix is truly a hospitable town. As prizes we already have subscribed to a first prize of 1,000 francs in the name of the Roubaix velodrome and we will be busy establishing a generous prize list which will be to the satisfaction of all. But for the moment, can we count on the patronage of Le Vélo and on your support for organising the start?
The first prize represented seven months' wages for a miner. Rousseau was enthusiastic and sent his cycling editor, Victor Breyer, to find a route. Breyer travelled to Amiens
Amiens
Amiens is a city and commune in northern France, north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme department in Picardy...
in a Panhard
Panhard
Panhard is currently a French manufacturer of light tactical and military vehicles. Its current incarnation was formed by the acquisition of Panhard by Auverland in 2005. Panhard had been under Citroën ownership, then PSA , for 40 years...
driven by his colleague, Paul Meyan. The following morning Breyer — later deputy organiser of the Tour de France
Tour de France
The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race held in France and nearby countries. First staged in 1903, the race covers more than and lasts three weeks. As the best known and most prestigious of cycling's three "Grand Tours", the Tour de France attracts riders and teams from around the world. The...
and a leading official of the Union Cycliste Internationale
Union Cycliste Internationale
Union Cycliste Internationale is the world governing body for sports cycling and oversees international competitive cycling events. The UCI is based in Aigle, Switzerland....
— continued by bike. The wind blew, the rain fell and the temperature dropped. Breyer reached Roubaix filthy and exhausted after a day of riding in disjointed cobbles. He swore he would send a telegram to Minart urging him to drop the idea, saying it was dangerous to send a race the way he had just ridden. But that evening a meal and drinks with the team from Roubaix changed his mind.
Sports entrepreneur
Vienne was a successful textile industrialist — described as "fabulously rich" — and a sports entrepreneur, building not only the velodrome but a successful torodrome (bull fighting ring). On 14 July 1899, France's national day, a huge crowd attended a 'fight' between a lion and a bull, but it was a fiasco because the animals would not fight. He then started promoting Greco-Roman wrestling, professional boxing and billiards. His sports empire expanded and his promotional posters were prominent at the 1911 World's Fair in Paris.Other enterprises
Ferris wheel
A Ferris wheel is a nonbuilding structure consisting of a rotating upright wheel with passenger cars attached to the rim in such a way that as the wheel turns, the cars are kept upright, usually by gravity.Some of the largest and most modern Ferris wheels have cars mounted on...
built in 1900 for the world exhibition. It was demolished in 1920, but almost 100 years passed between its construction and a taller wheel being built.
In 1907, he founded the Wonderland Français with Robert Coquelle and Victor Breyer, a sports stadium at Luna Park, Paris
Luna Park, Paris
Luna Park was an amusement park near Porte Maillot in Paris, France from 1907 to 1931. Features of the park included a shoot-the-chutes ride, a scenic railway, "Le Chatouilleur" , a river ride through the mountain that was the base of the scenic railway, and a...
. The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
reported in 1913:
Jack JohnsonJack Johnson (boxer)John Arthur Johnson , nicknamed the “Galveston Giant,” was an American boxer. At the height of the Jim Crow era, Johnson became the first African American world heavyweight boxing champion...
, heavyweight champion, was matched to-day to fight Frank MoranFrank MoranCharles Francis "Frank" Moran was an American boxer and film actor who fought twice for the Heavyweight Championship of the World, and appeared in over 135 movies in a 25 year film career.-Sports career:...
in this city during the second week of January, 1914, for the heavyweight championship of the world. Two clubs, the Nouveau Cirque and the Wonderland Francais, are now bidding for the match, and the decision will be made known Saturday.
The Nouveau Cirque, which holds its bouts at the Velodrome d'HiverVélodrome d'hiverThe Vélodrome d'Hiver , colloquially Vel' d'Hiv, was an indoor bicycle racing cycle track and stadium on rue Nélaton, not far from the Eiffel Tower in Paris. As well as track cycling, it was used for ice hockey, wrestling, boxing, roller-skating, circuses, spectaculars, and demonstrations...
in PassyPassyPassy is an area of Paris, France, located in the XVIe arrondissement, on the Right Bank. It is traditionally home to many of the city's wealthiest residents.Passy was formerly a commune...
, will seat 30,000 persons, and it has offered Johnson 50 percent of the gross receipts, with 25 percent for Moran. The Wonderland Club, which is under the control of Theodore Vienne, the leading fight promoter of France, will submit its bid tomorrow. It is said that both parties favor Vienne's club, as the fight would be held in Luna Park, Paris, thereby drawing a great society crowd.