Heard today Anthony Sewell "The Panther" has Passed Away RIP Dude and Keep it RAD in BMX heaven
Amateur
JAG BMX: 1978-December 31, 1980 He would turn pro with this sponsor.
Professional
JAG BMX: January 1978-December 31, 1980
Kuwahara Cycles, Ltd.: January 1, 1981-Mid May 1981. "Kuwahara" means "Mulberry Meadows" in Japanese.The company is named after Sentaro Kuwahara who founded the company in 1916 in Osaka, Japan.[6] Sewell left Kuwahara for undisclosed reasons shortly after the 1981 ABA Rondo Classic.[7]
Huffy Corporation: Late July 1981-September 11, 1981. His first race for Huffy was the NBL War of the Stars National in Hamilton, Ohio on August 1, 1981.This seemed to have been a limited sponsorship with Anthony wearing Huffy uniforms and racing their bicycles. He was sponsored by them for four races before Sewell signed permanently with Murray Ohio.
Murray Ohio Corporation: September 12, 1981-September 1984
KHS (Kung Hsue She): February 1985 to Early Summer 1985
KHS/Birmingham Wheels (Birmingham, England): Mid 1985-Late Summer 1985. He was living and racing in England and at this time and Birmingham Wheels was his sponsor along with KHS when he was there. Birmingham Wheels had inited him over to replace departing Trevor Robinson. Interestingly Andy Ruffell, one of Britain's most respected pro racers at this time lead a campaign on the behalf of other UK pros to bar American professional racers from racing in United Kingdom BMX Association (UKBMXA) races. The National BMX Association (NBMXA) did not ban the Americans but the larger, rival UKBMXA did, forcing Sewell to race only the NBMXA circuit.[10] Unlike in the United States, British racers had a strong player's union in BMX.
GT Racing (England): Late Summer 1985-December 1985. Sewell returned to the United States in early 1986 after his guest stint on Birmingham Wheels and on the British affiliate of GT Racing was over, racing sponsorless in the meanwhile. He failed to get a sponsor in 1986 due to the paucity of hiring by the major companies caused by both the slump in popularity of BMX racing and the wish to expand their freestyle teams in light of the rise in popularity of BMX Freestyle. By mid 1986 Anthony Sewell had quietly faded out of the racing scene.
S&M (Greg Scott & Chris Moeller[11]) Bicycles: April 16-17 1988. After dropping out of racing for two years he raced at the ABA Bakersfield Nationals in Bakersfield, California.[12] It was in response to Chris Moeller jokingly posted signs around the Orange YMCA BMX track as part of the "search" for Sewell. Sewell heard about the search and the posters and went to the Orange YMCA track for those responsible.[2] Not at all angry he was happy that people still knew of him after his retirement. He struck a deal with S&M Bicycles and given a bicycle two uniforms and his entrance fees paid.[2] He was sponsored for only the weekend. He did not make any mains. He crashed in all three qualifying motos both days.[2] Later, his S&M race bicycle was stolen.[13] He then disappeared from the racing scene once again.
[edit]Career bicycle motocross titles
Note: Listed are District, State/Provincial/Department, Regional, National, and International titles in italics. "Defunct" refers to the fact of that sanctioning body in question no longer existing at the start of the racer's career or at that stage of his/her career. Depending on point totals of individual racers, winners of Grand Nationals do not necessarily win National titles.
[edit]Amateur
National Bicycle Association (NBA)
1978 Jag BMX 16 year old class and Overall World Champion* (NBA/NBL sanctioned)
*At the time the overall champion was decided by a trophy Dash between the age winners in points and open classes. With the oldest Amateurs, the 16 & over class and 16 & over open they also race the pro winners, so the overall world champion could be a professional or amateur. This rule was changed in 1983 and the Pros no longer raced the Amateurs.
National Bicycle League (NBL)
None
United Bicycle Racers (UBR)
American Bicycle Association (ABA)
None
International Bicycle Motocross Federation (IBMXF
Professional
National Bicycle Association (NBA)
1980 National No.1 Pro
National Bicycle League (NBL)
1980 Pro and 14 & Over Open* Grandnational Champion (Doubled)
*At this time professionals could race in the older amateur classes.
1980 National No.1 Pro
American Bicycle Association (ABA)
1982 Jag Pro Cruiser World Champion (ABA Sanctioned)
United Bicycle Racers (UBR)
United States Bicycle Motocross Association (USBA)
None
International Bicycle Motocross Federation (IBMXF)
1982 Pro Cruiser Murray World Cup of BMX I Champion
Independent races; Pro Series and Invitational Championships
Notable accolades
Antony Sewell became the first official World Champion in 1978 by winning the trophy dash at the 1978 Jag World Championships.*
He did on screen stunt work for the BMX race subplot in an episode of the American television series CHiPs which originally aired on March 3, 1979. Fellow racers John George and Charlie Litsky also appeared. It was entitled "CHP-BMX" (Season 2, Episode 21).
He is credited as being the first person to do "No-Handers", a jump in which you launch yourself off a high jump and take you hands off the handlebars (the farther and longer you get your hands away from the handlebars the better) and quickly grabbing back onto the bars before you land.
He became the first pro to hold the No.1 pro title in two different sanctioning bodies simultaneously: The NBA and the NBL in 1980.
Mr. Sewell is a 1998 Inductee to the ABA BMX Hall of Fame.
*There were minimal foreign participation at the time, but given the fact that BMX during that era was virtually a US exclusive sport(with some then small Canadian and Mexican participation), the title of "World Champion" had some legitimacy. The only question was that it was not part of a series but just one race. Many felt that a World Champion could not be decided by just one race given the luck factor. The winner could have been having one good day by coincidence while an otherwise more consitant racer could have had one bad day at a bad time to have it.
Noted for his thick Coke bottle bottom thick glasses to correct his Hyperopia until he switched to contact lenses at the end of the 1980 racing season.
He was considered a noted sprinter down the first and last straight with minimal technical skills concerning going over obstacles and setting up passes in turns. He also was reputed to be a "concrete specialist," at his best on flat, dirtless indoor stadium tracks with slick concrete or wooden floors and wooden moguls and flat, bermless turns.The Jag BMX World Championships first four races were held on these dirtless courses and he was its first Overall Champion in 1978.
He also had the habit of dropping out of sight for periods of time being a very private person. There was even an underground tongue in cheek video of the search for him called "The Search".After coming back for one ABA National at Bakersfield, California in April of 1988 he dropped out of sight again, unofficially retiring. In hindsight it was his goodbye race.
