Anthony Sewell

American bicycle motocross rider (1962–2009)
the British educator and life peer

Anthony Sewell (August 3, 1962 – April 3, 2009, in Los Angeles, California U. S.) was a professional "Old School" Bicycle Motocross (BMX) racer whose prime competitive years were from 1978 to 1984. He was nicknamed "The Panther". He got the moniker jumping curbs in his neighborhood and neighborhood kids likened his jumping to that of a cat. This was soon converted to Panther. He was also known as "The Professor" due to his glasses with their thick lenses. Sewell was an accomplished track star in the 120 meter low hurdles. He made it to the state finals but they were held on Saturdays and Sundays, the same days BMX races are typically held. He had to make a choice: He decided on BMX. The company is named after Sentaro Kuwahara who founded the company in 1916 in Osaka, Japan. Sewell left Kuwahara for undisclosed reasons shortly after the 1981 ABA Rondo Classic. 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 – 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 invited him over and supported him ensuring that he was able to live and race for his time in the UK to replace departing Trevor Robinson. Chris Lawther, Janis Lawther and ex racer Simon Lawther their son travelled with him from meeting to meeting keen to help him show off the skillz that this talented young American dude had to offer. Andy Ruffell, one of Britain's most respected pro racers at this time led 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. Unlike in the United States, British racers had a strong players' 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) Bicycles: April 16–17, 1988. After dropping out of racing for two years he raced at the ABA Bakersfield Nationals in Bakersfield, California. 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. He then disappeared from the racing scene once again.

Note: This listing only denotes the racer's primary sponsors. At any given time a racer could have numerous ever changing co sponsors. Primary sponsorships can be verified by BMX press coverage and sponsor's advertisements at the time in question. When possible exact dates are used.

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. 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 1988 he dropped out of sight again, unofficially retiring. In hindsight it was his goodbye race.

After a period of not being in contact with the BMX community Sewell started to attend BMX reunions with his former competitors and participating in BMX online forums in the last few years. Sewell died peacefully in his sleep on April 3, 2009

"The Complete Racer: Sewell Rules!" Bicycle Motocross Action May 1981 Vol.6 No.5 pg.78
"Anthony Sewell!" BMX Plus! December 1981 Vol.4 No.12 pg.35
Short blurb in BMX Plus! October 1982 Vol.5 No.10 pg.82
"Flashback: Anthony Sewell" Snap BMX Magazine May 2000 Vol.7 Iss.5 No.43 pg.90 Brief retrospective of the career of the "Old School" racer.

August/September 1979 Ebony Jr. magazine with fellow JAG BMX teammates.