Race Across America: Eddie Gardner and the Great Bunion Derbies2020 Peace Corps Writers Paul Cowan Award for the Best Book of Non Fiction On April 23, 1929, the second annual Transcontinental Foot Race across America, known as the Bunion Derby, was in its twenty fifth day. Eddie the Sheik Gardner, an African American runner from Seattle, was leading the race across the Free Bridge over the Mississippi River. Along with the signature outfit that earned him his nickname a white towel tied around his head, white