In the beginning there was nearly nothing but fixed gear. Star highwheels can apparently coast, but I think nearly no others can. The hard tire safties that followed were fixed gear only with rare exceptions. Later 1890's pneumatic safties saw the advent of freewheels, but not for all bikes. And at first a freewheel was a fancy accessory. (And required decent brakes to be made) So yes, college kids of the time rode around with mostly no brakes if they had a bike at all.
Track racing being what it is never changed, and didn't really have much reason to change. If you're not pedaling, you're probably going to lose.
Now it's part of the rules. No shifting coasting or brakes. And some people have taken a liking to the simplicity of a track bike, which IS pretty cool. Not having a backup brake seems unwise to me, but I also did plenty of unwise things during my college years. Still do depending on who you ask!
Steve Birmingham Lowell, Massachusetts USA
Message: 12 Date: Sun, 2 May 2010 06:53:40 -0700 (PDT) From: Mike Larsen <mnbikeresto@yahoo.com> Subject: [CR] Fixed Gear-When and Why To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Listmembers; Was the fixed gear originally designed for racing on the wooden velodromes and when was it designed. I am pretty sure it was not designed for college kids to be riding around the inner city with no brakes. But at my early aging mind I have been wrong many times, just ask my wife.
Mike Larsen
St. Paul, MN
USA