The Only Bond Worth Anything Between Human

To A Sprinter, The Hundred-yard Dash Is Over In Three Seconds, Not Nine Or Ten. The First 'second' Is When You Come Out Of The Blocks. The Next Is When You Look Up And Take Your First Few Strides To Attain Gain Position. By That Time The Race Is Actually About Half Over. The Final 'second' - The Longest Slice Of Time In The World For An Athlete - Is That Last Half Of The Race, When You Really Bear Down And See What You're Made Of. It Seems To Take An Eternity, Yet Is All Over Before You Can Think What's Happening.

Joe Louis And I Were The First Modern National Sports Figures Who Were Black... But Neither Of Us Could Do National Advertising Because The South Wouldn't Buy It. That Was The Social Stigma We Lived Under.

He Was Constantly On Me About The Job That I Was To Do And The Responsibility That I Had Upon The Campus. And How I Must Be Able To Carry Myself Because People Were Looking.

Well, I Couldn't Play An Instrument. I'd Just Stand Up Front And Announce The Numbers. They Had Me Sing A Little, But That Was A Horrible Mistake. I Can't Carry A Tune In A Bucket. We Played Black Theaters And Nightclubs All Over Hell. One-nighters. Apollo Theater In Harlem And The Earle Theater In Philly - That Was Big Time For Blacks.

I Always Loved Running... It Was Something You Could Do By Yourself, And Under Your Own Power. You Could Go In Any Direction, Fast Or Slow As You Wanted, Fighting The Wind If You Felt Like It, Seeking Out New Sights Just On The Strength Of Your Feet And The Courage Of Your Lungs.