Culbreath offers lessons about equality
Dr. Josh Culbreath was a young black adult living in a deeply segregated America in the 1950s long before marches for civil rights began.
The Human Rights Education Institute in Coeur d’Alene wants North Idaho high school students to hear Culbreath and others share about how athletics have been a vehicle to promote racial equality and break down barriers.
A student summit titled “It’s About Time!” will be held on Martin Luther King Day at Coeur d’Alene High School beginning at 1 p.m. Adults, including parents of students, are welcome to attend.
Culbreath, who won a bronze medal in the 400-meter hurdles for the United States in the 1956 Olympics at Melbourne, Australia, and Harvey Glance, the head men’s track coach at the University of Alabama who will be the sprints coach for the U.S. in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, are the two keynote speakers.
Culbreath, 75, has been described as the Martin Luther King of athletics. He doesn’t know who gave him that label.
“I didn’t march with him,” Culbreath said by telephone in Las Vegas where he lives and works as a consultant for colleges and businesses. “I was dealing with human rights and he was dealing with civil rights.”
Culbreath’s resume takes several pages to list his athletic, academic, coaching, professional and humanitarian feats. After the ‘56 Olympics, he was one of the first blacks to integrate track and field in Florida.
He plans to share several stories of his early years that included unfortunate encounters with racism. But he also has stories to tell of friendships made more than 50 years ago on the U.S. Olympic team that he cherishes to this day.
“My teammates who are white are some of the closest friends I have today,” Culbreath said. “There was a camaraderie that existed on that team. We didn’t look at color, we looked at friendship. Maybe there were some that were racist or prejudiced, but that didn’t matter.”
Culbreath, who overcame being born with deformed feet, set a world record in the 440-yard hurdles in Oslo, Norway, in 1957. He participated in the first USA vs. USSR track meet in Moscow a year later.
He was inducted into the Black Athlete Hall of Fame in New York in 1978. He’s only 8 pounds heavier than his Olympic running weight 52 years ago.
“I still do the old-fashioned crunches,” said Culbreath, who has been a physical fitness advisor to comedian Bill Cosby since 1980.
Life wasn’t easy for Culbreath and minorities through the ‘60s.
“I’m going to share about things I went through as a child,” Culbreath said. “I want to cite examples of encouragement to these young kids. I’ve been about breaking down barriers. I want people to know that we can live together in harmony. I was motivated by great people and I’ve tried to do the same.”
After the keynote speeches, two 20-minute breakout sessions will be held where students can listen to other speakers and ask questions. Some of the other guests who will share in the breakout sessions are: former major league baseball player Bump Wills; Robert Weir, a three-time Olympian in the throws from Great Britain; and Ellannee Richardson, a three-time Pac-10 heptathlon champ from WSU.
Games of the week
The Prairie Pig basketball spirit doubleheader between the Post Falls and Lakeland boys and girls will be held tonight for the first time at Lakeland. The girls tip off at 5:30 followed by the boys at 7:30.
•Lake City’s boys (10-3 overall, 4-1 league) travel to Lewiston (8-4, 3-2) on Friday at 7:30 p.m. and then Lewiston turns around and goes to league-leading Coeur d’Alene (11-2, 5-0) Saturday in an earlier tipoff at 6.
•In a pair of key Intermountain League games, the preseason-favored Bonners Ferry boys (7-6, 1-0) visit Kellogg (7-4, 2-0) on Friday at 7:30 and Priest River’s girls (14-1, 3-0) travel to Kellogg (12-1, 3-0), which was picked to win the IML, on Saturday at 4.