We're in the rarefied presence of an immortal here. Edwin's a crowd unto himself. With both his parents being educators, Moses took academics more seriously than most youngsters, though he also competed in sports. When his high school basketball coach cut him from the team and the football coach kicked him out for fighting, Moses turned to track and gymnastics. It's just a matter of getting to the finish line first.
Any individual sport is basically a gladiator sport.
Back in the old days only one guy would walk out of the arena. In track, it's basically the same thing. Rather than seeking an athletic scholarship, Moses accepted an academic scholarship to Morehouse College in Atlanta, majoring in physics and engineering. Though the school had a track team, it didn't have a track. Just once before late March 1976 did he enter a 400-hurdles race.