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Born in Texas and moved to California. My family was the only blacks residing in the town for quite some time and as life would come a full circle, I faced this problem representing my country too, more so when the debate of carrying the country’s flag during the Olympics. Bob Mathias was my inspiration to take up Decathlon as a career in sports. 1956 Olympics proved to be tough for me as I had to fight an injury to settle for Silver, which I converted to Gold in 1960. I was offered the role of Draba, the Ethiopian Gladiator who refuses to kill SPARTACUS, which I had to deny due to the constraints I would have had in competing for the Olympics. Little known fact about me is that I was selected as a running back for the 1959 NFL team of Los Angeles Rams.