"Friendships born on the field of athletics are the real gold of competition. Awards turn to dust and fade away. But friendships endure forever."

"My biggest competition is myself."

"For a time, I was a national hero. But then I came home, and I was just another colored man."

"My life was a race, and I ran it to the finish line."

"The battles that count aren't the ones for gold medals. The struggles within yourself - the invisible, inevitable battles inside all of us - that's where it's at."