"My father was also a principal of a school and mother was a curriculum advisor. Both were educators"
About this Quote
Edwin Moses points to an origin story rooted not in stadiums but in classrooms. Growing up with a school principal for a father and a curriculum advisor for a mother meant that learning, planning, and accountability were everyday realities. That background helps explain the orchestrated precision that defined his dominance in the 400-meter hurdles. He was not merely fast; he was systematic. The race of ten barriers across a single lap rewarded rhythm, pattern, and problem-solving, qualities that thrive in a household where education is the family business.
Moses studied physics and engineering at Morehouse College, and he often approached performance as an experiment: adjust a stride pattern, measure outcomes, refine the model. The ethos of educators — mastery through incremental improvement, patience with process, and respect for evidence — maps neatly onto the meticulous way he trained and raced. His legendary winning streak and multiple world records grew out of a mindset that treats excellence as a curriculum, with lessons, variables, and feedback loops.
There is also a social dimension. For a Black family in mid-20th-century America, education was both a shield and a ladder. A principal and a curriculum advisor are stewards of possibility; they build pathways for others. That sensibility echoes in Moses’s later life, where he became an articulate advocate for fairness and athlete welfare, particularly in anti-doping efforts. The instinct to improve systems — to make them clearer, more just, more effective — is an educator’s instinct transposed into the realm of global sport.
The statement carries humility and gratitude, but also an explanation. Athletic greatness can look mysterious from the outside, a gift of fate. Moses reframes it as the outcome of a disciplined pedagogy learned at home: structure before spectacle, study before speed, and a belief that sustained excellence is teachable when the right values are taught early and lived every day.
Moses studied physics and engineering at Morehouse College, and he often approached performance as an experiment: adjust a stride pattern, measure outcomes, refine the model. The ethos of educators — mastery through incremental improvement, patience with process, and respect for evidence — maps neatly onto the meticulous way he trained and raced. His legendary winning streak and multiple world records grew out of a mindset that treats excellence as a curriculum, with lessons, variables, and feedback loops.
There is also a social dimension. For a Black family in mid-20th-century America, education was both a shield and a ladder. A principal and a curriculum advisor are stewards of possibility; they build pathways for others. That sensibility echoes in Moses’s later life, where he became an articulate advocate for fairness and athlete welfare, particularly in anti-doping efforts. The instinct to improve systems — to make them clearer, more just, more effective — is an educator’s instinct transposed into the realm of global sport.
The statement carries humility and gratitude, but also an explanation. Athletic greatness can look mysterious from the outside, a gift of fate. Moses reframes it as the outcome of a disciplined pedagogy learned at home: structure before spectacle, study before speed, and a belief that sustained excellence is teachable when the right values are taught early and lived every day.
Quote Details
| Topic | Family |
|---|
More Quotes by Edwin
Add to List
