01/20/2026
Keep moving forward 🙏
Dr. King was not a runner—but he told me he deeply respected runners.
It was my senior year at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. I was serving on the Assembly Committee, which invited notable speakers to campus, and that day we were welcoming Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The meeting hall was filling quickly, every seat taken, and there was a quiet moment as we waited together.
We were both from Atlanta, yet we had never met. I was just days away from graduating, about to leave the structure and stimulation of college life, and I had no clear idea what I wanted to do next. I hesitated, sensing how much was on his mind—but finally, the question came out:
“What would you advise a young person who is still looking for the right career?”
Dr. King paused, then looked me directly in the eye and said something I’ve never forgotten:
“Choose a profession that allows you to help people improve the quality of their lives.”
In that moment, he gave me a compass. A philosophical anchor. A way forward.
In the years that followed, I completed my military service, represented my country in the Olympics, and began following his advice—starting a running center dedicated to fitness, health, and helping people believe in themselves.
To this day, whenever I’m faced with an important decision or offering guidance to someone else, I think back to that brief connection in Middletown, Connecticut, in 1967.
I’m proud to say that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. helped inspire a lifelong mission—to help people walk, run, and ultimately change their lives for the better.
I may not be flying—but I’m still running. And still moving forward.
