Editing Herb Washington (section)

==Early life==
Washington was born in [[Belzoni, Mississippi]], and his family moved to [[Flint, Michigan]], when Washington was an infant. His parents worked in the automotive industry. Washington attended [[Flint Northern High School]] until 10th grade, when it was discovered that he lived outside of the school's boundaries. Losing a semester of athletic eligibility, Washington was forced to transfer to a rival school, [[Flint Central High School]]. There he ran the [[100-yard dash]] in 9.4 seconds, attracting numerous college scholarship offers. Washington chose [[Michigan State University]] because he knew that there were a number of black athletes at the school.<ref name=Success>{{cite web|title=Herb Washington: World-record sprinter and business success|url=http://www.msuspartans.com/genrel/021907aac.html|publisher=[[Michigan State University]]|access-date=June 10, 2015|date=February 19, 2007}}</ref>

At Michigan State, the four-time all-American won one [[National Collegiate Athletic Association]] (NCAA) title, won seven [[Big Ten Conference|Big Ten]] titles, and tied or broke the world record in the 50- and 60-yard dashes several times.

Washington was selected in the 13th round in the [[1972 NFL draft]] by the [[Baltimore Colts]], but did not play for them; he informed the team that he was committed to competing in the Big Ten Conference meet, in addition to attempting to make the US Olympic track team for the [[1972 Summer Olympics]]; at the time, amateur status was a much stricter requirement.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/herb-washington/ |title=Herb Washington – Society for American Baseball Research |last=Costello |first=Rory |publisher=Society for American Baseball Research |access-date=10 March 2023}}</ref>