Times Chronicle & Public Spirit
Local Olympian gets the literary treatment
Cousin pens book about the rise to excellence by Norristown's Josh Culbreath
NORRISTOWN » As her sports biography on her second cousin — Norristown icon Josh Culbreath — took shape, author Cynthia Culbreath’s primary goal for the book of 18 chapters and more than 300 pages came into focus.
But, to borrow a track and field term, “The Olympian Leap: The Life and Legacy of Josh Culbreath” is about passing the baton from generation to generation.
“I want this book to resonate with young athletes,” said Culbreath. “I want them to be encouraged by his story. No matter where you come from, you can become whatever you want to be.
“You can come from a small town and become a champion if you work hard, go to school and get your education so that scholarships come your way. You need to know the past history of those who
came before you.”
However, while that is part of the message, this is not a children’s book
“While I really want this to resonate with children, I wrote this book for everybody,” she said. “It’s a sports biography targeting people who are into sports.”
The life of times of Josh Culbreath, a bronze medal winner at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne and championship collegiate coach, are common knowledge to those who knew him best. But the first-time author promises some surprises unearthed in her eight months of writing and research that began during the pandemic.
“There are some things in this book that, through my research, the people who knew Josh may not have even known,” she said.
Cynthia Culbreath’s fascination with the relative she would not meet until years later began early.
She reflected: “Where can I start? As a young girl, I grew up in a household where I always heard my grandparents — and other family members — all talking about Josh Culbreath. I heard all these stories, saying how he was an Olympian. When I heard that, it always just stuck with me throughout my life. I just couldn’t believe we actually had an Olympian in the family.”
She always wanted to meet her famous cousin, but it didn’t happen until he was invited to be the featured speaker at a family reunion at Mermaid Lake Swim Club.
“I never really caught up with him until later in life,” she said. “I was, like, in awe to finally meet him. It meant so much to me. I had heard so many stories. It was an honor to meet him.”
It was then suggested to her that she should endeavor to write an overdue book about him.
At first, she scoffed at the idea, largely because she is an IT person with no real writing experience.
However, during the pandemic, she began researching the family history on her grandfather’s side dating back to 1833.
One name just kept coming up.
“That’s when I said to myself, ‘Maybe I should write this book,’” she said. “I said to myself, ‘Let me start writing about cousin Josh.’ So, then, I just starting researching. I went to the Norristown Historical Society, I went to the Norristown public library and the Upper Merion library. Plus, I had information from my cousins. I just started writing stories about him. I incorporated stories from my family and stories from the paper, and that’s how I built the book and put it together.”
From there, she connected with surviving Olympian friends, as well as teammates from Morgan State.
The book, which starts with a forward from Olympic great Edwin Moses, goes into his early days in Norristown, evoking names of other icons (Tommy Lasorda, Al Cantello, Pete Lewis, Charlie Blockson, Ted Ellis, etc.) and on into the Marines and then the Olympics.
Cynthia Culbreath was fascinated to learn of the latitude given to Josh by the Marines.
“They saw how great of an athlete he was,” she said. “They allowed him to train for the Olympic Games as an active duty Marine.”
Staff Sgt. John Mahoney wrote a press release before the Olympics, and she called Quantico for an original copy and put it into the book.
She also went beyond his athletic career, touching on coaching at Central State in Ohio, where he won 10 NAIA titles in an 8-year span coaching both men and women in outdoor and indoor track.
Under his tutelage were also multiple Olympians.
Meanwhile, Culbreath and his team were invited to the Rose Garden of the White House to be honored by President Bill Clinton on June 3, 1993.
“I really touched on that chapter,” she said, adding that the full text of Clinton’s speech is reprinted in the book.
Even though she worked on the manuscript, it was not with real expectations of success.
“I never thought that this would go anywhere,” she said. “I thought. ‘I have no writing skills whatsoever.’ I didn’t know anything about writing a book.”
But she reached out to four publishers and went with Fulton Books from the Pittsburgh area, as it was the first to respond and was the most enthusiastic.
The book will be available for purchase at Barnes & Noble and other formats (Kindle, eBook, iTunes, Amazon, etc.)
Culbreath, a Norristown native and System Engineer, was also thrilled to learn that the book may also be sold locally in conjunction with the Elmwood Park Zoo’s gift shop.
While writing the book, Cynthia Culbreath realized the full magnitude of those Josh Culbreath touched.
An example was when he taught students with special needs in the Norristown School District and got them to excel beyond expectations.
The highlight was when his students performed “Silent Night” in German in the Christmas Pageant.
“I wrote so many things
about his life,” she said. “I wrote about how he was an educator. He taught the kids that nobody else thought they could do anything with.”
A 1980 graduate of Norristown Area High School, Cynthia Culbreath was hoping to surprise Josh with the book upon completion, but he passed away July 1 of last year.
“I was very emotionally upset over that, because he didn’t get to know,” she said. “That broke my heart.”
But her heart is warmed to know that it has a chance to resonate the way she hopes it will with future generations.
She said: “The reason why I wrote this book is because I want everyone to know about the life and legacy of my cousin, Josh. Not only was he an Olympic athlete, but he was involved in so many other things in the community.”
She mentioned stories like Josh running barefoot on the cinder track at Roosevelt Field because he could not afford track shoes.
“These young athletes of today need to know the history of those who came before them,” she said. “Josh looked up to people like Jesse Owens, which is why he got into sports.
“That was why these young Millennials need to know the history of their past and pass the baton to future to the athletes who are following them. It becomes like a cycle of knowing your history. I just want them to know that, wherever you come from, you can go to wherever your dreams lead you as an athlete.”
To purchase Culbreath’s book, visit the following websites:
https://www.amazon. com/Olympian-Leap-LifeLegacy-Culbreath
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/theolympian-leap-cynthiaculbreath/1141846163? ean=9781638608981
https://fultonbooks.com/ books/?book=the-olympianleap