Back to the Track, Jack

Back to the Track, Jack is the 20th episode of Season 1 of The Cosby Show, also the 20th overall in the series. The episode was directed by Jay Sandrich and written by Matt Robinson. The episodes originally aired in the United States on NBC on February 28, 1985.

Synopsis
Cliff's college track coach contacts him and asks to run in a Master's Track Meet (for former college track athletes who still want to run competitively) event between Hillman and its rival, Norton College. Heathcliff "Combustible Huxtable" trains, but soon learns that he is not the runner he was all those years ago.

Plot summary
Hoping to relive his glory days as "Combustible Huxtable", Cliff (Bill Cosby) jumps at the chance to reunite his old college track team on behalf of his former coach Ernie Scott (Al Freeman, Jr.). It seems that Scott has arranged a "grudge" mile-relay match with the only runner who'd ever defeated Cliff, one "Tailwind" Turner (played by 1956 Olympic medalist Joshua Culbreath). Unfortunately, it's been 25 years since Cliff ran competitively, and the old "Combustible" ain't what he used to be. The final sequence was taped on location at the Meadowlands.

Trivia

-Joshua Culbreath won the bronze medal for the United States in the 400-meter hurdles in the 1956 Summer Olympics. He did indeed serve in the Marine Corps from 1956 to 1958 after graduating from Morgan State College in 1955.