 Joshua Culbreath was born in Norristown, Pennsylvania on September 14, 1932.Culbreath began running the hurdles in high school and 1951 was ranked second in the U.S. in the 200 yard low hurdles and was the Pennsylvania's state high school champion in that event.Culbreath graduated from Morgan State College in 1955 with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, where he was the USA Outdoor champion in the 400m hurdles for three consecutive years—1953, 1954, and 1955.