Cov e r Story By Harvey Chipkin From an early age Sabir Muhammad knew he wanted to compete at the W he n S a bi r M u h a mm a d w a s 7 ye a r s o l d , his mother took a job as a locker room attendant at a public swimming pool in Atlanta. After school, he would go with her to work and sit and watch the swimmers. " I just figured it out, " he says. He figured it out pretty well. A decade later, Muhammad earned a full scholarship to Stanford, where he became the first African-American to compete for the varsity men's team; and won 25 All-America honors, two shy of the maximum possible. And that was only the beginning. All told, Muhammad has broken a total of 10 American records. He is a two-time Short Course World Championship medalist, a four-time U.S. Open champion, a five-time World Cup Swimming 36 Parks & Recreation February 2010 www.NRPA .ORG