He also ran track as well as playing football for the Spartans and was the 1965 NCAA indoor champion for 60-yard hurdles.

[3] As a junior, he starred for the 1965 Michigan State Spartans football team that was recognized as the national champion in the UPI coaches poll.

[4] As a senior, Washington helped lead the 1966 Michigan State team to an undefeated 9–0–1 record and the No 2 ranking in both the AP and UPI polls.

Washington was one of the fifteen plaintiffs in Mackey v. National Football League in which Judge Earl R. Larson declared that the Rozelle rule was a violation of antitrust laws on December 30, 1975.

[6][7] He is the subject of the documentary, Through the Banks of the Red Cedar, written and directed by his daughter Maya Washington.