The Story of Roger Kingdom

His-Story

From a farm in Vienna, Georgia to Olympic gold, a world record, and a Super Bowl championship — a life built on work, resilience, and the relentless pursuit of excellence.

Roger Kingdom

Breaking The 13-Second Barrier

There's a version of this story that starts on a farm in Vienna, Georgia, where a kid named Roger — the third of six children born to Roy and Christine Kingdom — spent his childhood working and sweating on his grandfather Matt Wallace's land.

Nobody hands you a work ethic. You build it, one long day at a time. Roger built his early, and it would end up carrying him further than anyone in Vienna could have guessed.

He was a natural at nearly everything he touched, from the high jump, discus, and football — good enough to earn him a scholarship to the University of Pittsburgh. He went there to play football. He left as one of the greatest hurdlers the sport has ever seen.

2× Olympic Gold Medalist
12.92 World Record
LV Super Bowl Champion
01

The Fastest Man Over the Sticks

Roger Kingdom didn't just compete in the 110-meter hurdles — he owned them for the better part of a decade. Five-time U.S. National Champion. Five-time world number one. Gold in the World Cup, the World University Games, the Indoor World Championships, and back-to-back Pan American Games titles.

At the 1988 Seoul Olympics, Roger successfully defended his 1984 Olympic title, joining the legendary Lee Calhoun as the only men in history to win back-to-back Olympic gold in the 110 hurdles.

Then came Zurich. On August 16, 1989, with the 110-meter hurdles world record standing at 12.93 seconds, Roger ran 12.92.

He became just the second man in history to break 13 seconds and redefined what the human body was capable of over ten hurdles. The mark stood as the American record for seventeen years.

02

The Comeback Nobody Saw Coming

In 1991, Roger's career took an unexpected turn on a pickup basketball court in Ft. Lauderdale. A torn ACL and bone chips in the knee ended his training camp and, many assumed, his career.

He could have walked away a legend. Instead, he had surgery and went back to work.

In 1995, Roger won the U.S. National Championship on a rebuilt knee and earned a trip to the Outdoor World Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden. Despite tendinitis in that same knee, he came away with a bronze medal.

He hung up his spikes for good in August 1999, after 17 years, closing the book on one of the most decorated hurdling careers in history.

03

Act Two: Building Champions Instead of Being One

Most athletes' stories end at retirement. Roger's got more interesting.

In 2001, he returned to the University of Pittsburgh to finish the degree he'd started years earlier. While there, he interned with the football program under Coach Walt Harris and strength coach Buddy Morris, beginning a coaching path that would span the next two decades.

  • Cleveland Browns: Strength and conditioning intern, then volunteer coach (2001–2003)
  • California University of Pennsylvania: Track and cross-country coach, later Director of both programs (2004–2013)
  • Arizona Cardinals: Speed and Conditioning Coordinator under Bruce Arians (2014–2018)
  • University of Central Florida: Interim Director of Track & Field/Cross Country (2018)
  • Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Speed and Conditioning Coordinator (2019)

Then came Super Bowl LV. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers became world champions, making Roger Kingdom only the second person in history to hold two Olympic gold medals and a Super Bowl ring.

Two golds. A world record that survived four years. A Super Bowl ring. And a career built on the same lesson he learned as a boy on his grandfather's farm: adversity isn't the end of the story; it's just the part right before the best chapter.