Born in Vienna, Georgia, an athlete of note Kingdom excelled at the high jump and discus in his formative years as well as being a noteworthy American football player. He attended the University of Pittsburgh originally on a football scholarship but excelled on the school's track team winning the NCAA outdoor national championship in the 110 meter hurdles in 1983 and the NCAA indoor national championship in the 55 meter hurdles in 1984. He now makes his home in Orlando, Florida. He had a long and distinguished career on the track in the 110 meter high hurdles and won two Olympic gold medals. In 1988 he was unbeaten all season and was the favorite to retain his Olympic title in Seoul, South Korea. In a stunning display of technique, power and speed he won by three meters, becoming the first man to run below the 13 second barrier in an Olympic final, running 12.98s. This record stood until 1996 when Allen Johnson broke it at the Atlanta Games. Kingdom is only the second athlete to have successfully defended his 110 m hurdle Olympic title, after Lee Calhoun, who won the gold medal in both 1956 and 1960. Kingdom set a 110 m high hurdles World Record of 12.92 seconds in Zürich, Switzerland in 1989. This stood until August 20, 1993 when it was beaten by one 1/100th of a second by Colin Jackson of Great Britain in Stuttgart, Germany, a subsequent record that stood for 13 years. His progress was hampered some in 1991 when he underwent surgery to repair ACL damage and remove bone chips from his knee. He is also a member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity. In 2006, Kingdom was inducted into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame, in Greater Hazelton, PA. He was inducted along with NFL's Bap Manzini and MLB's Jim Russell. On March 6, 2014, Kingdom was hired as the assistant strength and conditioning coach for the NFL's Arizona Cardinals. Kingdom will assist newly hired strength and conditioning coach Buddy Morris and his focus will be on improving the team's speed. On May 2, 2018, it was announced that Roger will be included in the initial class of the University of Pittsburgh Sports Hall of Fame.
