Kevin Saunders
Born: Smith Center, Kan.

Graduated: Downs H.S., 1974 / Kansas State University, 1978

If anyone knows about pushing through perceived limitations, it’s Kevin Saunders.
Only two years after being injured in a grain elevator explosion that nearly ended his life and left him
paralyzed from the chest down, Saunders began competing in wheelchair races.

Before long, he excelled as a wheelchair athlete in a variety of events at the national and international
levels. A two-time Paralympic medalist, Saunders earned the bronze in the pentathlon at the 1988 and 1992 Paralympic Games.

“To find the champion within, you have to set goals a little higher than things you’ve done in the past,” he said. “You push past the limitations you currently have so that you can reach new levels of excellence and accomplish things that you never thought you could. I think everybody is capable of it. Once you can see that you knock down one barrier, you can knock down another and another.”

Saunders was born Dec. 8, 1955, in Smith Center, Kan. He grew up with a love of sports and graduated from Downs High School in 1974. Majoring in agricultural economics, he graduated from Kansas State University in 1978.

He was working as a federal inspector for the U.S. Department of Agriculture when a grain elevator in Corpus Christi, Texas, exploded in 1981. Severely injured, Saunders said doctors originally gave him a 1% chance of survival. He spent nearly a year in the hospital rehabilitating from his injuries.

By 1983, however, Saunders entered the Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta. It was the start of an athletic career that spanned more than three decades and earned him numerous medals at the USA Games and Pan American Games.

In 1989, Saunders was named to the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition by George H.W. Bush. He was then reappointed by President Bill Clinton.

He is a motivational speaker and has served as a motivational coach for the Kansas State football team.
Saunders was named to Kansas State University’s Department of Agricultural Economics in 1995 and was inducted into the Adaptive Sports USA Hall of Fame in 2016.