 samuel louis ("sam") graddy iii (born february 10, 1964) is a former american athlete and american football player, winner of gold medal in 4x100 m relay at the 1984 summer olympics. ==early years== born in gaffney, south carolina, sam graddy was second in 100 m and was a member of gold medal winning american 4x100 m relay team at the 1983 pan american games. ==professional career== after graduating from university, graddy was drafted by the denver broncos in the 1987 nfl draft. he played seasons 1987 and 1988, and signed with the los angeles raiders, where he played from 1990 to 1992. during his raider career graddy was blasted by raider fans for dropping too many passes and since the raider coaches also realized this his playing time was reduced. in 1991 he scored on an 80 yard touchdown pass against the houston oilers. ==track and field==        graddy was also a standout athlete. in 1984, he won the us national championships in 100 meters with a time of 10.08 seconds, and as a university of tennessee at knoxville student, he also won the ncaa 100 meters title. at the los angeles olympics, graddy was second behind carl lewis in 100 m and ran the first leg in the american 4 x 100 metres relay team, which won the gold medal with a new world record of 37.83 seconds. ===personal bests=== {| class="wikitable" |- !event !time (seconds) !venue !date |- |60 meters |6.63 |paris, france |january 1, 1985 |- |100 meters |10.08 |knoxville, tennessee |may 19, 1984 |- |200 meters |20.30 |knoxville, tennessee |may 10, 1985 |} == references ==   {{footer 
1964_births American_football_wide_receivers American_sprinters Athletes_(track_and_field)_at_the_1983_Pan_American_Games Athletes_(track_and_field)_at_the_1984_Summer_Olympics Denver_Broncos_players Living_people Los_Angeles_Raiders_players Medalists_at_the_1984_Summer_Olympics Olympic_gold_medalists_for_the_United_States Olympic_medalists_in_athletics_(track_and_field) Olympic_silver_medalists_for_the_United_States Olympic_track_and_field_athletes_of_the_United_States People_from_Gaffney,_South_Carolina Tennessee_Volunteers_track_and_field_athletes