| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
Leroy Kemp |
||
| Competitor for United States | ||
| Men's freestyle wrestling | ||
| World Championships | ||
| Gold | 1978 Mexico City | 74 kg |
| Gold | 1979 San Diego | 74 kg |
| Bronze | 1981 Skopje | 74 kg |
| Gold | 1982 Edmonton | 74 kg |
Leroy (Lee) P. Kemp, Jr. (born Darnell Freeman on December 24, 1956 in Cleveland, Ohio) was a successful collegiate wrestler and three-time World Champion. He earned a berth on the 1980 Olympic team, but was unable to compete because of the U.S. boycott of the Olympics. He also won three NCAA Division I titles while competing for the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
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Kemp was born to a single mother, who eventually put him up for adoption. He was by adopted Leroy Percy Kemp and his wife Jessie. Darmell was their only child and after the adoption they legally changed his name to Leroy P. Kemp, Jr. The Kemps lived in Cleveland until Leroy Jr. finished 6th grade, when they purchased a 25-acre (100,000 m2) farm in Chardon, Ohio.
As a freshman at Chardon high school, Kemp got involved in wrestling after being cut from the basketball team. He made the varsity as a sophomore for the 1972 season and finished with an 11-8-3 record. The next two seasons he was an Ohio State high school champion and finished undefeated in his junior and senior years. His career record in high school was 78-8-3. Prior to matriculating at the University of Wisconsin, he won the Junior Freestyle Nationals in the summer of 1974.
Kemp started for Wisconsin as a true freshman and finished second at the Big Ten tournament at 150 pounds. He also reached the finals of the 1975 NCAA tournament and lost a split referees decision to Chuck Yagla of the University of Iowa. That was the last loss of Kemp's career.
The following season, Kemp moved up a weight class to 158 pounds. Kemp won the NCAA title at 158 pounds the next three seasons and the only blemish on his record was a single tie. He completed his college career with a record of 143-6-1 and 47 falls. He had an 87-match winning streak and a 103-match unbeaten streak.
Kemp, in his first major international tournament, won a gold medal at 74 kg (163 pounds) at the world freestyle championships in August 1978. At the age of 21 years and 8 months, he had become the youngest American to capture a world or Olympic gold medal. He held that distinction for 30 years until Henry Cejudo won the Olympic gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
He repeated as world champion in 1979 and 1982—becoming the first American to win three times—and added a bronze medal in 1981. He also won a gold medal at the 1979 and 1983 Pan American games. He was the U.S. freestyle champion for five straight years from 1979 through 1983. The U.S. boycott of the Moscow Olympics prevented him from winning the ultimate prize—an Olympic gold medal. Kemp retired in 1984 after finishing second at the U.S. Olympic trials. His record in all international competition was 53-8.
Kemp was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum in 1990. Then at the Beijing Olympics, where he was one of the freestyle coaches for the U.S., he became just the fifth American to be inducted into the FILA International Wrestling Hall of Fame.
Kemp earned both a Bachelor and Master degree in Marketing from the University of Wisconsin. He spent the first several years of his post athletic career working in the field of marketing for major corporations. In 1991, Kemp became President/Owner of Forest Lake Ford, a Ford dealership located near Minneapolis/St Paul. The dealership was named to the 100 list of minority-owned auto dealerships, by Black Enterprise Magazine, in 1995, 1996, 1997, and 2004. Kemp sold the dealership in 2005.
Today Kemp remains active in wrestling on a broad scale, teaching and mentoring youth and high school level wrestlers at his wrestling academy. He has three children, two sons and a daughter.