Trey Hardee

James Edward "Trey" Hardee III (born February 7, 1984, in Birmingham, Alabama) is a retired American track and field athlete who specialized in the combined events. He is a former NCAA Champion, a two-time World Outdoor Champion, a member of the United States 2008 Olympic team, and the silver medalist in the decathlon at the London 2012 Olympics. He was Inducted into the Texas Track and Field Hall of Fame in 2018. High school and college career Hardee did not start out as a decathlete. He preferred basketball, and only joined the track and field team as a junior after failing to make the basketball varsity squad at Vestavia Hills High School. He was recruited to Mississippi State University as a pole vaulter. Hardee started college at Mississippi State in 2002. It was at the university that coaches, noting his combination of size and speed, pushed him toward the decathlon and the indoor heptathlon. He finished second in the decathlon at the 2004 NCAA Outdoor Championships. Mississippi State dropped its indoor track and field program after the 2004 season, so Hardee transferred to the University of Texas. In his first season at Texas, he was third in the heptathlon at the 2005 NCAA Indoor Championships and won the decathlon at the 2005 NCAA Outdoor Championships. In 2006, he set the NCAA decathlon record with a then personal best 8,465 points and was named the 2006 NCAA Division I Men's Indoor Field Athlete of the Year. Professional career