Ruggiero Continues Success on American Gladiators
7/28/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
Former Kent State football player and 2002 graduate James Ruggiero was once again victorious on NBC's American Gladiators, this time during the semifinals, which aired Monday night (July 28). Ruggiero's Eliminator time of 1:43 was faster than his semifinal opponent, but that time will have to rank in the top two among semifinalists to place him into the finals. Ruggiero outscored Jeff Davidson 34-13 heading into the final event, The Eliminator.
In his first episode aired on June 30, Ruggiero finished The Eliminator with one of the top six times of Season 2, qualifying him for the semifinals. He outscored Sean Hetherington 41-5, recording the highest individual point total of the season. Other highlights for the California English teacher included knocking "Toa" off the platform within the first 10 seconds of Joust and running over "Wolf" in Powerball.
Twenty male contestants competed in the preliminary round of Season 2. Ruggiero was originally contacted by the producers of the show because of his successful weight loss results on the Nutrisystem web site.
A fullback with the Golden Flashes, Ruggiero's career came to a sudden end following a severe head injury in 2001.
The last semifinal and final round will both be aired August 4 in a two-hour special. Replays of all episodes from Season 2 can be seen on NBC.com
