Ready to Launch
As the sun warmed her back, Madeline (Maddie) Roberts, inhaled deeply, calling upon inner strength and her higher power before turning her gaze to focus on the distant target. With the javelin held firmly above her shoulder, she ran to the line with a powerful cross-step rhythm, planted her lead foot, then…launched.
The momentum she built prior to the release of the javelin that day showcased her speed and precision, to be sure. Yet, it also represented years of building strength and resilience to overcome life’s obstacles and establish her own victories.
It was March 28, 2025, at the Kennesaw State University Don McGarey Invitational, and Memphis Tiger Maddie Roberts had just won first place in women’s javelin and set a personal record. The fact that this was her first meet following a 12-month rehabilitation from surgery to repair a torn UCL made it all the more impressive.
Spearheading Success
Growing up in Tuscumbia, Ala., a small town about 150 miles from Memphis, gave Roberts a strong sense of community. Both her parents led by example to teach their daughters that treating others with empathy and integrity yields success in business and life. Her mother Leigh Ann Roberts established her own accounting firm, while her father Brian Roberts built a successful pawn shop. Maddie admires her parents’ work ethic and looks up to her sister Mackenzie, who is eight years her senior.
Roberts spent her childhood regaled by stories of championship winning athletes — her sister and her father, a two-time All-American, helped lead their respective college teams to national titles: she in softball in 2016; he in baseball in 1990.
True to this family legacy, Roberts did more than simply admire trophies on the mantel. She picked up the mantle herself, becoming a three-sport high school athlete in volleyball, softball and track. As a junior, in 2021, she cemented her own path to a college team when she set the 4A women’s javelin state record. Back-to-back state titles caught the eye of Auburn University, with whom she signed as a top recruit.
Gravity Leads to a New Sector
Roberts reveled in being a part of the SEC power conference and shined as a premiere freshman javelin thrower, placing second in the season opener and winning a tournament. But, when the track and field team decided to downsize some event groups to accommodate a new focus on other events, Roberts was devastated to learn her position had been eliminated at the end of her first year at Auburn.
“I felt as if my world was flipped upside down,” recalled Roberts. Ungrounded by this seismic shift, she chose to steady herself by using this as an opportunity to reassess her career goals.
She had entered college as an engineering major, but ultimately found lab studies isolating. A sociable person, she much preferred vibrant, creative exchanges among others and turned to the foundation her parents established. Reflecting on their entrepreneurship, she decided to change her academic focus to business.
Her future became clearer when University of Memphis coach Kevin Robinson saw her name in the transfer portal and eagerly recruited Roberts to become a Tiger with new stripes.
In June, she visited Memphis and felt immediate comradery with the track team. The coaches assured her that at UofM she would be respected as a student-athlete and not merely a figurehead who can throw points on their scoreboard. But it was touring the Fogelman College of Business and Economics that sealed the deal. When she saw all FCBE had to offer, she knew that the next sector she’d launch into — with her javelin and her business studies — would be Memphis.
Finding Her Stride
“I discovered that Memphis was a big city disguised as a small town. This move meant I was getting out of a small college town and gaining access to a big city with lots of opportunities,” said Roberts. “Memphis seemed like the right place to begin my business studies.”
She found her footing at Memphis — finding growth in her training and inspiration in her coursework.
However, just before her first meet, she ruptured the UCL in her throwing arm, forcing an abrupt 12-month pause in her career.
Instead of dwelling on being sidelined by her injury, Roberts directed her attention to rehabilitating her elbow and concentrating on her academic courses. While enduring a grueling schedule of physical therapy and strength training, she leaned on her coaches and her faith to guide her through the hardships she faced.
“We met, talked and cried, then devised a systematic plan,” said Robinson. “We decided that this injury would allow her time to focus on strengthening every other aspect of her event. She worked relentlessly to become a better all-around athlete and turned a perceived negative into a tremendous positive.”
Meanwhile, her academic career was hitting its stride. During an NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) summit hosted by the athletic department, Roberts was invited to compete in a fast-pitch NIL marketing competition to create a promotion for a local business. The students were assigned groups, each comprised of athletes representing various sports and academic departments. Given only one hour, she and her group developed a promotional video that won the competition. Roberts and each person on the winning team were awarded their own NIL contract and a $1K prize.
Striking the Landing
Another happy twist of fate arrived when she landed one of only six spots in her first in-person course, Creativity in Marketing Communications, with Dr. Gregory Boller. She always felt she had a creative spirit, but it was this course that gave her the skills and instilled the confidence for her to tap into those talents.
Boller was immediately struck by Roberts’s abilities. “Maddie is one of those extraordinary students that every professor dreams of being honored to teach,” he said. “Maddie is a serious student with a highly dedicated work ethic and a passionate quest to develop knowledge for herself. She is always first to volunteer for the most challenging assignments, and her creative writing for marketing communications is among the most brilliant I have ever seen from any student. Maddie’s superb interpersonal skills, fierce dedication to high performance teamwork and relentless drive to use her creativity for others makes her future wonderfully bright.”
Boller inspired Roberts to view training to be a business leader the same way she trained in her sport. Roberts managed to persevere and excel in both. Coach Robinson was as awestruck as Boller by what Roberts had accomplished.
He reflected on Roberts’s performance at Kennesaw State, that first meet after she was cleared to compete again. “Not only did she win the meet handily, but she also qualified for the NCAA National Regional Championship in May.” he said. “She erupted in emotion, realizing all the hard work and dedication was finally worth it. This is the truest testament of her unwavering character and her relentless pursuit of excellence.”
“Maddie exemplifies the warrior mentality,” Robinson continued. “A consummate teammate, fierce competitor and a woman of tremendous integrity. Her ability to rise above the injury and use the time to strengthen her weaknesses is an amazing feat. I absolutely cannot say enough great things about what she has done as a person and as an athlete, and I am also confident that she will continue to excel in all things in her future endeavors.”
And so it seems only fitting that the javelin should serve as a metaphor for Roberts’s athletic and academic career. After all, the first javelins used in the Greek ancient Olympics were honed from olive wood, which symbolizes strength, resilience and enduring faith, all hallmarks of Roberts.
By:Ellen Austin | This story originally appeared in Fogelman Focus magazine. Read more from the magazine here.
