Thom Ortiz was the very successful Arizona State University wrestling coach. One morning, he arrived at his office and received an e-mail which read, “I’m on my way to work, driving down Rural Road, thinking about how much pressure I’m under, and how tough I have it, and there’s a bunch of wrestlers running on the side of the road. Then I see this kid, sprinting on his crutches at six o’clock in the morning……it hit me right between the eyes…..”what am I complaining about?”
The wrestler’s name was Anthony Robles who was born with one leg. Robles would go on to be a three time All American, an NCAA Champion, and a member of the NCAA Wrestling Hall of Fame. His first attempt at a timed one mile run on his crutches was a respectable ten minute time. He eventually would do the mile in eight minutes.
“My mom raised me with my head in the clouds. She made me believe I could do anything I wanted. And really, I believed I was Superman.”
His opponents thought he was too. This Superman who could do 100 pull up in two minutes and bench press 320 pounds.
Pretty fitting that the book about Mr. Robles is entitled Unstoppable….from underdog to undefeated…..how I became a champion.
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