Archive for the ‘Wrestling’ Category

Anthony Robles, NCAA wrestling champ, waxes poetic in ESPY speech

Saturday, July 23rd, 2011 by

SportsDashboards previously detailed the story of Anthony Robles, the one-legged wrestler from Arizona State who won an NCAA wrestling title this year.

Recently, Robles was awarded the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance at the 2011 ESPY awards, sponsored by ESPN, the self-proclaimed “worldwide leader in sports.” The ESPYs are fast becoming the sports world’s version of the Academy Awards and Robles’ honor was a particularly fitting one.

Jimmy Valvano, for whom the award was named, made an emotional appearance at one of the early ESPY shows while accepting the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage. Valvano was dying of cancer, but in his acceptance speech, he uttered the phrase that has resonated over time: “Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up.” With ESPN’s support, the Jimmy V Foundation has raised millions of dollars to support cancer research.

Robles made his own acceptance memorable, as you can see in this ESPN video clip, when he recited original poetry. The clip includes his poem, but we have reproduced it below.
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Robles overcomes long odds to become a collegiate wrestling champion

Saturday, April 9th, 2011 by

Anthony Robles won an NCAA wrestling championship on one leg.

There’s something special about Arizona State wrestler Anthony Robles.

You’ll notice it right away … the 2011 NCAA wrestling champion has only one leg.

To those of us who only became aware of Robles this March when he won the title, this seems like an extraordinary, almost superhuman, feat. But for the wrestling cognoscenti, Robles has been a wrestler to watch for a long time.

Robles went undefeated in Arizona high school wrestling in both his junior and senior years. As a junior at Arizona State in 2010, he reached the semifinals of the NCAA tournament, losing to the then-defending champion in the 125-pound weight class. This year, when he reached the finals, he was confronted with Matt McDonough, the current reigning champ.

Robles was a long shot in the match in more ways than one. Arizona State is not exactly a hotbed of collegiate wrestling success. Only one school west of the Rocky Mountains has ever won the NCAA team title. Wrestling champs come out of America’s heartland. Oklahoma State and Iowa have won a combined 57 of the 83 team championships awarded in the sport. Throw in the success of Oklahoma and Iowa State and the four schools have won 72 team championships. Robles’ opponent, McDonough, was representing Iowa, one of those dominant programs and McDonough, a sophomore, had only lost two matches in two years.
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