While I was doing a little research last night for today’s commentary on the return of Jean-Bertrand Aristide to Haiti, I came across a story about a one-legged wrestler who had just won a Division I national championship.
This captivated my attention for two reasons:
First, college wrestling (which is more like the challenging sport you see every four years at the Olympics than the fake stuff you see every weekend on the TV) is a mostly white sport. And it filled me with racial pride to see this black kid excel at this level – with just one leg no less.
Second, like him, I too competed in college in a mostly white sport: swimming. I even harbored ambitions of becoming a national champion. But I never came close. And my school, Williams College, was in the much less competitive Division III. So I also take a little vicarious pride in his remarkable accomplishment.
At any rate, I found this story so heartwarming and inspirational that I thought I should do what little I can to help it go viral. It also occurred to me that it provides a much-needed break from all of the bad news lately about natural disasters, wars, and drug-addled celebrities. And, of course, the return of Aristide portends nothing but more bad news for Haiti….
I’m also mindful that even the most amazing story about college wrestling will not get one percent of the coverage in print and on TV that college basketball is currently getting with the NCAA tournament.
So here it is as reported yesterday by the Associated Press:
PHILADELPHIA — Arizona State wrestler Anthony Robles, who was born without a right leg, became an NCAA champion Saturday night when he won his 125-pound final at the Division I Wrestling Championships
Robles took a 7-1 decision from Iowa sophomore Matt McDonough. Robles got the only takedown, in the first period of the match, and worked a pair of tilts to secure five back points.
“I had a lot of butterflies going out there,” said Robles, who admitted he most likely is done as a competitive wrestler but wants to remain involved in one facet or another.
“This year I think that was the biggest difference in my wrestling, was my mental game (sic). Going into every match I was real relaxed, real calm. But before that, before this match, it was nothing but butterflies. I felt like I was going to throw up, I was so scared I almost started crying. But it’s just the atmosphere. It’s the true athletes that are able to just overcome that.”
Congratulation Anthony!