This NCAA Wrestling Champ Has Only One Leg to Stand On
Winning a Division 1 college NCAA Wrestling championship is a noteworthy feat in itself, but imagine doing that with literally just one leg to stand on!
In 2011, Anthony Robles won the Division 1 NCAA wrestling championship in the 125-pound weight class in his senior year at Arizona State University, ASU. Robles was born without his right leg.
Robles shared his journey with this writer in a one-on-one phone interview this past April 29.
“The doctors never knew what caused it,” said Robles. “They said that it was an unusual birth defect.”
When Robles was a child, he often wondered what caused him to have this unusual birth defect, but eventually he understood that he would probably never know. “I just moved on,” Robles said.
Robles delved into that topic in his 2013 autobiography: “Unstoppable: From Underdog to Undefeated: How I Became a Champion.“
According to Wikipedia, the movie version of Unstoppable premiered as part of the Gala section of the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2024. Then in December 2024, Amazon MGM Studios gave Unstoppable a limited theatrical release. In January 2025, Amazon Prime Video made this movie available to watch.
Jharrel Jerome portrayed Anthony Robles, while the real Anthony Robles served as Jerome’s stunt double. Jennifer Lopez portrayed Anthony Robles’s mother, Judy Robles.
Robles was happy with the way the movie turned out. He said that the production team did a great job.
“They were respectful,” Robles said. “They made the movie inspiring.”
However, there were discrepancies between the movie and the book. For example, in the movie, Anthony Robles’s stepfather’s first name was Rick (Bobby Cannavale), but in the book and in real life, his name is Ron. In the movie, when Anthony caught Rick abusing his mother, Anthony beat him up and drove him from the house. In real life, Ron was abusive, but neither he nor Anthony ever had a physical altercation.
“Movies aren’t always one-hundred percent accurate,” said Robles. “That’s the reason I came out with my book first. I wanted to tell an accurate story. Films are not always going to be completely accurate. That’s just how it goes.”
Anthony Robles' High School and College Days as a Wrestler
Robles wrestled for Mesa High School in Arizona and was an Arizona state champion in his junior and senior years. His record for his junior and senior year totaled to 96 wins and zero losses.
In high school, some people mistakenly assumed that Robles had incredible body strength as a result of missing a leg. Robles emphasized that that was an untrue accusation. He said that he bulked up as a result of lifting weights every day.
It seemed like people were taking away from me all the hard work I put into it,” said Robles. “The more I thought about it, I was getting so good that they were thinking of reasons why my opponents had a tough time against me. In some ways, I liked that because people weren’t feeling sorry for me. People now saw me for my strengths, for what I had. They also saw that I had determination in my heart and that I wasn’t going to give up.”
Robles wanted to wrestle in college, but the only Division 1 school to offer him a full scholarship was Drexel University in Philadelphia. Division 2 colleges also offered Robbles scholarships, but he turned them down. Division 1 had the best wrestlers, and Robles wanted to wrestle against the best. Robles’s number 1 choice was Iowa State University. The reason that his character gave in the movie was that Iowa turned out 73 NCAA wrestling champions. Unfortunately, Iowa State turned him down along with other Division 1 colleges.
Instead of settling for Drexel, Robles chose to be a walk-on at ASU. He made this decision because he needed to be near his family, and his family needed him to be near them. About 60 athletes tried out for the ASU wrestling team, but there was only room for 33 wrestlers. Of the 33, 10 were awarded scholarships.
Robles earned the respect of his coaches and entire team because he insisted on doing every single drill that his teammates did, which included running uphill on difficult terrain for several miles while carrying 45-pound weights. Whenever he lost his balance and fell, he would immediately get up and continue running. Whenever coaches told him that he could skip certain drills because of his disability, he insisted on doing everything that his teammates were doing.
Robles made All-American in his sophomore, junior, and senior years at ASU, and in his senior year in 2011 he won the NCAA title.
Robles' Coaching and Speaking Career
After graduating from ASU in 2011, Robles became a motivational speaker and an NCAA wrestling analyst for ESPN. From 2022-2024, Robles was the head wrestling coach at his high school alma mater, Mesa, and this past year, he coached at Hamilton High School. Robles changed schools because Mesa is about a 40-minute drive from his house, while Hamilton is just a few streets away. He needed to spend more time with his wife, Laura, and their son Abel.
When Robles coached at both Mesa and Hamilton, he never had to struggle or worry about attaining his roster’s respect. He already had a reputation as a state and NCAA champion. His teams knew from day one that he was a great wrestler who just happened to have one leg.
I am a legally blind freelance reporter and documentary producer/director. I have made eight documentaries, many of which focused on people with disabilities facing adversity. Some of my films won film festival awards and were televised. I earned my Masters' in Journalism at Temple University in Philadelphia in 2017.
