Unstoppable: From Underdog to Undefeated: How I Became a Champion

by Anthony Robles, Austin Murphy

The powerful and inspiring story of an all-American wrestler who defied the odds

Anthony Robles is a three-time all-American wrestler, the 2011 NCAA National Wrestling Champion, and a Nike-sponsored athlete. He was also born without his right leg. Doctors could not explain to his mother, Judy, what led to the birth defect, but at the age of five, the one-legged toddler scaled a fifty-foot pole unassisted. From that moment on, Judy knew without a doubt that her son would be unstoppable.

When Anthony first began wrestling in high school, he was the smallest kid on the team and finished the year in last place. Yet Anthony’s family and coaches supported his decision to continue, and he completed his junior and senior years with a 96–0 record to become a two-time Arizona State champion.

In college, Anthony had to prove all over again that he could excel. Despite hardships on and off the mat—including the temptation to quit school and get a job to help his family when they lost their home to foreclosure—Anthony focused his determination and became a champion once again.

Since winning the national championship in March 2011, Anthony has become a nationally recognized role model to kids and adults alike. But Unstoppable is not just an exciting sports memoir or an inspirational tale of living with a disability. It is also the story of one man whose spirit and unyielding resolve remind us all that we have the power to conquer adversity—in whatever form.

Genres: Sports, Biography, Memoir, Autobiography, Nonfiction, Biography Memoir, Leadership

224 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2012

Reviews

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

The majority of the book was difficult to get through, but I ended up finishing it, and the end was pretty good. It had lots of elements of struggle, success, perseverance and was filled with emotion.

[Jacob_Tyler · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book Unstoppable was one of the better biographies I have read. Usually peoples biographies are boring, but Anthony Robles story is very interesting. If you like sports and competition you might like this book.

[Kevin McGinn · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a former wrestler myself I know how hard the sport is and how competitive it gets. I was able to relate to his training and recognized some of the moves he did. It’s a very good motivational story

[Staci · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found Unstoppable to be a wonderfully inspiring read. I couldn't put it down....I couldn't stop reading. What a remarkable man and a remarkable life he has traveled so far. The love he has for his mother is endearing. Even though I am not a wrestling fan, I feel like I am now! Anothony Robles' writing makes this book informative, uplifting, and very moving. I have passed this book on to my 13 year old son as I think he will enjoy it as much as I did. I am giving it a strong 4 star review!

My rating system is as follows:

5 stars - Excellent, Worth Every Penny, Made It Into My Personal Library!
4 stars - Great book, but not a classic.
3 stars - Good overall, generally well written.
2 stars - Would not recommend based on personal criteria.
1 star - Difficult to read, hard to finish, or didn't finish. Wouldn't recommend purchasing or reading.

In accordance with the FTC Guidelines for blogging and endorsements, you should assume that every book I review was provided to me by the publisher, media group or the author for free and no financial payments were received, unless specified otherwise.

[Bethanie Woolsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before I read this book I had watched Anthony Robles win the NCAA Wrestling Championships 3 or 4 years ago. It had been so amazing to see how well he could do with such a setback, but he never really looked at only having one leg as an impairment. He says in this book that he can do everything just like everyone else, and with some things he could do even better than others. I loved reading this. It has been on my bucketlist to meet him for a while now. Hopefully that happens someday. I recommend this book to anyone looking for an inspiring sports book. And I really think all wrestlers should read this book. There is so much to learn from him. He is an awesome, amazing, inspiring person. And so humble. Definitely read this everyone!!!

[Devon · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up

[Callie Traill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought it was a really inspiring book and very well written, It was very hooking and I found myself wanting to read more a lot of the time

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a wrestler, it is very inspirational to hear a story about a 3 time all american and NCAA Champion that only wrestled with one leg.

[Emily N · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite books! It is an autobiography about a person of color, who was born with only one leg to a single mom. The children and main character, Anthony Robles, tells his story about being labeled as "disabled" as a child who wanted to be super active. He fell in love with the sport of wrestling and he overcame the struggles he had competing with only having one leg compared to his opponents who had two. Robles grew up in Arizona in a low-income household and he ended up being a NCAA Champion. This book is a great story about overcoming the labels and stereotypes that are placed on us from the minute we are born based on how we look and the family we are born into. He talks about his struggles and how his disabilities do not make him any less capable than anyone else, it just means that he and the people he works with, might have to come up with some more creative solutions. I love how this book focuses on the importance of diversity and seeing the value and potential in each individual. It also gives a real and raw insight to the struggles a low-income, disabled person goes through, this is something we in America do not always address. This book I would say is definitely for middle school and high school as it is a novel. I also think this is a great book to have in classrooms because it relates to a different audience of children who might be really into sports or who do have a physical disability. This book provides representation of a lot of different identities people may have, and provides insight to those who might not know all of these perspectives.

[Misty Thrash · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am not an avid wrestling fan, keep up with college sports, or had any idea who Anthony Robles was before picking up this book, but I do love to read a good autobiography. That being said, this was an okay autobiography.

I appreciated the flow and the feel of the book, when reading it you get the sense it was written as Mr. Robles would tell the story, in his own words. Sometimes this made the reading a bit cumbersome or had an odd cadence to the sentence structure, and although I had to read a few sentences more than once, I got the gist of what he was saying.

One thing I clearly understood about this book is that wrestling is a difficult sport. The fact that Mr. Robles was able to push himself to such extremes to reach his goals is inspiring. Interesting was the theme throughout the book where the reader has to question if Mr. Robles has an advantage being without a leg as a wrestler. It is a weird dichotomy of thoughts as one can not deny that life has to be harder maneuvering without a leg but there is some merit in the questions of how one less limb could change the dynamics of the sport. Again, I know nothing of wrestling.

All in all, a good and quick read if you are looking for an inspirational story. Be warned, there is a lot of pages recounting particular matches and particular wrestlers that starts to feel a little redundant to the average reader who has no knowledge about the sport or any interest in the techniques of wrestling. But, the knowledge that Anthony Robles worked hard, pushing through tough times emotionally and physically, is written well throughout all the pages.

[Jhanvi Patel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unstoppable is a biography of an extraordinary guy name Anthony Robles. I really enjoyed reading this book because it wasn’t as boring as any other biographies out there. This was an interesting biography to read. In my opinion the story kind of moved slowing but it was because the author wanted to give some really specific details in his biography. That was something I didn’t like but it was still awesome and very interesting to read. The author himself was my favorite character as he was very brave and “unstoppable”. Even though he was missing a leg, nothing would stop him to do what he wanted to achieve. The moral of this biography was that if you are really determined to achieve what you want than nothing can stop you from achieving your goals.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love a book about sports. My husband is a wrestling coach and my daughter is a wrestler. We actually watched the movie that coincides with this book, which is how I learned about the book. Needless to say, as always, the book is better than the movie, but they're both good. If you want to read a novel about somebody just obtaining what may seem like the unobtainable, this is it. Robles's story is so good and I found myself tearing up multiple times, especially as I got to the end. He could have given up at multiple different times and he did not. I would love to be able to hear him speak.

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had some pretty high hopes for this book, and while Anthony Robles has some very inspiring things to say about persistence, challenges, not viewing himself as being different, etc., so much of this book is dedicated to play-by-play of wrestling matches and tournaments. As someone who knows nothing about the sport, it felt like work to get through it. For a wrestler or a fan of wrestling, I imagine this is a great book. It just wasn't for me.

[Liam S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was actually really good. Despite, his disability, Austin strived as a wrestler. His disability is the fact he only had one leg, he still was a better wrestler than most. He started off trying to play football but realized hopping around the field would not help his career at it whatsoever. Later on, he was forced to watch wrestling games and stated he didn't want to try it at all. He received many more motivational speeches, he decided to go into wrestling.

[Calli Barton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I met him this past summer. He did a wrestling camp at Hillcrest high school for my son. it was so cool to see him and meet him. Really nice, genuine guy.

Very good inspirational book. I loved reading his story as a unilateral wrestler. Crazy what he made possible and accomplished. He is a special person with incredible dreams, and motivators. Nothing is stopping Anthony.

[Michael Cobuzzi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the book. I loved how the author described his journey from losing to becoming a champion. I was surprised when he chose ASU instead of the D1 school. I understand his thoughts but I personally would not agree.

[Char · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an easy read and very relatable. It gives the reader insight and understanding about what hard work is and about gratitude in life. It would be very good for H.S. English. Many students need to hear inspirational and uplifting stories from a new perspective.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

My dad was mentioned several times! Anthony is an inspiration.

[Maddy Tung]

inspiration, motivation, determination

[Jennie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very inspirational. Read the book in two sittings. If you are a wrestling fan you will especially like this book because he explains his wrestling moves in five detail.

[Mat Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspiring. Great story especially if you’re a wrestling fan.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such an inspiring story. Really enjoyed hearing Anthony’s journey.

[Sadie Bird]

look dad i read a book about wrestling

[Craig Baldwin]

Amazing read

[Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a wrestlers and a coach I think this book is a great book of what dedication and perseverance can do for someone. The read was a little rough at times but still a good book.

[Marcus Silver · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story. Anthony and his mom had a lot of resilience growing up. Page turner.

[Kim Hamilton · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick, easy to read inspirational and emotional story about struggle, competition, dedication and perseverance.

[Sleepy Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Epic story from and amazing individual!! From what he overcame and accomplished at the same time makes him a legend in my eyes!!

[McKenzie B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Much better than the movie!

[Kimberly A. RIce · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great Book