FEBRUARY 26, 2016, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A7
ZERO,
continued from Page A1
run using his arms to carry
him.
Robles was 14 when he fi rst
tried wrestling. After trying
out – without his mother's
knowledge – he returned
home with dried blood on his
stretched out T-shirt.
“My mom thought I got
beat up at school and she was
ready to go after somebody,”
Robles said. “I thought it was
the most awesome thing I'd
ever done. She asked me if I'd
seen my face.”
Robles placed last in
the city in his fi rst year as a
wrestler. After his last match,
he went to shake the hand
of the opposing coach and
something in the man's voice
told him he'd never had a
chance.
“That lit a fi re inside of
me, I sat in my room alone
and told myself it was the last
time I would lose like that.
I wrote down my dream of
being a national champ in my
bedroom,” Robles said, pulling
out the now-laminated note
he'd made to himself so many
years ago.
McCallister hit his fi rst
roadblock when he tried out
for a youth basketball team.
“My older brother was
playing basketball and I
thought, 'Sweet, I'm going
to go play basketball.'”
McCallister said. “But when
I tried out the coaches went
CRASH,
continued from Page A1
Potts' mother, Theresa,
posted on Facebook Tuesday
afternoon her son had a broken
arm, a concussion and staples in
his scalp, while Campbell was
to my parents and said, 'We
recommend your son doesn't
play basketball.' They didn't
want responsibility if anyone
got hurt.”
He eventually found a spot
on a Boys & Girls Club team,
but would discover a passion
for wrestling in later years.
By the time Robles fi nished
high school, he was a two-time
state champ and a high school
national champ, but colleges
weren't looking at him.
“They told me they
couldn't take the risk of
offering me a scholarship, but
when opportunity doesn't
knock, you have to build your
own door,” Robles said.
Robles ended up earning an
academic sholarship at Arizona
State University and walked on
to the wrestling team. He was
in his second year, and starting
to make waves as part of the
team, when he was hit with a
bout of mononucleosis. Then
he found out his stepfather
had left his family back home.
“It was a negative time,
but my mom encouraged me
to stay at school and keep
pursuing my dream,” Robles
said.
It all came to a head shortly
before Robles was set to go to
the national tournament. In
an attempt to spur Robles to
action, his coach pitted him
against his alternate on the
ASU team. Robles said he got
destroyed six times before the
coach told him, “You're not
what we thought you were.
There's the door.”
Robles went to the locker
room and started clearing out
his things. Not long after, his
coached followed him in –
slamming the door behind
him.
“I stood up to face him
and was planning to headbutt
him in the chin as soon as he
started yelling,” Robles said.
“I'm waiting to explode and
he opens up his arms and hugs
me, and I told him everything
that was happening at home.
He told me there's always
going to be an obstacle and
you can use that as an excuse
to quit or you can grind
through that.”
McCallister never let his
lack of legs become an excuse.
In addition to competing in
sports, whenever he could,
he found ways to tackle other
challenges – even a paper
route.
“There was this huge hill
on my route and I had to go
up it backward in the chair,”
McCallister said. “The cool
part was getting to go back
down the hill.”
In college at the University
of Arizona, McCallister joined
an actual wheelchair basketball
team, but soon discovered he
was a wrestler moonlighting as
a basketball player.
“I couldn't dribble and I
couldn't pass to save my life.
My coach had me throw a ball
against a wall for like an hour,”
McCallister said.
Robles' tenacity fi nally paid
off as a senior at ASU. At the
national tournament, he was
slated to face the returning
champ.
“I don't remember much
of the match, but I remember
with 10 seconds left I was up
7-1 and the only way he could
win was by turning me on my
back,” Robles said. “I was on
the ground underneath him
and I had my elbows in. To try
to get me to move my arms,
he had his arms locked under
my chin and kept punching
me in the jaw as he tried to
get a better grip. The whole
time I had a smile on my face
because I was thinking he
could punch me as much as he
wanted because I was about to
be a national champ. Even if
he choked me out, I wake up
national champ.”
Since achieving his dream,
Robles said he cares less about
the wrestling itself and more
about the impact he can have
on others.
“I just want to be
remembered as someone who
helped someone else achieve
their dreams,” Robles said.
McCallister
told
the
Whiteaker students that they,
too, can do anything they
dream of as long as they
persevere.
“You can do anything, but
it doesn't just happen like that.
It's not about trying hard one
time, it's about trying hard day
after day,” McCallister said.
The journey for both men
is far from complete; each of
them has new goals they are
working toward. For Robles,
it's learning to run on a
prosthetic leg. McCallister is
set on fi guring out how to
snowboard.
still recovering from surgery
but was in good spirits.
Jeff Kuhns, deputy chief
with the KPD, said it was a one-
vehicle accident with the cause
still under investigation as of
Tuesday afternoon.
The
Marion
County
CRASH Team responded to
the scene. KPD offi cers were
assisted by the Oregon State
Police and the Marion County
Sheriff's Offi ce.
There was rain off and on
Feb. 19, but it's not clear if it
was raining at the crash scene at
the time. Windsor Island Road
was re-opened to traffi c shortly
before 8 p.m.
Anyone with information or
who may have seen the crash
can call offi cer Eric Jefferson at
503-390-3713 ext. 3477.
Word of the accident
spread in the hours afterwards,
including on the KPD's
Facebook page. Around 1:30
a.m. Monday, Keven Potts
responded to some of the
speculation on that page.
Powers said she saw a man
who might have been the ever
elusive Benny.
“That day we were talking,”
Powers said of herself and
Jackson. “He said, 'Grandma,
are you going to buy those
clothes?' I said, 'No, I'm too
cheap to buy something for
myself.' I told him we couldn't
buy anything. We were in the
toy aisle. I had seen this guy
being close (to Jackson). I
went over near where he was
and he left. I went back to the
toy aisle and on the third shelf,
right there on eye level where
he'd been, was a $100 bill. No
one could have just dropped
it, because it was too high up.”
Powers didn't know what
to do and debated internally if
she should pick it up or leave
it.
“I was just so excited,”
Powers said. “I stood there
for a few minutes, maybe 20
minutes. It was too much
in plain sight for it to be an
accident. It was sitting right
there. I thought maybe that
was meant for me. Then about
25 feet down, another shelf
down, I found another $100
bill. I wasn't searching for
more when I saw the second
one.”
Powers
and
Jackson
returned home. Later, Powers
showed the bills to her
daughter, who noted “Benny”
was written on both.
This isn't the fi rst time such
bills have been found in the
area. Two springs ago, there
was a rash of such occurrences
in Keizer, as chronicled twice
in the Keizertimes in the spring
of 2014.
Powers fi gures she must
have been the target and
suspects it was the man she saw
standing near her grandson.
“I don't know if he'd
heard me say grandma didn't
have a job,” Powers said. “I
don't know for sure if it was
meant for me, but it was weird
we were right there. He had
seemed out of place, then I
looked to where he had been
and there was a bill. It shows
good things still happen. I feel
very lucky and special.”
The incident has left
Powers itching to return the
favor.
“It's made me want to pay
it forward,” Powers said. “I
won't use this all for myself.
A lot of people need things.
I'll dole it out. Maybe I'll buy
a lunch for some old couples
or pay for a prescription for
someone, just a way of saying,
'Guess what, someone cares.' I
won't give big bills away, but I
will share.”
Powers said she wants to
give Jackson a good haircut
and he has expressed interest
in getting a soccer ball.
Jackson also suggested another
purchase.
“He said, 'Grandma, now
you can buy something for
yourself,'” Powers said with a
laugh. “And I did. I got these
jeans for $6.”
In response to speculation
careless driving was involved,
Potts posted at 1:30 a.m.,
“Hey why don't you look at
the condition of the road way
before you make assumptions.”
Potts also responded to
another person who speculated
the teenager was either texting
or on the phone.
“How about you fi gure out
what actually happened before
making assumption that makes
teenagers look bad,” Potts
posted at 1:28 a.m. “Adults
are on there (sic) phones more
then (sic) teenagers when they
are behind the wheel. So...just
be happy my friend and I are
okay.”
BENNY,
continued from Page A1
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