APCO 2024: Distinguished Achievers Breakfast

By Rick Goldstein

The APCO 2024 Distinguished Achievers Breakfast was Tuesday at the Orange County Convention Center Valencia Ballroom. It featured recognition of agency accreditation, Certified Public-safety Executive (CPE) program graduates and a champion wrestler born with one leg.

APCO CEO and Executive Director Mel Maier kicked off the breakfast by thanking APCO's 2024 corporate sponsors, including breakfast sponsor L3Harris. Other corporate sponsors are Comtech, OnStar, JVC Kenwood, Carbyne, CentralSquare Technologies, FirstNet Built with AT&T and Motorola Solutions.

Maier introduced the CPE program and its graduates since APCO 2023.

"The CPE Program allows participants to explore the difference between management and leadership," Maier said. "There are models and theories of leadership, leadership styles discussed, public safety leadership issues, organized culture and leadership change."

Maier introduced a video with the stories of two public safety telecommunicators who suffered life-threatening illnesses and who received grants from the Public Safety Foundation of America.

"The Sunshine Fund distributes critical financial support to its members who are experiencing hardships. Now we raise money at APCO events to make sure we can continue providing this service, and today I'm asking for your help," Maier said.

Maya Mitchell, development manager of the Commission for Accreditation of Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) took the stage to introduce the newest accredited and reaccredited agencies.

Mitchell also said APCO and CALEA have established an online public safety communications accreditation manager course for the accreditation process.

Brenda Brown, special coordinator for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), recognized agencies newly compliant with NCMEC standards.

"Today we recognize the agencies that became new members of the Missing Kids Readiness Program and those who completed the renewal process since the last APCO conference," Brown said.

Michael Marzouk, director of international sales with L3Harris, introduced the keynote speaker, Anthony Robles.

Robles stood at the center of the stage on crutches, regaling the APCO audience with how he overcame his disability to become a three-time All-American college wrestler and the 2011 national champion in the 125-pound weight class. The movie "Unstoppable," a biopic of Robles' life, premieres at the Toronto Film Festival in September.

Robles said he discovered wrestling as a high school freshman but finished last in the end-of-year tournament. In addition to his disability, he weighed 90 pounds in a 103-pound weight class.

Robles said the pity he saw in the opposing coach's eyes when he shook his hand at the end of the tournament motivated him to make himself a better wrestler.

Robles had never met his biological father and he was born with one leg, but his mother, Judy, taught him not to feel sorry for himself. "There was a voice in my head and that was my mom's voice. 'Don't let a challenge become your excuse.'"

He wrote down his goal and kept a piece of paper in front of him while brushing his teeth, at his locker during practice and on his nightstand before bed. Robles pulled out that wrinkled piece of paper on stage in Orlando. It says: "I'm not going to stop wrestling until I'm the best wrestler in Arizona."

By the end of high school, he was a two-time state champion. Even so, he was not recruited by Division I wrestling programs. He started as a walk-on at the college at Arizona State and worked nights cleaning airplanes to make ends meet. Robles fought his way to the top position in his weight class on the team. And his coach offered him a full-ride scholarship and his face on promotional posters.

It was his senior year in the NCAA national wrestling finals match, and Robles faced the returning national champion from wrestling powerhouse Iowa. He defeated his opponent 7-1, winning by avoiding a pin in the last seconds of the match. Robles went 36-0 for the season.

Robles is the author of "Unstoppable: From Underdog to Undefeated: How I Became a Champion," and he's in demand as a motivational speaker, as he was on Tuesday. The movie about his life, "Unstoppable," stars Jennifer Lopez and Don Cheadle. The actor portraying Robles in the movie is Jharrel Jerome, but Robles said he performed the wrestling scenes himself. "So I'm my own stunt double."

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