School: Norristown
Football, Wrestling, Track & Field
Favorite athlete: Marshall Faulk
Favorite team: Dallas Cowboys
Favorite memory competing in sports: “When I pinned this guy in seven seconds to tie my school’s fastest pin record.”
Most embarrassing thing that has happened while competing in sports: “My most embarrassing moment in a sport was during track last season. I and a few other throwers had to run the big man relay. Well, I was the last leg, and during the race, we were in the lead by at least 10 meters, and I got caught. Our relay came in third!”
Music on iPod: Meek Millz, Lil Wayne
Future plans: “Go to college and major in physical education and play football or wrestle – hopefully both.”
Words to live by: “Only the strong survive!”
One goal before turning 30: “Buy my mom a nice house.”
One thing people don’t know about me: “I’m a momma’s boy!”
Marcus Robbins had limited expectations when he went out for the wrestling team in seventh grade.
“My brother wrestled,” the Norristown junior said. “I wasn’t good at basketball, and I wanted to do something in winter, so I wrestled.”
Coach Mark Harner is glad he did.
Five years later, Robbins, who wrestles in the 285-pound weight class, has come into his own. He boasts a 34-5 record with 22 falls. He leads all District One wrestlers in both wins and falls. He captured first in the Dallastown Tournament, second in the Athens tournament, third at the Southeast Classic and was named to the all-tournament team at the Fort Hill Duals.
In SOL competition, he is undefeated, and earlier this year, Robbins – a rare three-sport athlete who also competes in football and track and field - tied a school record for the quickest fall – seven seconds.
There was nothing to suggest early in his career that Robbins would experience that kind of success.
“I took a lot of beatings in ninth grade, a lot of beatings,” he said.
That, according to Harner, is not unusual for a young heavyweight.
“The guys that really win a lot when they’re younger – they’re 130, 112 pounders,” the Eagles’ coach said. “When he came into high school, he was 250 in ninth grade.
“Obviously, back then, he was much more of a football player. He didn’t have much experience.”
After an 8-15 season, Robbins could have walked away, but he was realistic.
“I was wrestling a lot of juniors and seniors,” he said. “I just thought, ‘They’re a lot older than me. I have three more years. I’m going to stick with it and do my best.’
“I wasn’t really in the weight room. I wasn’t strong, but the next year I thought about how much I lost the year before, so I wanted to prove myself. I wrestled hard, trained hard and practiced hard to get better.”
And he did get better.
Robbins was 20-10 as a sophomore, and even though 20 wins was more than respectable, he wasn’t satisfied.
He began training in earnest with assistant coach Rashen Lucene, who also coaches the linemen for the football team.
“He had me do a lot of running and lifting to get stronger, and he also had me do conditioning because he had watched my matches last year,” Robbins said. “I would lose matches because I was tired.
“This year I’m well conditioned, and I’m enjoying wrestling a lot. I don’t know which my favorite sport is any more.”
For most of his life, Robbins would have named football as his top sport, and he has been a starter on Norristown’s offensive and defensive lines since he was a freshman.
“I always loved football, but it seems like wrestling will take me further than football,” he said.
His high school coach agrees.
“He’s bought into the sport, and I think he will be a monster next year,” Harner said. “In wrestling, the lightest weight, 125, and the heaviest weight, 285 – they’re the weights college coaches want because they’re rare.
“Middleweights are a dime a dozen.”
While Robbins’ accomplishments are impressive, Harner is most impressed with his growth as a person. He points to the discipline his heavyweight displayed after reporting to preseason this year weighing in at 300 points.
“He actually had to lose weight like an adult would by dieting and working out,” Harner said.
Robbins lost the weight and has been a key part of the Eagles’ run to an American Conference crown, a title they clinched recently with a convincing win over Upper Moreland.
“That was really exciting,” he said. “Our whole lineup just wanted it. We wanted it more than anybody else.
“Everybody was always talking about Upper Moreland, PW or Wissahickon, and we were never getting mentioned. We had to practice harder and do what we do best.”
Harner acknowledged that Robbins – because of his size - faces a unique challenge every day at practice.
“We really don’t have partners for him, but he makes the best of it,” the Eagles’ coach said. “He’s working out with kids who are very inexperienced, but he never walks up moping because he doesn’t have someone to wrestle. I have a coach wrestle him once in a while.
“Marcus is not selfish. He’s a team player. It’s nice to have that anchor at heavyweight who has 20-some pins. We’re really proud of him.”
Robbins throws the javelin and shot put for the track team in the spring, but when it comes time to pick a sport in college, it will come down to football or wrestling.
“I can’t really tell what I want to do in college – whatever is best for me financially,” he said.
If Robbins continues to improve, look for the scholarship offers to come rolling in for a young athlete who stuck with his sport and has risen to the top.
