By Kasey Ricketts, communications assistant, University of Communications
CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. — A lifetime of training prepared two Campbellsville University alumni for an unlikely situation.
Spencer Adams and Brandon Sellers helped stop a robbery while in Daytona, Fla., as they left the National Wrestling Coaches Association Conference.
Adams is the head wrestling coach at Bellarmine University and Sellers serves as assistant coach.
Sellers wrestled collegiately at Campellsville University for four years.
Adams earned three NAIA All-American honors over his sterling four-year career and departed Campbellsville with the second-highest wins' total in program history. He wrestled at Campbellsville University from 2009 through 2012.
When leaving the conference and getting ready to head back home, the men heard a woman yelling in the distance.
“A lady was just shouting ‘Help! Help! He took my wallet!' then without even saying anything to each other we just took off after the guy,” Adams said.
Along with a California Baptist University coach, the trio managed to cut off the robber and block him while retrieving a stolen wallet back and making sure they got all of belongings he had taken.
“While I was returning the wallet, the robber got loose and took off again so I chased after him and did a lift return and got him back on the ground where I held him until the cops showed up,” Adams said.
The police had revealed to the group that the man had recently been released from prison for assault and battery with a weapon.
“I don't think that he realized where he was stealing from. Not your best idea to commit a crime with a bunch of wrestling coaches right there,” Adams said.
Before the police took the robber away, the victim shared a moment with Adams and Sellers.
“She (the victim) came up and hugged and thanked us and called us her heroes, but the cool thing was she went up to this man who had just attacked her and told him she forgave him and so did God - that he was still young and had a lot of life to live and to not forget that God loved him. It was a really surreal experience,” Adams said.
Sellers received a bachelor's degree in criminal justice administration at Campbellsville University in 2013. Adams earned his bachelor's degree in biology in 2012 and a master's degree in organizational leadership in 2013 from Campbellsville University.
Campbellsville University is a widely-acclaimed Kentucky-based Christian university with more than 5,000 students offering over 80 programs of study including 19 master's degrees, six postgraduate areas and seven pre-professional programs. The university has off-campus centers in Louisville, Harrodsburg, Somerset and Hodgenville with instructional sites in Elizabethtown, Owensboro, and Summersville and a full complement of online programs. The website for complete information is campbellsville.edu.
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