Athlete & officer highlight: John Robards & Chief Schultz

John Robards was recently sworn in as an Honorary Reserve Officer by Chief Schultz with the Wayzata Police Department. He is currently the one person serving in this capacity. Their partnership has been a great one in the past and will continue to be moving forward. Please take the time to read what Chief Schultz had to say at the ceremony:

Since reserve officers are volunteers, we typically wouldn’t do an official swearing in ceremony like we do with our sworn officers. But John asked me if he was going to have one, so I said sure! Plus, it was a good opportunity to share a little about how John has impacted not only me as a person, but much of our department.

As you may know, when we do these swearing in ceremonies for our officers, I ask them to help me come up with a brief bio so we can learn a little more about them as people, and then I typically share one thing that many people may not know about the new officers.  

John Robards was born in Bulgaria and spent the first few years of his life in what he remembers as a crowded orphanage, until he was adopted and brought to the United States at around four years old.  

John stated that his initial experience with law enforcement wasn’t a positive one. He remembers that while in that crowded orphanage, the staff would threaten to have police deal with the children if they misbehaved. That helped shape some early fears of police for John that he had to overcome in the US.

After moving to the US, John has spent his entire life living in Wayzata where he went to school and then worked at Lund/Byerly’s as well as the Wayzata Community Church. 

I had the opportunity to meet John and his family a few years ago when I first became Chief. John came to the PD and introduced himself and told us he was interested in partnering with Wayzata PD for Special Olympics and the Law Enforcement Torch Run.

Additionally, John asked if we as local police officers would be interested in providing opportunities for the residents of our community with special needs to just spend time with law enforcement to help break down barriers like the ones he initially had.

Over the next couple of years, many of us at WPD have had the opportunity to not only get to know John, but we’ve also learned what it means to be a Unified partner with Special Olympics.

John began helping our agency with our roles in several of our community special events. He’s become an important team member on our police softball team for the last several years when we compete against the Fire Department. And we’ve had the opportunity to spend some valuable time with John and his friends each fall during the Light Up the Lake Parade when they help us decorate our makeshift float and walk in the parade.

Because John has invested so much in us, we wanted to return the favor and make him an Honorary Reserve Officer for the Wayzata PD. He’s agreed to continue to help us help his community in any way he can. I’ve assured John that his role and responsibilities won’t change too much; he’ll just do it as one of our official department volunteers now.

John has been a great community steward, a very effective Special Olympics Law Enforcement Torch Run Ambassador and, more importantly, a good friend. 

Oh, I almost forgot. One thing that many people may not know about John is that he’s an accomplished landscape photographer. He has true talent for photography and has taken some of the best photos of the Wayzata landscape that I’ve seen. You may have seen him walking around town during the early morning hours trying to catch the right light for that perfect picture.

With that I’d like to welcome John Robards up to be sworn in as our newest Honorary Reserve Officer.  

Pinning John’s badge on tonight will be his lifelong mentor and current boss at the Wayzata Community Church, John Estrem.

More from Chief Schultz…



Several years ago, John approached our department to make connections between the law enforcement community and our special needs residents. John is well connected to many people in our community as well as the Special Olympics network. As an ambassador in many ways, John’s goal was to build relationships that could both help connect law enforcement to Special Olympics athletes and spread awareness. We jumped at the chance to connect!

Our relationship with John not only helps each of us on the Wayzata Police Department grow personally, but also helps us connect with our community. Having him join our ranks as an honorary Reserve Officer gives us the opportunity to have his connections as a resource to our department. He is so active in serving his community that many people in our area already know him well. Plus, we just all enjoy being able to spend time with him. He’s one of the team in many ways!

Having family members who have been athletes with Special Olympics Minnesota and now getting the chance to participate with John, I encourage anyone, especially those in law enforcement, to reach out and connect with their local athletes! Developing relationships with local Special Olympics athletes is of course a way to break down barriers, but it’s also a way to learn about disabilities that ultimately helps us serve our communities better. Above all, the personal gratification of getting to know amazing people in a way that few have the opportunity to do is the best part.

Event recap: LEMA ceremony

Thank you to our officers and athletes who attended the local Minnesota LEMA ceremony on May 15. We appreciate your representation of Special Olympics Minnesota and Minnesota LETR at this special event.

UPCOMING EVENTS

We are in the midst of planning the Torch Run Final Leg. It will be during the week of June 17-21, 2024, ending in Stillwater as part of Summer Games Opening Ceremonies at noon on June 22.

There are a couple ways you can participate:

• If there is a Final Leg in your area, join in the run! You can also walk or bike—we welcome any and all participation!
• You can sell shirts and/or hats in your agency. This is not limited to law enforcement members; family and friends can also participate. For more info, contact Heather Fleetwood at heather.fleetwood@somn.org. All proceeds support over 5,000 Special Olympics Minnesota athletes!

SOMN Open

Monday, July 22 | Majestic Oaks Golf Club, Ham Lake

Special Olympics Minnesota invites you to the inaugural SOMN Open, a golf tournament fundraiser! Join us for a day of golf, games, prizes and the joy of making a difference!

Dunkin' Cop on a Rooftop

Save the date! Dunkin’ Cop on a Rooftop is returning on Friday, August 16.

Exact timing and locations will be shared later, so keep your eye out! Please reach out to Cat at catherine.jensen@somn.org if you’re interested in hosting a Dunkin’ location.

Plane Pull

Saturday, September 7 | MSP Airport

Join us for our annual Plane Pull, where teams of up to 8 people compete to see who can pull a 23-ton plane down the MSP runway the fastest!

Unified Fore Joy TopGolf ProAm

Friday, September 27 | TopGolf, Brooklyn Center

Unified Fore Joy will give you the opportunity to compete in a world-renowned TopGolf arena against other teams across the world!

Community engagement

We always enjoy seeing our Law Enforcement officers at our events and activities. Whether you’re stopping by to watch and cheer on our athletes, bringing guests to introduce them to Special Olympics Minnesota, handing out awards or picking up a volunteer shift, your engagement in our mission is always appreciated!

Please contact torchrun@somn.org with any questions.

☀️ Summer games events

Check out our LETR webpage! We have information on all our LETR events, new recruitment presentations and handouts, information about open positions on our Executive Council and much more. To get further involved with the Law Enforcement Torch Run, visit somn.org/letr or contact Kean Corkery at kean.corkery@somn.org.