Dan Gable

Danny Mack Gable (born October 25, 1948) is an American former folkstyle and freestyle wrestler and coach. Considered to be one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, Gable is a two-time NCAA Division I national champion, a world gold medalist, and an Olympic gold medalist. Gable was only the third wrestler to have ever been inducted into the United World Wrestling's Hall of Fame in the Legend category.[1][2] On December 8, 2020, U.S. President Donald Trump awarded Gable with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.[3]

Dan Gable
Gable in April 2014
Personal information
Born (1948-10-25) October 25, 1948
Waterloo, Iowa
Alma materIowa State University
Height1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Weight68 kg (150 lb)
Sport
SportFreestyle wrestling
Medal record
Representing the  United States
Olympic Games
1972 Munich68 kg
Wrestling World Championships
1971 Sofia68 kg
Pan American Games
1971 Cali 68 kg
Collegiate Wrestling
Representing the Iowa State Cyclones
NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships
1968 Pennsylvania130 lb
1969 Utah137 lb
1970 Illinois142 lb

Early life

Gable grew up in Waterloo, Iowa. When he was 15 years old, a teenager from his neighborhood sexually assaulted and murdered Gable's 19-year-old sister. Although Gable has called his sister's death his "biggest loss,"[4] he did not allow the tragedy to affect his focus on wrestling. Instead, he thought of it as a reason to train with even more determination:

“The more you can settle into focusing on what you have and what you would like to do and where you want to go — a positive point of view — the quicker things turn around and positive things start to happen."[5]

Wrestling career

College

From 1967 to 1970, Gable attended Iowa State University, where he competed in folkstyle wrestling. At Iowa State, he became an NCAA Division I national runner-up and two-time national champion. Gable's college career record was 117–1, with his only loss being in the final match of his final season to Larry Owings of the University of Washington.[6]

Freestyle

From 1971 to 1973, Gable competed internationally in freestyle wrestling. Highlights of his career include gold medals at the 1971 Tblisi Tournament, the 1971 world championships, and the 1972 Olympic Games. At the 1972 Games, in particular, Gable won all six of his matches without giving up a point.[7] In 1991, Gable was awarded with the Art Abrams Lifetime Achievement Award by Cauliflower Alley Club.[8]

Match results
World Championships & Olympic Games Matches
Res. Record Opponent Score Date Event Location
1972 Olympic at 68 kg
Win 12–0 Ruslan Ashuraliyev 3–0 August 27, 1972 1972 Summer Olympic Games Munich, West Germany
Win 11–0 Włodzimierz Cieślak Fall
Win 10–0 Kikuo Wada 6–0
Win 9–0 Stefanos Ioannidis Fall
Win 8–0 Klaus Rost 20–0
Win 7–0 Safer Sali Fall
1971 UWW world at 68 kg
Win 6–0 Ismail Yuseinov 8–3 August 27, 1971 1971 World Wrestling Championships Sofia, Bulgaria
Win 5–0 Kikuo Wada Fall
Win 4–0 Josef Engel Fall
Win 3–0 Nihat Kabanli Fall
Win 2–0 Eero Suvilehto Fall
Win 1–0 Vasily Kazakov 5–1

Coaching career

From 1976 to 1997, Gable was the head wrestling coach at the University of Iowa. Gable's teams compiled a dual meet record of 355–21–5. He coached 152 all-Americans, 45 national champions, 106 Big Ten Champions and 12 Olympians, including eight medalists. His teams won 21 Big Ten Conference championships, and 15 NCAA Division I titles.[6]

In addition to coaching folkstyle wrestling at the University of Iowa, Gable coached freestyle wrestling. Gable was the head coach of three Olympic teams and six world teams.[6]

Awards and honors
Gable receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Donald Trump in 2020
2020
1972
1971
1970
1969
1968
1967
  • Midlands Championships

See also

Bibliography
  • Baughman, Wayne. 1987. Wrestling On & Off the Mat. R. Wayne Baughman. ISBN 978-0-9618446-0-8
  • Chen, Albert. 2014. "Where are they Now: Catching up with Dan Gable and Larry Owings," Sports Illustrated (July 11, 2014)[9]
  • Gable, Dan. 2015. A Wrestling Life: The Inspiring Stories of Dan Gable. University of Iowa Press. ISBN 978-1609383404
  • Hammond, Jairus K. 2005. The History of Collegiate Wrestling. National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum. ISBN 978-0-9765064-0-9
  • Moffat, James V. 2007. Wrestlers At The Trials. Exit Zero Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9799051-0-0
  • Smith, Russ L. 1973. The Legend of Dan Gable. Medalist Sports Education Publication.
  • Zavoral, Nolan. 1997. A Season on the Mat. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4165-3553-9

References
  1. "Bio : Dan Gable – 15 National Championships. Olympic Champion. World Champion". dangable.com.
  2. "Dan Gable – United World Wrestling". unitedworldwrestling.org.
  3. "Trump honors legendary Iowa wrestler Gable at White House". AP NEWS. December 7, 2020. Retrieved December 8, 2020.
  4. "Dan Gable among speakers discussing victims' rights".
  5. jonathan.ericson@wcfcourier.com, JON ERICSON. "Himself the victim of a violent tragedy, Gable says loss can result in some good".
  6. "Bio: Dan Gable – 15 National Championships. Olympic Champion. World Champion". dangable.com.
  7. "Wrestling legend Dan Gable is born". This Day in History. History. Archived from the original on March 31, 2015. Retrieved December 8, 2020.
  8. "Honorees". Cauliflower Alley Club. Retrieved September 27, 2020.
  9. Chen, Albert (July 10, 2014). "Where are they Now: Catching up with Dan Gable and Larry Owings". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved December 8, 2020.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.