Dan Gable

Dan Gable
Personal information
Born (1948-10-25) October 25, 1948
Waterloo, Iowa
Alma mater Iowa State University
Height 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Weight 68 kg (150 lb)
Sport
Sport Freestyle wrestling
Medal record
Representing the  United States
Olympic Games
1972 MunichLightweight
Wrestling World Championships
1971 Sofia68 kg
Pan American Games
1971 Cali 68 kg

Danny Mack "Dan" Gable (born October 25, 1948) is an American former folkstyle and freestyle wrestler and coach. He 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]

Early life

Gable grew up in Waterloo, Iowa. When he was 15 years old, a teenager from his neighborhood sexually assaulted and murdered his 19 year old sister. Although Gable has called his sister's death his "biggest loss,"[3] 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."[4]

Wrestling career

College

From 1967 to 1970, Gable attended Iowa State University, where he competed in folkstyle wrestling. At Iowa State University, he became an NCAA Division I national runner-up, and a 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.[5]

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 Olympic Games in particular, Gable won all six of his matches without giving up a point.[6]

Match results

World Championships & Olympic Games Matches
Res. Record Opponent Score Date Event Location
1972 Olympic 1st, gold medalist(s) at 68 kg
Win 12-0 Soviet Union Ruslan Ashuraliyev 3-0 August 27, 1972 1972 Summer Olympic Games West Germany Munich, West Germany
Win 11-0 Poland Włodzimierz Cieślak Fall
Win 10-0 Japan Kikuo Wada 6-0
Win 9-0 Greece Stefanos Ioannidis Fall
Win 8-0 West Germany Klaus Rost 20-0
Win 7-0 Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Safer Sali Fall
1971 UWW world 1st, gold medalist(s) at 68 kg
Win 6-0 Bulgaria Ismail Yuseinov 8-3 August 27, 1971 1971 World Wrestling Championships Bulgaria Sofia, Bulgaria
Win 5-0 Japan Kikuo Wada Fall
Win 4-0 Czechoslovakia Josef Engel Fall
Win 3-0 Turkey Nihat Kabanli Fall
Win 2-0 Finland Eero Suvilehto Fall
Win 1-0 Soviet Union 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 17 NCAA Division I titles.[5]

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.[5]

Awards and honors

1972
1971
1970
1969
1968
1967
  • 1st, gold medalist(s) Midlands Championships

Cultural impact

In April 1973, Esquire Magazine profiled Gable in an article entitled Gorgeous Dan. In November 1996, in a GQ Magazine cover story, actor Tom Cruise spoke of his admiration for Gable. More recently, in 2005, professional wrestler The Iron Sheik praised Gable at his induction to the WWE Hall of Fame. Gable also appears in the 2005 documentary film Catch: The Hold Not Taken, and is mentioned in the 2008 movie Never Back Down.

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)[7]
  • 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. ↑ "Dan Gable among speakers discussing victims' rights".
  4. ↑ jonathan.ericson@wcfcourier.com, JON ERICSON,. "Himself the victim of a violent tragedy, Gable says loss can result in some good".
  5. 1 2 3 "Bio : Dan Gable - 15 National Championships. Olympic Champion. World Champion". dangable.com.
  6. ↑ http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/wrestling-legend-dan-gable-is-born.
  7. ↑ https://www.si.com/more-sports/2014/07/10/dan-gable-larry-owings accessed March 23, 2015
  8. </ref>
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