Dan Gable

Olympic Athlete

• Born: October 25, 1948
• Place of Birth: Waterloo, Iowa

SPORT: Wrestling

Early Life

Daniel Mack Gable was born on October 25, 1948, in the farming community of Waterloo, Iowa, to Mack Gable, a real-estate salesperson, and Katie. Although Gable did not grow up on a farm, he was not unfamiliar with hard work. Whether on a job or training for athletics, he always did much more than was asked or expected.

Surprisingly, swimming, not wrestling, brought Gable his first success in sports. He was the state Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) backstroke champion at the age of twelve. There was no swimming program in the junior high school he attended, so he participated in football, baseball, and wrestling. A close friend of Gable’s father had two sons, Bob and Don Buzzard, who wrestled at East Waterloo High School and went on to become all-Americans at Iowa State University. East Waterloo was Gable’s favorite team, so he went to all the meets and watched the Buzzards wrestle.

By ninth grade, Gable had developed into a wrestling prospect. He suffered his first loss in wrestling during his freshman year at West Junior High. Ron Keister, a ninth grader from Edison Junior High, not only beat Gable but also pinned him. Gable was so upset that when he got home, he locked himself in his room and later went out and shoveled the driveway. When he came back in from shoveling, he vowed that he would never again lose a match in high school. Gable’s promise proved to be prophetic. In his sophomore year, his record was 20–0; he also won the state championship. During the summer following his sophomore year, his family experienced tragedy. DianeGable’s older sister, and the Gable family’s only other childwas sexually molested and murdered by a younger male acquaintance while Gable and his parents were away on a fishing trip. The Gables were a close family, and this was a shattering experience. The senseless end to Diane’s life became a motivating force for Gable. Whenever a tough match came up, Gable told his father not to worry; he was going to win for Diane.

Gable’s drive and determination produced another flawless record in his junior year, when he finished 21–0 with another state championship to his credit. Bob Siddens, Dan’s wrestling coach at West High School, commented that he had seen many young men with more natural ability than Gable but none with such intensity and sheer dedication. In his senior year, Gable posted a 23–0 record, winning a third state championship. His stellar high school career concluded with a total of sixty-four wins, no defeats, and three state titles.

Following his senior year, Gable had another experience that spurred him to greatness. Bob Buzzard, one of the wrestlers that he admired, was home for the weekend from Iowa State. Gable invited Buzzard to his house to work out on his wrestling mat. Buzzard beat him so soundly that Gable cried—he did not believe anyone could beat him that easily. Gable realized that three state championships were not good enough to win in big-time wrestling. He knew that he would have to push much harder to be successful at the national level.

When choosing a college, Gable selected Iowa State University because it was the closest college with a wrestling program that suited his needs. After arriving to campus, wrestling with his more experienced teammates made him realize, once again, that he still had a lot to learn. During his first year, although freshmen were not permitted to compete at the varsity level, he wrestled unofficially in several tournaments and recorded a 17–0 mark.

While in his sophomore year, Gable spent time at an Olympic tryout camp with Rick Sanders of Portland State University, who added perhaps the mightiest weapon to Gable’s wrestling arsenal. Sanders taught him to effectively use arm bars to pin opponents. Subsequently, Gable pinned sixty of the last sixty-five opponents he faced in college, not losing a match until he was beaten by Larry Owings of the University of Washington in the National Collegiate Athlete Association (NCAA) finals of his senior year. He compiled an unprecedented 138–1 record, including three NCAA championship titles, during his collegiate career.

Professional Career

By the time he finished college, Dan Gable was well known in international wrestling; he won world championships and beat men who became his challengers at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, Germany. The Soviets vowed to find someone to beat Gable. In the Olympic tryouts, Gable faced Owings again but soundly defeated him this time, 7–1. At the Olympics, he completely dominated the best wrestlers in the world. Incredibly, Gable won six matches without yielding a single point and won the gold medal. In 1974, Gable married Kathy Carpenter, and they had four daughters: Jennifer, Annie, Molly, and MacKenzie.

After returning from Munich, Gable accepted an assistant coaching position under Gary Kurdelmeier at the University of Iowa. In 1975 and 1976, the Kurdelmeier-Gable teams produced consecutive national championships. When Kurdelmeier accepted the assistant athletic director position, Gable took over as head wrestling coach. After the team finished third in the country in his first year as head coach, he led the University of Iowa to nine consecutive national titles.

Gable coached the Hawkeyes to Big Ten Conference titles in every year of his tenure, from 1977 to 1997, as well as fifteen national titles. He compiled a career record of 355-21-5, and, in that time, he produced forty-five national champions and twelve Olympians. In 1997, Gable underwent hip replacement surgery and announced his retirement at the end of that season. He was selected as the head coach of the US freestyle team for the 1999 World Wrestling Championships and co-head coach of the 2000 Olympic Games. In 2006, Gable returned to the University of Iowa as assistant wrestling coach. He also served as assistant athletic director. The Dan Gable Museum in Waterloo, Iowa, part of the Nation Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum, is named for Gable. In 2014, Gable was inducted into the International Sports Hall of Fame. In 2016, Gable published his memoir, A Wrestling Life: The Inspiring Stories of Dan Gable. A sequel to the book followed in 2018 when Gable published, A Wrestling Life 2: More Inspiring Stories of Dan Gable. In 2020, Gable received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Donald Trump. 

Summary

Dan Gable is generally recognized as the greatest amateur wrestler the United States has ever produced; his name is synonymous with excellence. He compiled the unbelievable record of 182–1 while in high school and college and won many national and international awards. However, he is best remembered for coaching the University of Iowa Hawkeyes to fifteen national titles in twenty-years, a record that makes him one of the best collegiate coaches in US history.

Bibliography

“Bio - Dan Gable - About Dan Gable.” Dan Gable, dangable.com/bio. Accessed 10 June 2024.

Chapman, Mike. Wrestling Tough. Champaign: Human Kinetics, 2005.

Hoffer, Richard. “The Pride of Iowa.” Sports Illustrated, vol. 106.11, 12 Mar. 2007, pp. 56-60.

McCormick, John. “The Babe Ruth of Wrestling.” Newsweek, vol. 134.19, 1999.

Thomson, Wright. “The Losses of Dan Gable.” ESPN, 21 Aug. 2013, www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/‗/page/Dan-Gable/the-losses-dan-gable. Accessed 10 June 2024.

“Why Did Dan Gable Retire At 48?” FloWrestling, 5 Feb. 2022, www.flowrestling.org/people/5945735-dan-gable?playing=7406816. Accessed 10 June 2024.

Zavoral, Nolan. A Season on the Mat: Dan Gable and the Pursuit of Perfection. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2007.