Douglas Morlan Blubaugh (December 31, 1934 – May 16, 2011) was an American

wrestler Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat spor ...

and Olympic Champion. He competed at the 1960 Olympic Games in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, where he became the freestyle Olympic Gold Medalist at welterweight, defeating the legendary 1956 Olympic Champion and 3-time World Champion Iranian Wrestler

Emam-Ali Habibi Emam-Ali Habibi Goudarzi ( fa, امامعلی حبیبی گودرزی, born 27 May 1931) is a retired Iranian freestyle wrestler. He won gold medals at the 1958 Asian Games; 1959, 1961 and 1962 world championships; and 1956 Olympics, placing fou ...

. Blubaugh, born in

Ponca City Ponca City ( iow, Chína Uhánⁿdhe) is a city in Kay County in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The city was named after the Ponca tribe. Ponca City had a population of 25,387 at the time of the 2010 census- and a population of 24,424 in the 2020 ...

, Oklahoma, was an AAU Champion and an NCAA Champion in 1957 at

Oklahoma State University Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

. In 1959 he won another AAU Championship, winning the Outstanding Wrestler Award. Also in 1959 Blubaugh won a Pan-American Games Gold Medal before he made the 1960 Olympic team. While a student at OSU, Blubaugh was initiated as a member of

Tau Kappa Epsilon Tau Kappa Epsilon (), commonly known as or Teke, is a social college fraternity founded on January 10, 1899, at Illinois Wesleyan University. The organization has chapters throughout the United States and Canada, making the Fraternity an interna ...

fraternity; in January 2011, he was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame. In 1979, Blubaugh was inducted into the

National Wrestling Hall of Fame The National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum and hall of fame for amateur wrestling, headquartered in Stillwater, Oklahoma. In 2010, it began operating the Dan Gable Museum in Waterloo, Iowa. History The museum was awarded to Stillw ...

as a Distinguished Member. For his efforts in Rome, Blubaugh was named the World's Outstanding Wrestler in 1960. Blubaugh later became wrestling coach at

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universi ...

. He resided in

Tonkawa, Oklahoma Tonkawa is a city in Kay County, Oklahoma, United States, along the Salt Fork Arkansas River. The population was 3,216 at the 2010 census, a decline of 2.5 percent from the figure of 3,299 in 2000. History Named after the Tonkawa tribe, the cit ...

, until his death in a traffic accident while riding his

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...

. He was struck by a pickup truck, which ran a stop sign."Doug Blubaugh was tougher than he was good," NewsOK, Barry Tramel, 10 August 2017
/ref> Blubaugh continued to be an ambassador for the sport of wrestling until his death on May 16, 2011 at the age of 76.

References

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* 1934 births 2011 deaths Wrestlers at the 1960 Summer Olympics American male sport wrestlers Olympic gold medalists for the United States in wrestling People from Ponca City, Oklahoma Sportspeople from Oklahoma Oklahoma State Cowboys wrestlers Indiana University faculty Road incident deaths in Oklahoma Motorcycle road incident deaths People from Tonkawa, Oklahoma Medalists at the 1960 Summer Olympics Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States Pan American Games medalists in wrestling Wrestlers at the 1959 Pan American Games Ponca City High School alumni Medalists at the 1959 Pan American Games {{US-Olympic-medalist-stub