Danny Mack Gable (born October 25, 1948) is an American former folkstyle and

freestyle Freestyle may refer to: Brands * Reebok Freestyle, a women's athletic shoe * Ford Freestyle, an SUV automobile * Coca-Cola Freestyle, a vending machine * ICD Freestyle, a paintball marker * Abbott FreeStyle, a blood glucose monitor by Abbott Lab ...

wrestler and coach. Considered to be one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, Gable is a two-time

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athleti ...

national champion, a

world In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

gold medalist, and an

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

gold medalist A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have be ...

. Gable was only the third wrestler to have ever been inducted into the

United World Wrestling United World Wrestling (UWW) is the international governing body for the sport of amateur wrestling; its duties include overseeing wrestling at the Olympics. It presides over international competitions for various forms of wrestling, includi ...

's Hall of Fame in the Legend category. On December 8, 2020, U.S. President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

awarded Gable with the

Presidential Medal of Freedom The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award of the United States, along with the Congressional Gold Medal. It is an award bestowed by the president of the United States to recognize people who have made "an especially merit ...

Early life

Gable grew up in

Waterloo, Iowa Waterloo is a city in and the county seat of Black Hawk County, Iowa, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census the population was 67,314, making it the eighth-largest city in the state. The city is part of the Waterloo – Cedar Falls ...

. When he was 15 years old, a teenager from his neighborhood raped and murdered Gable's 19-year-old sister. Although Gable has called his sister's death his "biggest loss," 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:

Wrestling career

College

From 1967 to 1970, Gable attended

Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of th ...

, where he competed in

folkstyle wrestling Collegiate wrestling (also known as folkstyle wrestling) is the form of wrestling practiced at the college and university level in the United States. This style of wrestling, with some slight modifications, is also practiced at high school and ...

. At Iowa State, he became an

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 The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seatt ...

Freestyle

From 1971 to 1973, Gable competed internationally in

freestyle wrestling Freestyle wrestling is a style of wrestling originated from Great Britain and the United States. Along with Greco-Roman, it is one of the two styles of wrestling contested in the Olympic Games. American high school and men's college wrestlin ...

. Highlights of his career include gold medals at the 1971 Tbilisi 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. After competing sporadically from 1974 to 1975, Gable retired and became a full-time coach. In 1991, Gable was awarded with the Art Abrams Lifetime Achievement Award by

Cauliflower Alley Club The Cauliflower Alley Club is a non-profit fraternal organization, which includes a newsletter and website, comprising both retired and active professional wrestlers and boxers in North America. Established in 1965 by Mike Mazurki and Art Abra ...

Match results

! colspan="7", World Championships & Olympic Games Matches , - ! Res. ! Record ! Opponent ! Score ! Date ! Event ! Location , - ! style=background:white colspan=7 , , - , Win , 12–0 , align=left,

Ruslan Ashuraliyev Ruslan Nuraliyevich Ashuraliyev (Russian: Руслан Нуралиевич Ашуралиев, 20 February 1950 – 27 November 2009) was a Russian freestyle wrestler who won world titles in 1974 and 1975 and placed second in 1973. He competed ...

, style="font-size:88%", 3–0 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=6, August 27, 1972 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=6,

1972 Summer Olympic Games The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...

, style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=6,

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 ...

, - , Win , 11–0 , align=left, Włodzimierz Cieślak , style="font-size:88%", Fall , - , Win , 10–0 , align=left,

Kikuo Wada is a Japanese former wrestler who competed in the 1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international mult ...

, style="font-size:88%", 6–0 , - , Win , 9–0 , align=left, Stefanos Ioannidis , style="font-size:88%", Fall , - , Win , 8–0 , align=left, Klaus Rost , style="font-size:88%", 20–0 , - , Win , 7–0 , align=left, Safer Sali , style="font-size:88%", Fall , - ! style=background:white colspan=7 , , - , Win , 6–0 , align=left, Ismail Yuseinov , style="font-size:88%", 8–3 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=6, August 27, 1971 , style="font-size:88%" rowspan=6,

1971 World Wrestling Championships The 1971 World Wrestling Championships were held in Sofia, Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Bal ...

, style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=6,

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and h ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

, - , Win , 5–0 , align=left,

, style="font-size:88%", Fall , - , Win , 4–0 , align=left, Josef Engel , style="font-size:88%", Fall , - , Win , 3–0 , align=left, Nihat Kabanli , style="font-size:88%", Fall , - , Win , 2–0 , align=left, Eero Suvilehto , style="font-size:88%", Fall , - , Win , 1–0 , align=left, Vasily Kazakov , style="font-size:88%", 5–1

Coaching career

From 1976 to 1997, Gable was the head wrestling coach at the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized into 12 co ...

. 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 The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

championships, and 15

titles. In addition to coaching

at the

, Gable coached

. Gable was the head coach of three

teams and six

teams.

Awards and honors

;2020 * 45px

;1980 * National Wrestling Hall of Fame Distinguished Member ;1972 *

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The ina ...

* Tbilisi Tournament * Midlands Championships ;1971 *

World Wrestling Championships The World Wrestling Championships are the Amateur Wrestling World Championships organized by United World Wrestling. The Men's Greco-Roman Wrestling tournament began in 1904, and the Men's Freestyle Wrestling tournament began in 1951. The Women's ...

Pan American Games The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is hel ...

* Midlands Championships ;1970 *

Gorrarian Award winner *

Big Eight Conference The Big Eight Conference was a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)-affiliated Division I-A college athletic association that sponsored football. It was formed in January 1907 as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Associati ...

* Midlands Championships ;1969 *

Gorrarian Award winner *

* Midlands Championships ;1968 *

* Midlands Championships ;1967 * Midlands Championships

Legacy

Olympic gold medalist freestyle wrestler

Gable Steveson Gable Steveson (born May 31, 2000) is an American professional wrestler and retired freestyle and folkstyle wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he was appointed to the Raw brand under his real name, but has yet to have his debut m ...

was named after him. Gable has been written about in many magazines and numerous books, including ''Two Guys Named Dan'' (1976), ''From Gotch to Gable: A History of Wrestling in Iowa'' (1981), ''The Toughest Men in Sports'' (1984) and ''Legends of the Mat'' (2006), all by wrestling historian Mike Chapman. He also has a museum named for him in his hometown of Waterloo, Iowa, part of the

National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum 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 ...

Bibliography

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

References

External links

Official site
* *
Gable's wins and losses between the years 1963 and 1973
* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gable, Dan 1948 births Living people Wrestlers at the 1972 Summer Olympics American male sport wrestlers American wrestling coaches Iowa State Cyclones wrestlers Iowa Hawkeyes wrestling coaches Sportspeople from Waterloo, Iowa Olympic gold medalists for the United States in wrestling World Wrestling Championships medalists Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics Pan American Games medalists in wrestling Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States Wrestlers at the 1971 Pan American Games Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients Medalists at the 1971 Pan American Games 20th-century American people 21st-century American people