Dan Gable


Danny Mack Gable 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.

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," 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, 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.

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.

Match results

! colspan="7"|World Championships & Olympic Games Matches
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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.
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.

Awards and honors

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