Wrestling Icons- Dan Gable

Posted on October 12, 2011 , by charley

Known by a lot of Iowans as ‘Michael Jordan is the Dan Gable of Basketball’ Dan Gable is a well-known name in the world of American wrestling, today we’re going to talk to about his life goals, achievement and his illustrious career as an Olympic wrestler.

Dan Gable was born in Waterloo, Iowa and it was at Iowa State University where Dan was recognised for being a genuine wrestler.  In his whole career at Iowa State University he only lost one wrestling match, which made him famous among other athletes at this University.  He started off in High School wrestling for his team in state championships.  It was after this that Gable moved onto Iowa State University.

His career spanned from 1967 till 1975, it was in 1976 that he became head coach at the University of Iowa. In 1972 Gable headed to the Olympics that were being held in Munich that year, where he didn’t give up a single point in the Olympic Games and became the gold medal winner in the wrestling event. A life goal that Gable had been focusing on since he started his wrestling career and an achievement that he unfortunately never managed to match again. In the span of his wrestling career Gable has had many highlights to uphold and be thankful for, he won three State Championships, two NCAA Championships, an Olympic Games medal and a World Wrestling Championship.

After he had finished with High School, Gable wrestled for the Iowa State Cyclones, for the Big Eight Conference league, where his final record was 181-1.  Dan also wrestled on the Freestyle Wrestling Circuit between 1967 and 1976 where he earned a record of 67-4.  Between 1971 and 1973 he wrestled internationally where he finished with a record of 29-1, overall he finished with a freestyle record of 97-5.

Dan Gable is one of our wrestling icons and heroes at My Wrestling Room, and we salute him.