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Wrestling
legend Dan Gable conducts clinic at AU
Photo by Jeff
Watts
Dan
Gable, who won 15 NCAA Championships while head coach at
Iowa, shared some of his philosophies with local high school
coaches.
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BY
MIKE UNGER
Some
people who happened to catch the shortish, balding man amble slowly
into the wrestling room in Jacobs Fitness Center on Nov. 12 might
not have been aware that they were watching greatness walk by.
Dan
Gable, universally recognized as one of the finest wrestlers in
the modern history of the sport, has a bad hip and a bum shoulder,
but his greatest strengths, his mind, his grit, his determination,
the assets he drew on to win NCAA titles and Olympic gold medals,
remain.
Gable,
who guided the University of Iowa to 15 NCAA wrestling championships
in 21 seasons as head coach, came to AU to conduct a two-day seminar
for local high school wrestlers and coaches.
“This
is a very key university for wrestling,” Gable said. “It’s
located in a part of the world that gets attention. They can affect
our sport in a very positive way. We want this institution to make
national news.”
More
than 50 coaches turned out to listen to Gable discuss his philosophies
on coaching, athletics, and life in general.
His
dedication to training is otherworldly, as demonstrated by a story
he told of a previous trip to Washington. In 1972, Gable and other
U.S. Olympians were scheduled to meet President Nixon before flying
to Munich, Germany, to compete in the games.
“I
needed a good wrestling workout,” Gable recalled. “So
[teammates and I] picked up the double beds in our hotel room and
wrestled on the carpet instead of going to see the president. That’s
the kind of mentality I’m talking about. The goals I had as
an athlete weren’t material goals. I wanted daily goals, because
those were going to add up over the rest.”
Gable
virtually never knew defeat. He compiled a 64-0 record in high school,
before winning his first 118 matches, including three NCAA championship
matches, while at Iowa State University. His lone collegiate loss
came in his final collegiate match, when he lost in the 1970 NCAA
142-pound division final.
Two
years later, Gable won Olympic gold in Munich, romping through the
tournament without surrendering a single point.
“He’s
the Michael Jordan of wrestling,” said Robert Karch, chair
of AU’s Department of Health and Fitness and the Eagles’
former wrestling coach.
Gable
opened the clinic by explaining his multiphase coaching philosophy,
which he conceived following a disappointing season at Iowa in 1989.
“Never
let a day go by when you don’t work on your family or your
profession,” he said. “For an athlete, substitute sport
for profession. There’s always more to learn in this sport,
because there’s an infinity of holds. You never stop learning.”
While
an assistant coach at Oklahoma State University, AU coach Mark Cody
got to know Gable.
“The guy is a genius of the sport, and he takes a common sense
approach to the sport,” Cody said. “He had a very grueling
style, and with that style he was able to motivate kids to wrestle
like him.”
The
proof is in the staggering statistics Gable compiled over the course
of his coaching career. His record at Iowa was 355-21-2. He coached
152 All-Americans, 45 national champions, 106 Big Ten champions,
and 10 Olympians, including four gold medalists. Gable’s teams
won the Big Ten title every year, at one point winning nine straight
NCAA Championships, and he also served as head coach of the U.S.
Olympic wrestling team three times.
The
numbers are mind boggling.
“He
is the guy that elevated U.S. wrestling to a much higher level,”
Karch said. “Gable set a different standard. It’s a credit
to Mark Cody that he’s here, because Gable doesn’t have
to go anywhere.”
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