Dan Gable
Legends in sport have numbers permanently affixed to their names. Dan Gable is no different.
He’s known for compiling a 64-0 record in high school at Waterloo West, becoming one of five wrestlers in Iowa history to finish his prep career unbeaten. He’s known for winning his first 118 matches at Iowa State University and claiming two NCAA titles before he lost in his final match in college.
He’s known for tearing through the 1972 Olympics, winning the gold medal and allowing zero points in the process.
He’s also known for the near-unimaginable numbers he produced as a coach at Iowa. Gable coached the Hawkeyes for 21 seasons and his teams won 21 Big Ten titles. Iowa also captured 15 national championships during that stretch, including a string of nine straight, matching the longest run of consecutive national titles by any school in any sport.
Outside of the numbers, Gable was known as a master motivator with a magic touch of getting the most out of his athletes. He had an uncanny ability for being able to read his wrestlers and knowing which psychological buttons to push to maximize their skills.
Gable coached 152 All-Americans, 45 NCAA champions, 106 Big Ten titlists, 12 Olympians and four Olympic gold medalists.
He wrapped up his career as the head coach of the Hawkeyes in 1997. Iowa, of course, finished the year with a Big Ten title and another national championship. In Gable’s final tournament, near Gable’s hometown, the Hawkeyes stormed through the tournament at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls, scoring a meet-record 170 points.