Growing up in a blue-collar town, Dan Gable learned the importance of hard work at a young age. "I always believed there were certain principles that make you the cream of the crop. The No. 1 guy," he says. This simple philosophy spurred Gable to become the best wrestler in the world and the winningest coach that the sport has ever seen.
Gable was born and raised in Waterloo, Iowa, where wrestling mats are as common as basketball hoops in the driveway. He excelled early, winning all of his high school matches and three Iowa State titles before enrolling in Iowa State University. He later won the 1971 World Championship freestyle title and the 1972 Olympic gold medal, where he didn't surrender a single point in the Munich Games.
Gable carried that relentless work ethic into coaching a few years later. A 21-year career at the University of Iowa produced a remarkable record that includes 15 NCAA team titles, 45 individual national champs, 21 Big Ten titles and only 21 dual-meet losses. In storybook fashion, Gable's final season in Cedar Falls, Iowa, produced his 15th NCAA title won with a record 170 points in front of a record-setting crowd.
His workout at the University of Iowa were legendary. Before hip-replacement surgery took him off the mat, Gable used to wrestle his athletes. Terry Brands, now an assistant coach who won two NCAA titles under Gable, remembers a time when Gable rode him in practice for nearly an hour.
"You never really escaped; he was jst unbelieveable," says Brands, a two time world champion and a favorite to make the 2000 U.S. Olympic freestyle team. "It's one of the most exhausting moments I have ever had-very claustrophobic. It's something that will be fresh in my mind 90 years from now, if I'm still alive."
Gable believes that you need to keep the wrestlers guessing. "Never let them get complacent," he says. "A good coach can read the situation and make calls based on that situation."
Gable remains active in the sport to this day. He is co-coaching the U.S. wrestling team for the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australian, where they are considered a strong contender for the gold metal. He may take his wrestlers "to hell and back," but he knows that the effort is worthwhile. "Intense training improves physical conditioning, but more importantly the mind. The mind is really the difference!!"
Physical, "Pinned to the Mat," 62, January/February 2000.
