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Dan Gable Role Model

Decent Essays

Nolan Balzer
Mrs. Galaviz
English 12
February 28, 2015
The History of Dan Gable

If you are, or ever were, a wrestler, could you imagine having a record of 181-1? Dan Gable did not have to imagine it, because that was his record. Throughout his high school, college and Olympic career, he only lost one match. Nate Kaeding expressed it perfectly when he said, “He has truly earned his place as the godfather of Iowa sports” (Wrestling Life). Dan Gable is the best, pure wrestling role model because of the amount of hard work and dedication he put into the sport and his drive to always be better. This is illustrated in his record as a high school and college wrestler, a coach, and in the Olympics as a wrestler and coach.
Danny Mack “Dan” Gable …show more content…

In the article, “Gable Dominated as a Wrestler and Coach”, the author, Mike Puma, talked about Gable: “In his first season, the Hawkeyes went 17-1-1 and finished third at the 1977 NCAA tournament. Gable was voted the NCAA’s Rookie Coach of the Year” (Gable Dominated). Between 1978 and 1986, Gable led his team as a coach to nine straight NCAA titles, and in twenty-one seasons as the head coach at Iowa State, he led them to fifteen titles. While Gable was a coach, Lou Banach, a wrestler of Gable’s, said “No one is a better motivator than Gable and that is a huge part of the success of Iowa wrestling” (WrestlingLife). Gable was not only a good coach because of this motivation, however. Because he was such a successful wrestler through high school, college, and the Olympics, his wrestlers had something to live up to. They were challenged every day to be better than he was. During Gable’s career as a coach, his teams lost more than one dual meet in a year only five times in his twenty-one years. He coached 152 All-Americans, 45 National Champions, 106 Big Ten Champions and twelve Olympians, including four gold, one silver and three bronze medalists (DanGable). The Hawkeyes won twenty-five consecutive Big Ten championships, twenty-one under Gable as head coach and four while he was an assistant coach and administrator (HawkeyeSports). At that time it tied the longest streak of national titles won by any school in any

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