Dan Gable retired as the head coach of wrestling at Iowa in 1997 after guiding the Hawkeyes to an NCAA-record 16th national title, but the legendary wrestler and coach who was so notorious for his work ethic still can’t hang out in the shadows.
Tuesday, he’ll speak at two events organized by the Atlanta chapter of Wrestlers In Business. The group promotes for the sport at all levels and provides networking possibilities in the business world through its members, predominantly former wrestlers and coaches.
Gable, 65, followed his high school record of 64-0 with a mark of 118-1 at Iowa State, dropping only his final match, and won a freestyle gold medal in the 1972 Olympics without surrendering a single point.
When the IOC suggested in February 2013 that wrestling — with ancient roots traced to the original Olympics in Greece and beyond — would not be contested in the 2020 Games in Tokyo, Gable snapped into action. He began working to promote the sport and push for a modernization of wrestling’s international governing body, FILA.
The IOC voted in September 2013 to re-instate wrestling.
Gable, a father of four grown daughters, remains busy pushing a sport he believes is better than others at teaching discipline, perseverance, and a pursuit of success.
He will speak on leadership and more Tuesday in a luncheon at the Cherokee Town & Country Club and at a 6 p.m. dinner at Maggiano’s in Buckhead. But didn’t wait that long to talk wrestling.
Q: Even many without knowledge or an appreciation for wrestling were shocked when the IOC said last year that wrestling would be bounced from the 2020 Games. Did wrestling’s status as something of a cottage sport or as a sport rooted in brute physicality work against it?
A: Wrestling … doesn't quite fit into a video game in terms of being an entertainment type of thing. We sometimes thought, "We'll be our own sport. We have plenty of people who will do it and we'll survive." What needs to be corrected here, if we're going to survive, you have to look at what you can do to make it more mainstream.
Q: How might wrestling be made more interesting to more people?
A: This interview is important. To be in a newspaper or on the internet … instead of being on ESPN once a year or on international TV once every four years, we need to be on more often than that. We have to do things like Wrestlers In Business. We have to have people in administration be more involved. It helps having good people [former wrestlers in the sports governing bodies] who understand the values, the scoring, what it should be for entertainment.
It took us getting kicked out of the Olympics for six months and we’re not where we need to be yet. But change helped in the IOC, which was needed, and so did change in our leadership (FILA), which was needed. It is accountability.
Q: It has been said that a woman would be killed in ancient Greece if she witnessed a [male] wrestling match at Olympia. Yet it might now be suggested that the introduction of women to the sport (first contested in the 2004 Games in Athens) has been a lifeline. Are women good for the sport?
A: I know that some people think that is not an answer, but it is an answer. Women should have that right, and they do. It's picked up well [although] only four states have sanctioned girls state high school tournaments. The other 46 have to wrestle the guys. That's my beef; I don't think it's should be guys versus girls. It is an area that can help grow our sport.
Q: It’s hard to imagine you “retired.” How does that work?
A: I don't even believe in the word retirement. For me, you transition into something that is related to what you did your whole life. I just went from being the coach, and win, win, win … you needed to take off a little bit of that thing that could put you into your grave a little earlier and move into something that still helps your sport.
I’ll go to my grave promoting wrestling and my family. I have 10 grandkids and an 11th on the way. I don’t mind sitting down and watching TV, but I’ve got to be exhausted. I gave up hunting for wrestling and the fisherman in me is more of a guide. I might be baiting the hook or making sure a kid catches a fish. I’ve got to be more knowledgeable than everybody. That’s the coach in me.
I still have to make money. I have bigger visions now. It was for me and my family, and now it’s for my sport.
Q: You’ve had too many surgeries to count. Has all that cutting slowed you?
A: I love to train, and work out and stay as healthy as I can. I'm kind of a fanatic that way. For me, it's like a coach. I used to be able to go, go, go as far as working out. I probably still have that stamina, but the joints … they changed the rules. You've got to not only work hard, but smart. That's important for athletes and business people.
I warm up well, go like hell, maybe 15-20 minutes on cardio, and don’t lift heavy weight unless I feel good. Then, hot tub, sauna, steam, cold plunge – I do all that stuff. I don’t even want to tell you (about his workout regimen from years past.) As you get older, you better follow orders. When you don’t follow orders, you end up in trouble. I didn’t follow orders, and (after rotator cuff surgery in February) … I had a nerve block and it felt so good that I did some things that I hadn’t done for 20 years. It caused a stress in about six joints. I don’t know if I was shoveling snow or whatever. You get used to winning so much, you cut a corner and get beat.
Q: The phrase, “I shoot, I score; he shoots, I score,” has been attributed to you. It’s on T-shirts and so forth. Did you say that?
A: Yes, I really said that. It was injury. I used to shoot, shoot, shoot, and score, score, score. I got injured (early in 1972). I learned a whole new concept of wrestling off of defense because of a left knee injury. You can create offense through defensive ties. I taped it every day, every workout and even through the Olympic games. I'm a left-leg lead, and … I learned down blocking, hand control, hand snapping."
Q: You sound as if you wrestle still. Do you, or do you wish you still could?
A: I loved wrestling. I craved it. I loved it when I was done. It was fun during the time that I did it; taxing, but a great feeling. I would love to be able to continue to do it. I have done it so many times (including legendary participation in Iowa practices through his coaching career), I can do it in my mind almost.
It’s like shadow wrestling. I get in there once in a while. And if I see something going on on the mat, where I’m thinking there’s a better way to do it than that, I make appearances. I still have to speak my opinion. I just don’t want to have a kid not know.
Q: If there were all at the peaks and four-time NCAA champions Pat Smith (Oklahoma State), Cael Sanderson (Iowa State), Kyle Dake (Cornell) and two-time champ Randy Lewis (Iowa) went at it, who would end up atop the podium?
A: Here's the thing; size is such an important factor. I worked myself into where it really wasn't. I thought I could beat everybody at every weight. But the reality of it is, with the physics and geometry of it all, Sanderson is the bigger of the group.
The way Pat Smith wrestled, he attacked ankles and he could get away from the weight and positioning. Dake is yet to be determined. He’s one of our best, but he’s injured right now.
I’ll tell you what. All four of those guys have the mindset that they would not concede. They would say, “I’m the best here.”
I’m going to tell Randy that he can’t go out there and throw someone? Randy is going to look at the weight class and say, “You see those four guys? Three guys are going for second place.” He said that to me once, when he was a junior.”
Q: What about wrestling gives a competitor edges in life?
A: I'll tell you what. There is no other sport where you have to go hand-to-hand combat under rules and regulations of sportsmanship that is as intense from a standpoint of nerves, the energy, the health that's involved, nutrition. A good coach will teach on those areas until their people show that they understand.
A good coach not only helps good athletes but understands what you understand. Wrestling is, always I say, not for everybody, but it should be. Some people are going to be best fitted for other sports, but wrestling is going to help them … probably more in giving the ability to stand alone.
Sometimes, wrestlers stand so much alone that we don’t know we have to be on a team. But, wow! That team success is really valuable. That’s why I don’t focus on retirement. There is a team out there. The values that you have learned over the years are going to give you the confidence to succeed yourself, and help everybody around you, whether it’s your family or a corporation. There is more than getting your hand raised. When the family or the company gets rewards for you being outstanding, then everybody wins.
