It's freezing outside. Everything unraveled. Mack swerved off the road, pulling his son from the car. "I'm gonna watch," he declares, then almost to himself adds, "I can't be such a chickenshit.". GABLE HAS BEEN watching himself too, looking inward, changing, thinking about his family. She scrolled through the Iowa wrestling message boards, and one thread caught her attention. But if I had a sprained ankle, Id work right through it. "I had never seen a sunset," he says, and he's laughing at himself, at how he sounds. He recently said: I get much more satisfaction out of coaching a winner than actually winning myself., More: President Donald Trump to award Dan Gable the Presidential Medal of Freedom, wrestling icon tells Register. He has developed a legion of champions at the University of Iowa 10 wrestlers have won national titles, 42 have achieved all-American status since he became head coach in 1977. Now, we go to movies and take the kids to Disneyland.. "He brought his work home with him a lot," Mackie says. It's just him and Kathy now. How has marriage and fatherhood changed the super athlete who once was so devoted to the sport that he starved himself to cut weight and ran to classes with 10-pound weights on his ankles. They should be fired, he said. Few athletes have ever been as dominant as the legendary Dan Gable. Dan Gable's career accomplishments are etched in wrestling lore, from his 1972 unscored-on Olympic gold-medal performance on the mat to his record-setting 15 NCAA titles as wrestling coach (a mark unequaled in wrestling history). "I'm coming here with one thing in mind," Dan says after checking into his suite on the 10th floor of the Savery Hotel, reaching into the closet and thumbing past two Iowa jackets before pulling out one that says USA. A year ago, McDonough dominated people, and now, for some reason, he is wrestling without anger or energy. Gable goes back inside. He is also famous for having only lost one match in his entire Iowa State University collegiate career - his last . No, he ain't. An excerpt from our 2014 interview with the legendary wrestler and wrestling coach Dan Gable. former university of iowa wrestling coach dan gable will be awarded the . Katie and Mack Gable kept everything. The 21-year-old Apple Valley, Minn . Now, in the last hour of the tournament, a scowl anchors his face. His mother made the books, collecting mementos from his journey, starting with local papers, rising up to Sports Illustrated profiles. he thought. The Gable statue outside Carver-Hawkeye Arena calls "stalling" on those who pass by. If he has free time, he either goes back to the office or he goes downstairs for a workout. They all grew up around wrestling and still love to watch the sport . His work paid off. His body, though older and scarred by combat on the mat, still fits a description that appeared in Esquire magazine a decade ago: His wrists resemble ankles, his forearms approach the size of a normal human calf, his upper arms are respectable thighs. "Every once in a while," he tells them, "I'll be traveling with Dan and things like that will hit. Doctors told him not to wrestle with the Takedown Machine. Gouges and divots cover the bottom, like a target-practice soda can, deep scars and even holes, dozens of them. BACK HOME, HE's got a 45-acre spread he's put together in pieces over the years, a place to live out his uneasy retirement. All he can do is wait for headlights to shine through the windows, letting him know one of his girls has come back home. He put hammers in their cars in case they ran off the road into a body of water. They've learned a lot about him by having their own kids. Andrew Cutraro. GABLE, Dan(iel) (b. It sounds like coachspeak and only makes sense once you've watched Gable watch wrestling. Something is very close to the surface, and he tries to force it back down. 8. 8 at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, trying to decide whether he can watch the last Iowa match of the NCAA wrestling tournament. Rudy is outside, playing in the woods, but Peekers is by the couch, hacking and dry heaving. Andrew Cutraro, "I don't know where I'm at when it comes to this Olympic wrestling," he says. 1 thing I give them.. At one point, the floor gave way to the continuous blasts of water and drenched Mack Gable who happened to be passing below. Dan Gable watched his wife, Kathy, watch wrestling during last week's Olympic Games in Tokyo. A guard checks his ticket and waves him into the suite level. Drive them through the cornfields to this suite in a deafening, packed arena. Gable was the most dominant American collegiate and Olympic wrestler ever. Photograph By Andrew Cutraro. After the run, he drew a circle on the dusty country road and struck a familiar stance against an imaginary foe. "After what wrestling did for my dad and his family, after their tragedy. Danny is the son of Ed and Patty Olszta. "They might need it," he says. I loved every minute of it, she said. That sticks in her mind, for some reason -- him peaceful, unaware. She ducks into the suite, scans the room and calls, "Mom?" He struggles with it. What would he say? Derek St. John, the Iowa 157 and last hope to salvage a national title from a tournament gone wrong, crouches at the center of the mat. Mack answered and listened as the neighbor described Diane's half-naked body dead on the living room carpet, in the same room where Dan once sat in the window. Courtesy Gable Family, His life has been one of victory: He went 64 - 0 as a high school wrestler, 118 - 1 in college, won an Olympic gold medal in Munich without surrendering a point, won 15 national titles in 21 seasons as the Iowa coach. "It burns," he says, gritting his teeth, and he sounds supremely happy. 25 October 1948 in Waterloo, Iowa), the greatest amateur wrestler and wrestling coach in United States history.Born and raised in Waterloo, Iowa, Gable was the only son and second child of Mack, a blue-collar worker at the local John Deere plant, and Katie Gable. They got a neighbor to go check. I knew he was going to create opportunities for us at Iowa so that we didnt have to beg, borrow and steal to become a national power. But few know the man behind the legend the father who sits patiently through a daughters dance recital, the husband who spends afternoons pruning his wifes raspberry bushes, the son who permits his parents to keep the gold medal on display in their home because it makes them happy.. THEY'RE BACK IN Iowa City. He didn't know. . "Fishing is the only thing I love besides wrestling and my family," he says. There's a yawn of silence. Until high school, or maybe even college, Mackie thought the John Lennon song "Imagine" was written especially for a 1992 wrestling highlight video. He looked like he was doped up he was glassy-eyed.. He wont just sit down and relax. In fact, theres much about Gable who at times watches the movie Rocky for inspiration that remains a mystery: On a June afternoon when thermometers hit 95, Gable stood soaked in sweat after a workout in the yard of his parents cabin on the Mississippi River near Lansing, Iowa. The Dan Gable relationship updates suggest that he has been married to Kathy Gable since 1974. Some of those kids had been wrestling at Iowa three and four years. Hes very easygoing he never puts anybody down. He fears he is powerless to create that change. At Carver-Hawkeye, they sat in section NN, seats 1-6, the first two rows. Gable can't sleep that night, haunted by McDonough's loss and the losses of every wrestler he's seen in the past few days, even ones from other schools, kids he's never met. Today, a month after the IOC decision, he sinks down into his hot tub, which overlooks a wide yard of snow, downrange from the two cement deer that, on occasion, real deer like to hump. It was a dream come true.. Every now and again, he splashes water on his face. Gable returns, ready to continue. Childhood & Early Life. I was so narrow-minded. There's a sign above his head that says: Whatever Happens In The Hot Tub Stays In The Hot Tub. She lived with the storm of his career because she loved his willingness to devote himself fully to something. -- Tourette's in reverse -- are followed by growling, intense curses. Competing for Iowa State University, he posted a near-perfect record. Gable often stays, I wont ask my athletes to do anything Im not willing to do.. Dan and Kathy Gable, Iowa City, announce the engagement of their daughter, Molly, to Danny Olszta of New Lenox, IL. He is an author, motivational speaker, father, and grandfather," the White House said in a statement last week. The best result we found for your search is Kathy J Gable age 60s in Peru, IN. She studied his face for clues. Kathy Gable knew he needed to build his family around wrestling. Piece by piece, he'd been stripped of the things that had kept his demons in check since seventh grade, in the gray cinder block dungeon at West High School. Considered to be one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, Gable is a two-time NCAA Division I national champion, a world gold medalist, and an Olympic gold medalist.Gable was only the third wrestler to have ever been inducted into the United World Wrestling's Hall of Fame in the Legend . "Dan is a man of purpose," his friend Doughty says. Everyone in the Gable suite celebrates, except Gable himself, who is almost panting, his eyes glassy. ", Gable loves sitting in the sauna, even traveling overseas once to an international sauna convention. They followed him on his journey and counted his successes as their own. Gable knocked. U.S. President Donald Trump awarded Gable with the Presidential Medal of Freedom on December 8, 2020. . I make friends, but I never get too close. In five years, he'll have been retired for as long as he was a head coach. KATHLEEN GABLE OBITUARY. All four girls have moved out, started lives of their own. Mackie was in elementary school when he quit. NICE JOB, McDONOUGH!". She tapped him, asked if he knew anything about the Olympics getting rid of wrestling in 2020. "A lot of pain. At rest, Gable looks like a retired math teacher, but under the influence of anger and adrenaline, he transforms. Danny Mack Gable, also known as Dan Gable is a former folkstyle and freestyle wrestler from the United States who was only the third wrestler inducted into the United World Wrestling Hall of Fame in the Legend category. Four hours later, the emotions that started in the sauna force their way out, released by his joy over Derek St. John's national title. He needed to purge these feelings. Dan Gable's home on a large wooded lot in Iowa City is filled with trophies and posters, with his Olympic gold medal a centerpiece. Gable was joined Monday by his 13 grandchildren, his wife Kathy, daughters, Jenni, Molly, Annie and Mackenzie, and sons-in-laws One of Gable's son-in-laws (to his left) was pictured holding three . They didn't understand. It drew us all closer together, Gable said. To the world, he's a champion. ", "I feel bad for my dad," Mackie says. He's still the most famous person in the world of wrestling. His legs are sinewy as a sprinters. Diane's death is a psychic phantom limb, a complicated pain he talks about more each year, even if he still can't articulate how it makes him feel. "What's he doing?" My dedication to Diane kept me straighter she was a motivating force. Later that night, some friends sit around the hotel bar, just as baffled as Mackie. It is four p.m. Dan Gable is starting a 2-hour workout in the 95 heat of the wrestling room. Lately he's been taking the time to understand new things, like the straps and buckles on his grandkids' car seats. The memory of his sister comes to him, vividly. His face is chapped from the cold. This land is a lot of work, and he's getting older. Jenni and Annie both live in Iowa City. "I'm gonna step outside.". WATERLOO, Iowa --- On May 31, 1964, a pretty 19-year-old west-side Waterloo girl with the now well-known name of Diane Gable, was slain in her home. He's on fire these days, energized. He was on a fishing trip with his parents when he heard that his sister, Diane, 19, was found stabbed to death in the kitchen of the familys Waterloo home. "She really likes to watch the wrestling," said a man who won wrestling gold at the 1972 Games . Dan Gable. Generations now have come and gone, and Gable remembers the losers more than the winners. One afternoon, Gable comes into the reception area, making small talk. Full Biography. Can a fly rod really hold the secret of life? Andrew Cutraro. Gable's dominance carried over to a successful coaching career. Having that taken away, I don't want to say it's killing him You gotta understand, wrestling is what he went to when he recovered from his sister passing away.". He covets the weekends he spends with his family at the cabin retreat. Kathy Carpenter was 19 when she married Gable, whom she met through a former boyfriend of hers. He's always been a protective parent, never letting his girls stay home alone overnight, even when they were in college, no matter how much they complained. Hes worked his tail off to get where he is right now, she said during a shopping trip around Iowa City one afternoon. Dan Gable Quotes. "Nothing's ever happened in the hot tub," he says. Dan and Kathy Gable met at a party. Pain and relief, even then. He mumbled something and kept sleeping, for a few moments, until the information traveled through his subconscious and he rushed to the computer. "If they drop wrestling," son-in-law Danny Olszta says, "he'll feel he failed. 267 Copy quote. Dan Gable is a former Olympic wrestler and head coach who is considered to be one of the greatest amateur wrestlers in American history Dan Gable @Coaches, Timeline and Childhood . This is the price of trying to bury a lifetime of hurt.