", Gable loves sitting in the sauna, even traveling overseas once to an international sauna convention. Dan Gable. She confronted her son and slapped him, hard. Then, in 1997, burned out and with chronic pain in his hip, he quit. Danny Mack "Dan" Gable was born on October 25, 1948, in Waterloo, Iowa, to Mack Gable, a real-estate salesman, and his wife, Katie Gable, a homemaker. He was just a boy. Dan Gable. Soon he is sobbing, his back to the suite. There's a wrestling-size hole in his life, and he is always trying to fill it. 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. He couldn't use his arm for two weeks, couldn't crank a boat, couldn't chop wood. Now, in the last hour of the tournament, a scowl anchors his face. Of all the photographs taken of Dan Gable, perhaps this one best captures his fire. He is being pulled backward, toward her death and his complicity in it. Courtesy IU Athletics. "I don't know," he says now. She doesn't know what to do. She wanted to wrestle in junior high school, but her mom wouldn't let her join the boys team. Forget winning an Olympic medal. Dan Gable and Kathy Gable got married in 1974. In 2020, Gable was with his wife at the White House when he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Now the IOC wants to take away the Olympics. The officials stopped him a couple times to test him for drugs. Dan Gable celebrates his birthday on October 25, so his zodiac sign is Scorpio. Unsplash. The statue is also there for his girls and for his grandchildren, so that if they ever need advice when he's dead and gone -- he figures he's got 15 years -- there will be a piece of him left, forever, reminding them to get off their asses and fight. He is going to win the national championship. His throat closed, and the words refused to come out. This is his life. He's been more emotional, calling old wrestlers on the phone to tell stories about how it used to be. Mack dropped the phone. Then he got beat a third time, ending his career. Snow piles on the branches, two inches at least. They all grew up around wrestling and still love to watch the sport . They followed him on his journey and counted his successes as their own. Hed feel like traitor if he left.. She tapped him, asked if he knew anything about the Olympics getting rid of wrestling in 2020. He is an author, motivational speaker, father, and grandfather," the White House said in a statement last week. Tragedy struck again three years ago when doctors discovered Dans mother had cancer. All else he shoved aside, or pushed back down. His words carry many different emotions: surprise, relief, resignation and, just maybe, acceptance. Some coaches ignore their families on their climb to the top; Gable needed his to be with him, as Sherpas, eventually as fellow climbers. Gable is a little more old-fashioned. Just being around me, a wrestler will come away wanting to be a champion. Dan's parents fought, torn apart by the murder. A year ago, McDonough dominated people, and now, for some reason, he is wrestling without anger or energy. This is the price of trying to bury a lifetime of hurt. During his prep and college wrestling careers, Dan Gable compiled an unbelievable record of 181-1. . Courtesy Gable Family, He is helpless in the face of the sick cat. Grid. Today, Gable still resides in the Hawkeye State with his wife, Kathy. If he has free time, he either goes back to the office or he goes downstairs for a workout. "I don't even know how to explain it. He called the head of USA Wrestling and blurted, "Tell me it isn't true!". Select this result to view Kathy J Gable's phone number, address, and more. When Gable started lobbying, colleges were losing more wrestling programs each year, down from 146 in 1981-82 to 77 in 2011-12. AP Images. Ten seconds pass. The buildings -- the main house, his clubhouse with a sauna and gym, the barn with his axes and Everlast heavy bag -- look like they belong in a Nordic postcard, all dark wood and peaked rooflines. He says his wife, Kathy, is the one who has loaded showcases and . He has these things locked in trapdoors and eeeek " -- he makes the creaking sound of an old hinge opening -- " they start coming out. Danny Mack "Dan" Gable (born October 25, 1948) is a retired American Olympic wrestler and head coach. Thats about the only time I get mad at him. Why was the hardest dude on the planet crying because a wrestler he doesn't coach won a match? Generations now have come and gone, and Gable remembers the losers more than the winners. 1 -- and practice moves on the Takedown Machine, trying to keep intact a world he'd first built as a seventh-grade boy. 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. Kathy Gable knew he needed to build his family around wrestling. Gables name is to wrestling what Joe Namaths is to professional football and Muhammad Alis is to boxing. Katie tore off toward the cabin, with Dan sprinting after her, Mack chasing in the car. "McDonough, get up! "I've had some unbelievable conversations with Kathy Gable that Dan Gable doesn't know about in that f---ing closet right there," says current Iowa coach Tom Brands, sitting in the Iowa wrestling room. View the profiles of people named Kathy Gable on Facebook. Kathy Gable: Children: Mackenzie McCord, Jenni Mitchell, Annie Gavin, Molly Olszta: Parents: Mack Gable, Katie . "Ahhhhhhhh," he moans, a cloud of vapor exploding as bare skin hits cold ground, moving his arms and legs back and forth, carving out wedges. Dan is screaming now too, spittle flying out of his mouth. All he can do is wait for headlights to shine through the windows, letting him know one of his girls has come back home. The former Iowa State and Iowa wrestler/coach indicated that he was no longer able to reconcile his differences with his wife Kathy over her refusal to buy pickles. Fierce showdowns with Peekers seem like a comical use of the authority he built by demanding everything from himself and from athletes who wanted to be like him. They drove home, and Dan moved into her room, winning 162 straight matches before losing. Without it, they were a different family. "I didn't get it all," he tells his friends, standing outside of the sauna, leaning in, "but I got a lot. It's been there our whole life. He's got to be careful. Courtesy Gable Family. Outside in the concourse, feeling weak, then feeling guilty about feeling weak, he knows what must be done. Give everything you got today for tomorrow may never come. Courtesy Gable Family. The Gables always seemed to be one bad night from breaking apart, leaving Dan without a family: alone. Gable was undefeated in high school competition and won three consecutive Iowa state high school championships. Dan remembers his parents feeling antsy. Later, over beers at a local bar, he tries to remember when the collecting began. President Donald Trump awarded the Medal of Freedom to wrestler and coach Dan Gable in the Oval Office on Monday, making him the first wrestler in history to receive the honor. Ohhhhhh. Theres not much bad I can say about Dan except that hes a workaholic. Also, he had won six of his matches at . They felt this young punk Olympic champ wasnt going to come in and tell them what to do. A lot of my confidence exudes off me to my athletes. ABC's Wide World of Sports showed up. "I have this son. 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. When the machine had asked his age, Gable, who is 64, typed in 29, as always, and began attacking the pedals, grinding out frustrations about the IOC and the collapsing Hawkeyes. His only defeat came in the NCAA finals his senior year. and the world. The bronze Gable isn't lifting his fists in victory, or wagging a finger, but raising his arms in what wrestling fans recognize as a stalling call. His fighting days are nearly finished. Outside Carver-Hawkeye, he takes small, sliding steps toward his truck, past the statue of him put up a year ago. 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. Jenni, Annie, Molly, and Mackenzie. He became one of the few dominant athletes in a sport who . The sauna is completely quiet except for Dan's voice, which sounds far away. Finally, choosing his words carefully, he said, "It was like a death in the family. Even before the IOC decision, Gable worried about the future of his sport and hoped to inspire people to save it. Some of those kids had been wrestling at Iowa three and four years. Wrestling saved them from going down a path of destruction.". He'd let his mom and dad down. Among numerous other civic causes that he supports, Dan continues to help the sport of wrestling. Wearing a mouthpiece would have prevented the holes and the mouthfuls of blood he swallowed and spit out, but it would also have made him weak, made his jaw slide, made him feel vulnerable. He lost his relevance. Lessons in Leadership. A young man stepped out of the crowd, pointed toward the hat and said one of the few English words he knew: "Gable.". On the morning the IOC announced it would drop wrestling from the Olympics, Dan Gable was a continent away, fast asleep. There's a yawn of silence. Katie Gable drove to Ames. The drinking escalated. Mackie and Justin are about to leave, making the drive to Dubuque, where she teaches kindergarten and he coaches soccer. Gable's definition of relaxation is what most people might consider the hardest work of their lives. In 1974, Dan Gable married Kathy Carpenter and the couple has four daughters: Jenni, Annie, Molly and Mackenzie. He needed to purge these feelings. Dan sees the phone again. They're all here." 8 at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, trying to decide whether he can watch the last Iowa match of the NCAA wrestling tournament. THE FIVE-MILE drive from the arena back to Gable's house takes him from the heart of campus into gentle rural hills with clapboard farmhouses and grain silos. There'd been drama with Annie, who didn't want to stop and eat together on the way back. It's an enormous pain for moms with young children to relocate to a different city every March for a wrestling tournament. "I don't think I can sit here," he says, stepping out of the suite into the hallway. --Dan Gable. 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 first two periods pass. Too many are sitting on their jobs instead of doing the job, Nichols said. Mackie rushes to find Kathy, who comforts him. Andrew Cutraro. Gable doesn't say anything. Gouges and divots cover the bottom, like a target-practice soda can, deep scars and even holes, dozens of them. He earns $35,000 a year for coaching plus revenue from advertisements and the wrestling camps he conducts. The logs are still wet, and the air smells like oak and elm. 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 . "The match changed my . The news rearranged his world. "SONOFABITCH!" His only defeat came in the NCAA finals his senior year. During the heat of summer, when a team is formed, Gable stayed at home, not connected to the Hawkeyes. But beating the Russians is going to be very tough.. I have this new baby son. For him, the reward wasn't a medal but seeing how winning it made them feel. Danny Mack Gable (born October 25, 1948) is an American former folkstyle and freestyle wrestler and coach. He put hammers in their cars in case they ran off the road into a body of water. Dan and Kathy Gable met at a party. Some essential part of Gable is gone forever. Then I met Dan at the 2012 Olympic Trials and pitch the idea to do a magazine article about his sister's murder. 4. Jenni screams. 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. In the central Montana mountains, a paralyzed man and his wife are proving the answer just might be yes. He pictures it now: a swaying receiver connected by a creaking metal cord to a box. The Waterloo, Iowa, native began wrestling as boy and won three Iowa High School championships and two NCAA championships at Iowa State University. "Pain is nothing compared to what it feels like to quit." - Dan Gable. Gold medals aren't really made of gold. She was the loving wife of Kevin M. Gable with whom she celebrated they're 36th Mackie was in elementary school when he quit. 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. "No, it ain't!" Attitude is the No. 2. Andrew Cutraro, "I don't know where I'm at when it comes to this Olympic wrestling," he says. 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. Part of his role with CPOW is helping redesign the rules, an important request from the IOC. "We'll follow the old man wherever he wants to go," the song goes. This chapter is entitled The Final Season, which c . It was easier to get financial backing from private sources. They have four daughters; Jenni, Annie, Molly, and Mackenzie. First he lost his sister and his perfect record. HIS DAUGHTERS HAVE been watching. He looked like he was doped up he was glassy-eyed.. Back and forth. Andrew Cutraro. He got out of his bed, crossed the hall and climbed into Diane's bed, turning to face the wall. Watching Gable melt down is like watching Picasso paint. -- Tourette's in reverse -- are followed by growling, intense curses. Gable lost. He later elaborates: "She just it just pains her that he's not content. That surprised him. Dan Gable, in full Daniel Mack Gable, (born October 25, 1948, Waterloo, Iowa, U.S.), American freestyle wrestler and coach who is often considered to be the greatest amateur wrestler in American history. Follow the Mag on Twitter: @ESPNmag. It's as if the statue of Lombardi outside Lambeau Field were forever calling delay of game, demanding his teams keep pressing. The rotator cuff injuries, and an earlier painful fall while hauling in the Christmas tree, had left him hobbled, feeling his age, thinking about the future. He sinks down farther into the water. I make friends, but I never get too close. 9. 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.. 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. He never cheered after one of his own matches, but he'd leap into the air after theirs, and he'd mourn with them after defeats, and sit in a sauna wearing a coat and tie to help them make weight. People nod when he passes, and he zips his Iowa wrestling coat. "Every once in a while," he tells them, "I'll be traveling with Dan and things like that will hit. Through stories funny, heartfelt, intense, and always . During a weekend on the Mississippi, Katie Gable talked of how she once played nursemaid not only to Dan, but to John and Ben Peterson, two wrestlers who gained Olympic berths with Gable in 1972. 1. SUBSCRIBE. "It burns," he says, gritting his teeth, and he sounds supremely happy. The cat hacks a few more times, bobbing her head, then vomits all over the carpet. I cant see myself coaching after that. They first met at a party. The murder of the teen-ager sister of Dan Gable . They needed the clarity of Gable's obsession. 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). Here, surrounded by his forest, he has found the strength to finally surrender, which is its own kind of victory. "It was simple: I wanted to beat the guy who beat me," says Owings. The glory always meant more to me if I knew my parents and my sister would see it., He recalled pacing nervously in the dressing room before his Olympic matches and thinking, Diane is with me, too. But out of the blue, a bubble gum company sent him a $250 check for permission to use his photo on a series of cards. Dan and Kathy Gable met at a party. Gable triumphs again -- over himself. If I beat the Russians next year, which I fully intend to do, they might ask me back as an Olympic coach again. He brings it up on his own, and the story trickles out. Kathy Carpenter was 19 when she married Gable, whom she met through a former boyfriend of hers. Former Hawkeye head wresting coach Dan Gable, who led the UI program for 21 years, received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country's highest civilian honor, on Dec. 7. . The awards were handed out by hall of fame wrestler and coach, Dan Gable. Andrew Cutraro. One of them, Chad Zaputil, still haunts him. Competing for Iowa State University, he posted a near-perfect record. I never write sympathetic notes. His struggle is never clearer than when he stops by the Iowa wrestling office, to pick up mail that still arrives there addressed to him, or to sign autographs. "If they drop wrestling," son-in-law Danny Olszta says, "he'll feel he failed. He flashed the smile that soon will appear on thousands of bubble gum cards and said: I cant let up we have the Russians to beat!, From the archives: Dan Gable won the first of his 2 NCAA titles 50 years ago. Gable has weathered family tragedies that first struck when he was just 15. CLICK HERE . Ive had around 10 operations. Over beers at the bar in the Lansing cabin, he recalled: In Munich, I knew hed win. Nobody scored on him in Munich, and when he won, he tossed the medal in the bottom of his gym bag. Gable scoops his hand into the water bucket to splash his face. They refused. Another fall might be more than he can handle. In addition, from 1976 to 1997, he was the head wrestling coach at the University of Iowa. To his nine grandchildren, he is a jungle gym. After the run, he drew a circle on the dusty country road and struck a familiar stance against an imaginary foe. A bitter laugh escapes his lips, and he looks tired and uncertain. Zaputil disappeared. To his left, five deer move through the trees. "Maybe it's time to turn my locker in," he says. No, he ain't. When his mom died in 1994, he found hundreds of letters he'd written in college. 4 Iowa beat No. He has had to slow down because his knees . Im expanding my interests a lot more now because of Kathy. Gable is hunched over. I never took him up on it, Gable said. The 67-year-old Gable was the featured speaker at a Wrestlers In Business Network banquet in Princeton, NJ in April. St. John pushes his opponent into the mat. My sisters death affected my whole life. If they don't fully understand what pushes him, they know which clues are important. He hesitates, considering how much to reveal. He struggles with it. Thus, ending his 181-match winning streak. Then doctors told him he couldn't wrestle people any longer, and the Christmas tree and the chain saw nearly took away the Takedown Machine, and that is just about that. THEY'RE BACK IN Iowa City. Making the turn down the hall to join his family, he thinks about his useless gear gathering dust in the Iowa wrestling room. Leaning over, with his head down, the tears come. Gable was a two time NCAA National . Kathy has already put out Easter decorations, including stuffed bunnies and an Easter tree. His shoulders heave up and down, shaking. Danny Mack Dan Gable (born October 25, 1948) is a retired American Olympic wrestler and head coach. They've learned a lot about him by having their own kids. At rest, Gable looks like a retired math teacher, but under the influence of anger and adrenaline, he transforms. Until high school, or maybe even college, Mackie thought the John Lennon song "Imagine" was written especially for a 1992 wrestling highlight video. Together, they have four children, namely, Jenni, Annie, Molly, and Mackenzie. "Look, all I want in my life is a nice . Andrew Cutraro. 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 . "Nothing's ever happened in the hot tub," he says. Gable says. It all combines in his chest, a consuming ache. Half an hour later, his parents opened the door, humbled by the courage of their son. After years of a slow reduction in the annual losses, the number of D-1 programs held steady last season. He lost his final college match in 1970, however two years later he won the gold medal in his weight class at the Munich . The tattoo had been expanded, to show the hawk clawing out a human heart, with blood splattered all down Zaputil's torso. It is four p.m. Dan Gable is starting a 2-hour workout in the 95 heat of the wrestling room. The best result we found for your search is Kathy J Gable age 60s in Peru, IN. When his mom would get him on the phone, he couldn't talk. All his life, Gable has been able to sense other people's hopes, just as he feels other people's pain as if it were his own. But, he had to file for divorce over an argument with her. In the kitchen, Kathy starts laughing, imagining the scene. He mumbled something and kept sleeping, for a few moments, until the information traveled through his subconscious and he rushed to the computer. Dan Gable won 13-4 in a match that would serve as the central motivation for Owings two years later. The wrestling rooms of his life come back to him, bunkers, dark and hot, without windows or natural light, a lot like a poet's vision of hell. Oldest grandson Gable sits in his chair, never taking his eyes off the mats. 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.