Dan Gable, Waterloo, 1981
BUCK TURNBULL • Register Staff Writer • March 29, 1981
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They were there from all walks of life several years ago, a large gathering of Iowa notables each well known in his own right, and somebody wondered who might be considered the most famous person in the room.
It was one of those fun evenings and this was a fun question.
Ordinarily you might have endless debate on such a subject. But when one bystander noted that, worldwide,
Dan Gable is the most famous Iowan of this generation, and maybe the most famous ever, the debate was over before it started. Nobody disagreed.
Gable was attending that function as the University of Iowa's peerless wrestling coach, but he is far better known in Russia, Iran, Turkey and other points throughout the globe as perhaps the greatest wrestler of all time.
And a decade ago he may have been even better known in those countries, where wrestling commands attention as a major sport, than he was and is in his homeland, where it takes a back seat to baseball, football and basketball.
In stories telling of still another championship by Gable's Hawkeyes, he may receive a mention -- if any explaining is needed -- as being an Olympic golf medalist in 1972.
A few facts and figures on Gable's fabulous career are indelibly printed in the legend of American sport.
He won 181 matches and lost just one in high school at West Waterloo and college at Iowa State. The only loss was in his final collegiate bout.
Almost anyone who knows a takedown from a reversal knows that, but what went into the making of this international champion and all his successes are the stuff about which books are written and movies filmed.
Today Gable is being added as the 95th member of The Des Moines Sunday Register's Iowa Sports Hall of Fame, and if ever anyone was an automatic entry, he is it.
All that needed to pass were the five years since he last competed to meet the eligibility requirements. The Hall of Fame is limited to Iowa natives or to athletes who attended Iowa colleges or universities
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http://www.desmoinesregister.com/app...RTS11/50626018 
Dan Gable, Waterloo, 1981 
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