Evening with Dan Gable

An evening with Dan Gable

If you could meet any famous person and spend an evening with them who would it be? Why would you pick that person? What kind of things would you ask him or her? Well if I had to pick a person then I’d pick Dan Gable. Dan Gable is famous for his high school, collegiate, and international wrestling accomplishments. He is also one of my favorite old school wrestlers.

Dan Gable was born on October 25th, 1948 in Waterloo, Iowa. Gable attended Waterloo West High School. He wrestled on their varsity squad for three years and became an undefeated three time state champ during his sophomore to senior years of high school. Because of his great accomplishments in high school, one would most likely think that Gable had a nice and happy high school career; however, something terrible had happened to him his sophomore year of high school. Gable’s older sister, Diane, was brutally raped and murdered on May 31st, 1964, in the Gable family home. Dan and his parents were on vacation when this happened. John Thomas Kyle was Diane’s killer. He was one of Dan’s classmates. He pleaded guilty to the charges in connection with her death and was sentenced to life in prison. John Kyle died in Kansas State Penitentiary on June 17th, 2011. Knowing this, I would ask Dan how this affected him. How it affected his family. He would probably say that his sister’s death gave him a singular passion for wrestling and that he used it as a way to uplift his shattered family.

Despite Dan’s personal loss, he was still an excellent wrestler and won three state titles in Iowa. He was an even better wrestler and athlete in college. Dan wrestled for the Iowa State Cyclones. Back then freshmen were not permitted to wrestle varsity at the collegiate level. Dan wrestled three years on their varsity squad during his sophomore to senior years. He is most famous for what he did as a collegiate athlete. Out of his three years wrestling for Iowa State, Dan had a record of 181 wins...