A movie about Dan Gable called “Gable” is in pre-production. Here are 10 of Gable’s accomplishments that made him a transcendent wrestling icon. 

Click here for a collection of Dan Gable interviews about his NCAA championships.
Click here for every Iowa roster since 1973.

181 Straight Folkstyle Wins

Gable famously lost his last college match, a 13-11 setback to Washington University sophomore Larry Owings in the 1970 NCAA Championship finals at 142 pounds. Before that, Gable was perfect. 

The Waterloo, Iowa, native was 64-0 at West High, winning three state championships, before 117 straight wins at Iowa State and two NCAA titles (freshmen were ineligible to compete on varsity).

His gaudy stat line is 183-1 (he wrestled two All-Star matches after the loss to Owings) with 76 falls in college.

1969 Season

What’s the greatest individual college wrestling season ever? It’s hard to argue against Gable’s junior year. All but two of his contested college matches ended with a fall, and the matches that went the distance were 12-1 and 25-6. He also pinned his way through the conference and national championships. 

Iowa State produced a film called "Champion" while Gable was in college

Zero Points Surrendered

Gable famously won the 1972 Munich Olympics at 68 kg without surrendering a point. He went 6-0 with three falls. Here are all six wins.

Safer Sali (YUG) — Fall 7:35
Klaus Rost (FRG) — 20-0
Stefanos Ioannidis (GRE) — Fall 4:03
Kikuo Wada (JPN) — 6-0
Włodzimierz Cieślak (POL) — Fall 4:13
Ruslan Ashuraliyev (URS) — 3-0

Back-To-Back

In 1961, the United States entered the World Championships for the first time. In 1969, Rick Sanders and Fred Fozzard were the first Americans to win World titles. In 1972, Gable became the first American to win consecutive World/Olympic gold medals. He won the 1971 Worlds and the 1972 Olympics. 

21 Straight Big Ten Titles

Gable coached 21 seasons at the University of Iowa (1977-97) and won 21 consecutive Big Ten titles, including a memorable 1983 tournament where the Hawkeyes won nine of 10 weights. 

His biggest victory came in 1993 when Penn State entered the Big Ten. Gable pulled three rabbits out of his hat to secure a 128 to 123.5 win at the Big Ten tournament over a powerful Nittany Lion squad.

1. He pulled true freshman Lincoln McIlravy’s redshirt midseason, forcing Troy Steiner down to 134. McIlravy finished second (he eventually won the NCAA Championships), and Steiner defeated Penn State’s Cary Kolat 8-6 in overtime to secure top honors (Kolat defeated Steiner in the NCAA tournament semifinals).

2. Gable knew his 126-pound starter wasn’t going to make weight, so he had backup Kevin Hogan ready to go. Hogan finished fifth and was the true hero of Gable’s Big Ten winning streak.

3. Ray Brinzer was declared eligible as the team was about to depart for Columbus, Ohio. He entered the tournament 0-0 and finished second to Ohio State’s Kevin Randleman at 177 pounds. 

Winning 21 in a row sounds different than 20 of 21. 

106 Individual Big Ten Champions

Let’s be fair. The Big Ten conference during Gable’s era wasn’t what it is today. The Big Tens were tough, but the Big Eight conference (now the Big 12) was tougher despite fewer teams. Nebraska hadn’t joined, and Penn State was added during the 1993 season.

Still, this is a mind-blowing statistic. Gable coached 106 individual Big Ten champions during his tenure, and the rest of the Big Ten had 104 — combined!

Dan Gable broke down his coaching career during a visit to the National Wrestling Hall of Fame Dan Gable Museum

Nine consecutive NCAA Team Titles

Gable completed his legendary coaching career at Iowa with 15 NCAA team titles in 21 seasons, including nine in a row (1978-86). The team famously wore the Roman numeral X (aka - 10) on their singlets, which was the kiss of death. Iowa State won the 1987 NCAA Championships, halting the streak. 

The Hawkeyes finished 2nd, 2nd, 6th, and 3rd from 1987 through 1990 before winning six of the last seven before Gable’s final season in 1997.

Improbable Swan Song

You couldn’t make this up. Gable retired as Iowa’s head wrestling coach after the 1997 season (he was only 48). The tournament was held at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls, Iowa, 10 miles from where he grew up in Waterloo. 

Oklahoma State was expected to win the NCAA Championships after defeating Iowa, 21-13, at the National Duals. The Hawkeyes survived a close call against Iowa State in the season’s final dual and crowned two champions at Big Tens. 

The tournament organizing committee picked Bob Siddens — Gable’s high school coach — to hand out the second-place team trophy because they were so sure that Iowa would finish second (they eventually switched).

Well, it didn’t end that way. Gable’s team wrestled inspired throughout, sending six to the finals and winning five titles, with eight All-Americans. The Hawkeyes scored 170 team points, a record that stood until Penn State broke it in 2024 (172.5). 

Top Iowan

In 2000, Sports Illustrated named its top 50 sports figures of the century for every state. Gable took top honors in Iowa then, and takes top honors now. Sports Illustrated updated the list on July 2, 2026, and Gable reigns supreme.

1. Dan Gable, wrestling
2. Bob Feller, baseball
3. Kurt Warner, football
4. Caitlin Clark, basketball
5. Nile Kinnick, football

Presidential Medal Of Freedom

President Donald Trump awarded Dan Gable the Presidential Medal of Freedom on December 7, 2020.