By PATTI ARNOLD
The Daily Sentinel
During his coaching career at the University of Iowa, Dan Gable was so focused on his program, he had no idea what was happening to wrestling teams around the country.
When he retired in 1997, after 21 years coaching the Hawkeyes, 15 of which resulted in national championships, he looked around and wondered where everyone went.
All over the nation, colleges and universities were dropping wrestling, many claiming it was the only way to comply with Title IX, the federal law to provide educational opportunities for women.
A three-time national champion at Iowa State and 1972 Olympic gold medalist, Gable didn’t fight to keep those programs because he didn’t know there was a fight out there.
“I was too into what I was doing,” said Gable, who will make an appearance in Grand Junction to help get one of those programs back, Mesa State, which will reinstate wrestling next year.
“We were being successful, getting good kids out there and working at all levels. I was immune to a lot of programs dropping until I stepped out of it.”
Now an assistant to the athletic director at Iowa, Gable works with the National Wrestling Coaches Association to fight for programs.
“We do a lot of work to bring back college programs,” he said. “Obviously that’s one of the areas that interested me big-time.
“What’s happened is wrestling people have (gotten organized). With colleges dropping male sports, or sports in general, the wrestling community is the main group that has (worked) to try to make sure people realize there’s a lot of opportunities before you, to provide those opportunities instead of taking them away.”
Gable will speak at a banquet at Liff Auditorium at 7 p.m. on Nov. 12 that will benefit the new program. Tickets are $75 each and available by calling the Mesa State athletic department at 248-1503.
The coaches association is covering Gable’s expenses, so all proceeds from the banquet will go to the Mavs’ program.
Gable also will conduct a youth clinic at Saunders Fieldhouse at 11 a.m. on Nov. 13. The registration fee is $20 and registration forms are available at Saunders, B&H Sports, Big O Tires or through Western Colorado AAU Wrestling representatives.
“I teach them a lot of skills. I don’t waste a lot of time on high-risk moves,” he said. “If they pay attention, in those three hours they will know the route to go to be improved in 30 to 60 days.
“A big key thing is I work on the head aspect. I’m doing some motivational training. That’s the real key, it made the difference for me. You can learn and teach things, but if you get inside the kids’ heads, that’s going to make the difference.”
Mesa State is the second Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference team to add sport in the past two years. New Mexico Highlands will field a team this winter. Gable grew up with the Cowboys’ new coach, Doug Moses, who was coaching at CSU-Pueblo (then the University of Southern Colorado) when that program was dropped.
Gable believes Mesa’s program will be a popular one.
“Colorado, there are a ton of kids wrestling in high school,” he said. “That’s the No. 1 state tournament for the finals draw, the people who attend that state championship.”
Gable was undefeated in 64 high school matches and went 118-1 at Iowa State, with his only loss in the national championship match his senior year. People who attend the banquet will hear about his career, but wrestlers in the audience also will be challenged.
“What I do is make sure that people know it can happen again,” he said. “There are people out there who have done great things. Cael Sanderson (of Iowa State, a four-time NCAA champion who went 159-0, and was a 2004 Olympic gold medalist) took the challenge and did what nobody had done in 30 years.
“It’s that kind of attitude we want to make sure kids have in life. By having situations that provide them with good environments and good programs it brings the best out of people.”
Patti Arnold can be reached via e-mail at [email protected].
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