A few years ago, at a wrestling banquet, Les Anderson, a former assistant coach at Iowa State, pulled his former protg aside, and said, Gable, I just want to apologize for that last match. It happened March 28, 1970, at McGaw Hall, an 8,800-seat fieldhouse on the Northwestern University campus in Evanston, Ill. Gable was (and is) the god of the sport, a no-nonsense, punishing force who may have been the world's best-conditioned athlete. A stalemate brought the wrestlers back to the center, but, within seconds, the match was over. He walked over and saw his teammate Chuck Jean there. Now nearly 70 but still strong as an ox, Owings is not one to use a blackboard to teach his wrestlers how to do a takedown. Now hes fighting for it to be reinstated beyond 2020. National Wrestling Hall of Fame Dan Gable Museum, Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award, Tricia Saunders High School Excellence Award. And thats something that still pisses me off , Owings and I, we have an interesting relationship, that I just have never lets just say weve never become close, he says. Gable said a teammate showed him the article. How about Andy Daniels beating John Azevedo or Gary Barton winning the tournament in1972. Dan Gable won 181 consecutive matches during high school and college before losing his final match at Iowa State. Gable was heartbroken. National Champion. Owings looks like hes one sweaty workout away from his wrestling weight at Washington. "I'm not going out there," Jean said. Come watch me next week as I finish my career 182-0." How Tall Is Dan Gable? In a corner of the room theres a photo of Gable on the podium after the Owings match, a close black and white shot of his face with tears in his eyes. It was the greatest wrestling match of all-time. Both athletes pushed the pace, with Owings fearlessly attempted a duck under with the goal of spinning around behind Gable, but the Cyclone was too tough and he put himself on the board first by coming around for two points with a single leg takedown within the first minute of the period. Wrestling was already fading in his life when he met Diane, the woman who would become his second wife. The only defeat that Gable suffered during his. (I mean, why not, right?). He wrestled Gable one more time, in the 1972 Olympic Trials, losing 7-1. While Gable's record that season was 31-0, with five straight pins in the 1970 NCAA tourney, Owings was 32-1, and had four pins entering . When Larry was on his high school team, the coach used to joke that he was so slow that theyd have to drive pegs into the mat to see if hes still moving. If he had won two national championships it would be easier, but he never went to the Olympics and didn't do much international wrestling.". Where Are They Now: Catching up with Cubs legend Ernie Banks. "He tired me out more than I thought he would," Gable told Tomashek. His physical makeup was legendary, his results extraordinary. But now he is about to try. If there was one code Owings lived by then, it was a desire to have a second chance against anyone who had beaten him. Looking at the photo now, Gable says, I felt -- I feel -- like I let everyone down. After Gable received his second place trophy, there was a loud ovation in the hall that stretched on for minutes, until one of Gables teammates approached him and said, Gable, lift up your head. He went on to finish 2nd as a junior and senior. That number 182 would have included Gable's undefeated high school and collegiate career. Thats the way Owings prefers it. Come watch me next week as I finish my career 182-0. Gable kept bungling the lines, and the take took half an hour; by the time he was finished, without having gone through his regular pregame warm-up, every seat in the area was already filled, and the match was about to start. WA Death Notices. The pins were accomplished by Owings' best move, an inside reverse cradle that left his opponent unable to escape. He went 64-0 at Waterloo (Iowa) West High School and 117-0 in three years at Iowa State (freshmen could not compete then) with NCAA titles at 130 and 137 pounds. Grant won in '69 @ 145 and again in '70 @ 150. It was quite the pedigree, but no one expected the same from Larry, for one simple reason. Just sitting here, talking about it it hurts. From 1976 to 1997, Gable was the head wrestling coach at the University of Iowa, where his teams compiled a dual meet record of 355215 and won 15 NCAA Division I titles. The night before the start of the tournament, a teammate asked if hed seen the front page of the Chicago Tribune sports section. This site also has Jiu Jitsu, Beach and Belt tournaments listed. After losing 20 pounds and growing several inches, nobody believed he couldn't be a wrestler anymore. Maybe Larry Owings is the only thing that is keeping that part of him alive. Earned bachelor's degree and master's degree in education from the University of Washington. He went on to the sensational international and Olympic career that has already been described. "I was almost embarrassed to have won," he says. Larry Owings Documentary: https://youtu.be/AHuD161zOBU Full match vs Dan Gable: https://youtu.be/98HYl3c0L1c Any can be beaten, nothing is impossible! Larry Owings's wrestling career was different from Gable's. Growing up with 5 wrestling champs, Larry was told by his siblings he would never be a wrestler even being nicknamed "Porky." Owing wanted to prove them wrong. "I'm not going to this tournament to be a national champion. The night before the weigh in, he had a fight with his wife, who was seven months pregnant and didnt want him to leave her and the baby behind and go to the Olympics. All Rights Reserved. Larry Owings As Sports Illustrated reported in its coverage of the 1970 NCAAs, "Owings was far more accomplished than most people realized. "If he had never tried that before, then that tells me it's desperate. Gable was given a four-minute standing ovation during his introduction as the ceremonies stopped. Waterloo, Iowa 50701 A sophomore had beaten the giant. Owings had his first chance at the 1969 NCAA Championships but, as he would later regret, decided to wrestle at 130 pounds, avoiding Gable's 137-pound class. I was like, Who would say that?, Where are they now: Catching up with Chamique Holdsclaw, The wrestler was an unknown coming off a 30-1 season at Washington, a reserved 19-year-old who didnt appreciate anyone who suggested that any result on the mat was a foregone conclusion. He describes Owings as a "Charles Lindbergh persona, quietly confident," who believed he could equal Gable's strength and conditioning. Hes not. Owings ran three miles every morning around the Husky Stadium track, averaging six minutes a mile and sprinting the final quarter-mile in less than a minute. Gable said he learned not to take an opponent lightly, to eliminate distractions and accentuate an aura of invincibility and intimidation toward an opponent, just as Owings had done to him. This was where Owings wanted to be, on the mat in the middle of the action. But the scars from 1970 would never go away, and not just for Gable. Phone: (405) 377-5243 The Cyclone collected himself after the takedown, taking a timeout to adjust his contact lens before going back to the middle. Email: info@nwhof.org, 303 Jefferson St. After graduating, Gable undertook an intensive training program and won the 1971 world and Pan-American championships. It was one of the most emotional scenes I can ever remember.". In his high school career, undefeated. Within the first 30 seconds, Gable got up 2-0 with a takedown, but Owings came back on a takedown and escape to lead, 3-2. My strategy was to throw everything I could at him, keep him so busy he wouldnt be able to get into a rhythm in the match, Owings later said. Lyle Ballew, a teammate of Owings', reported back to Owings that during the Iowa State practices, Gable would work with teammates on every possible countermove to the cradle. Theres the verbal stuff, here and there. Before the match, Gable had recorded a promo for ABC saying, Hi, Im Dan Gable. I could talk after that, he says. Im emotional about it because theres still a lot of meaning Gable told, How Dan Gable coached Iowa to 15 team titles, The complete history of one of the greatest college wrestlers, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. It's all good. He was known to wake up in the middle of night, just to do push-ups while his opponents slept. "GABLE FALLS!" screamed the banner headline in the next day's Des Moines Register. But in ink? He would sprint from class to class on the campus at Ames, clutching course books and wearing weights tied to his ankles. In the days afterward he shut himself from the world. His results were extraordinary. Says Gable, "You could say that this was my first coaching moment. I really enjoyed the article - thanks. He was U.S. Olympic freestyle coach in 1980, 1984, and 2000. He took notice of the young Husky, perhaps more than appropriately. Really? While the result of the match against Owings was unusual, in comparison with Gable's previous results, his effort is undeniable. It doesn't matter that it's been 30 years. Wrestling never came up until they went on a date later in their relationship and two strangers walked up to them and asked for Owings autograph. BRENNAN Stacy. The roar of the crowd was unbelievable. Help us build a sustainable news organization to serve Canby for generations to come! Michael Jordan is the Dan Gable of basketball, a sportswriter once said. If we would have tied and there was an overtime, I dont think I would have won, he says. He was intrigued -- Dan and Kathy went to Washington to have a series of meetings at the White House. Highlights of his career include gold medals at the 1971 Tbilisi Tournament, the 1971 world championships, and the 1972 Olympic Games. The newspapersthough, focused on Gable's match:Iowa State star suffers mat loss, read the title in a story run by the Associated Press following the match. Larry Owings Invitational detail view. Larry Owings, The Man Who Beat Gable, What happened to Larry Owings? "I could talk after that," he says. His 1970 NCAA finals victory over Dan Gable cemented his place in wrestling history. Later, in a quiet moment in his hotel room, Gable got his hands on the paper, and there, in big bold letters across the top of the paper was the headline IM HERE TO BEAT DAN GABLE. If so, he must have had to have gone 142 for his qualifying tournament before the Big Dance, right? Gable is 65 now, still works out every day on the elliptical and lifting his old high school weights, but lately hes been feeling his body crumbling; he walks with a limp, the result of eight knee surgeries and four hip replacements. The OFFICIAL Facebook site of Western Australia's premiere Pro Wrestling organisation - EPW Perth. His intensity only grew when he became coach at Iowa in 1976; Gable was legendary for going to extreme limits to solve a problem. After returning to Ames the next day, the first thing he did was ask teammates to wrestle him. When I was a high school student I turned to. I told him I used to wrestle in North Dakota, won a state championship in 1987. Owings at that moment pulled off a move that hed never done in a match: a leg sweep that caught Gable by surprise and dropped him down to the mat -- as Gable fell, he felt like he was going down in slow motion. Iowa State's Dan Gable had one of the most legendary careers in college wrestling, pinning 76 of his 118 opponents during his three years as a starter for the Cyclones and amassing a nearly flawless record on his way to two NCAA titles. An escape from Owings gave the Washington wrestler the lead, even after Gable pushed his riding time up over a minute, symbolically tying the match with time to go, but Owings wasnt done. A household name, and a hero to kids all over the country. That softie had been nowhere to be found earlier in on this day as he navigated his black pickup through Iowa City while downing cans of Mountain Dew and breathlessly telling rollicking old wrestling stories that crackle like firecrackers. National Wrestling Hall of Fame. He coached 152 All-Americans, 45 national champions, 106 Big Ten champions, and 12 Olympians, including eight medalists. Gable was told Owings' comment and said he didn't realize the infamous leg sweep was not a practiced move. Earlier in the day, without any prodding, he brought up the murder of his sister Diane in 1964. Desperation is something that brings out unusual things," Gable said. "He was in excellent condition. Gable's career soared. Larry Owings. All people still wanted to talk about was that match, he says. It was during 117-1 at Iowa State University that lost to Larry Owings in 1970. Owings got four points for the move -- two for the takedown, two for exposing Gables shoulders to the mat. Both wrestlers advanced through the tournament by pinning each of their opponents. He had two points in riding time that would be rewarded at the end by Perri. . Does all that happens without the loss to Owings? Many who were there that day use the same words to describe the strange aftermath: it was like a bomb went off. "At that point, once I saw the score and only three seconds left, I knew he couldn't get two points," Owings said. He was a legend in his home state and across the country with his work ethic and drive to succeed in wrestling. "I thought it would be a contest. What are you doing? After beating up on them, he thought to himself, OK, I'm still good. He also has a museum named for him in his hometown of Waterloo, Iowa, part of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum. After beating up on them, he thought to himself, OK, Im still good. Who wants to be known for just one thing? He thinks about what would have happened if he would have lost his match: maybe he wouldnt have entered a failed marriage in 1970 just months after the match (Maybe she wouldnt have married me if I wouldnt have been a winner, he says), maybe he would have pushed himself harder to become an Olympian. It was a decision the Chicago Daily News writer Bill Jauss said made him either the bravest or dumbest guy in amateur wrestling. Gables reputation was such that guys generally piled on weight to avoid facing him on the mat; not the other way around. Canby Then is brought to you by Retro Revival. He faced Gable on the mat one more time, at the 1972 Olympic trials in Anoka, Minn. Owings was wrestling best at 136.5 that year, but he struggled to keep his weight under 138. To learn more or opt-out, read our Cookie Policy. Gable, then and now, says the near-fall was "a judgment call.". ", Owings and Gable, forever linked, met in the NCAA final for the 142-pound weight class. Facing a wrestler legendary for his endurance, opponents of Gable would almost always go for broke from the opening whistle. He may have been the only opponent Gable had faced in years who saw him as anything other than invincible. Gable won 13-4 and went on; Owings never forgot. It was simple: I wanted to beat the guy who beat me, says Owings. Gable won @ 130 in '68. The tributes to Dan Gable on the Internet are endless, but time, it seems, has forgotten the one man who beat him. [7] After competing sporadically from 1974 to 1975, Gable retired and became a full-time coach. Larry was tough. As for Owings, people did not leave him alone. I got bumped down a seed at Nationals in 72 because the winner of the regionals 1 weight above me dropped down for Nationals. And that was before he won gold at the 1972 Munich Olympics. It also dominated him. He's an icon, a champion and the face of the sport. '@$6. He could't believe he was the one affected by his opponent's reputation. They said Id never be a wrestler because I was too fat, he recalled, much later. During the weigh-in, an ABC reporter asked, Larry, why, particularly with such a successful sophomore season, would you drop a weight class that will be impossible to win because of Gables presence? Owings glared at the interviewer and said, Ill beat him.. He respected his pinning ability.". Its harder and harder now for Gable to feel the fire that was in him for so long, but he becomes alive again, the old wrestler with the mean streak, when he talks about the Owings match. He lost only once, in the final match of his final season at Iowa State University. He was presented with the Man of the Year award during the championships, the media sought him out before and after every match, and he was struggling under the burden of a 181-match winning streak. Im emotional about it because theres still a lot of meaning , Where Are They Now: Catching up with former Cavs guard Craig Ehlo, His voice trails off, and he lifts a hand to dry his eyes; something thats been buried deep is suddenly resurfacing. Gable said no thank you. He was intrigued by Owings' swagger. After defeating Gable, Owings left the crowd at Northwestern stunned having witnessed wrestling history. I didn't know he passed away in 2013, but that explains the omission of Joseph/Martinez. Gable had an undefeated high school wrestling career. 0@f@b'>dnk;k2 E\ 5EFsmdm9_-3uyKfmp}Mv$F+\ 8PBMvZ4li-miLbccx*kj3 j CL# ^3>=@aW6F(qmDCL4*@u|hw-fTy-[pal{5@V 08Nl+FNt@@*eF$~1H*UXj1(B`xfLE!HsZm!| I didn't know how the referee would score it.". This was the featured match of the tournament. World Champion", "Named for an icon, Gable Steveson becomes a legend in his own right", "Where are they Now: Catching up with Dan Gable and Larry Owings", Website of film 'Catch: the hold not taken', Gable's wins and losses between the years 1963 and 1973, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dan_Gable&oldid=1134702764, Chen, Albert. Owings didnt wipe the floor with Gable; that would have been impossible. Finally, he says, Theres a barrier between us that Im not sure needs to ever go away., 2023 ABG-SI LLC. [10], Gable has been written about in many magazines and numerous books, including Two Guys Named Dan (1976), From Gotch to Gable: A History of Wrestling in Iowa (1981), The Toughest Men in Sports (1984) and Legends of the Mat (2006), all by wrestling historian Mike Chapman.[11]. Smith, a man not quite 5 feet tall, ran over and bear-hugged and hoisted his champion. He tried an arm-bar move, coming over Owings' shoulder in an attempt to lock him up and take him down. However, Gable had to deal with more distractions than Owings. Yeah, college basketball is ready for March. He prefers to show them, firsthand. CACCAMO Rita. Owings watches the video as Perri lifts his arm and Gable staggers away. Through the windows an orange sun is sinking just beyond the towering pines, and light glows his pale bald head. He won every college match, and the only match he dropped was his last match against Larry Owings in the 142-pound finals in 1970. in the state of Iowa really going to lose it right now? "I really didn't want to see it or talk about it much. %PDF-1.4 The fans, said Roderick, "were in shock, as well as excited seeing history. Gable was inducted into the USA Wrestling Hall . Owings has not talked to Gable since 1980, and that was a brief conversation to ask him to consider looking at a wrestler in his district. "You can't put someone in because of one match. The man who beat Dan Gable.. WATCH "Larry Owings Documentary (The Man Who Beat Dan . While at Iowa State, Gable continued his winning ways by capturing three Big Eight Championships, earning All-American honors all three years. It was around the time I turned 50, and maybe that has something to do with it: I realized that I had a talent, and whats the point of denying that I had that talent? National Wrestling Hall of Fame Dan Gable Museum, Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award, Tricia Saunders High School Excellence Award. Two years ago, Gable got the call that Dianes killer had died in prison. No, with his movie star looks and charisma, and a physique that would make Chris Hemsworth jealous, he was legitimately world famous. Several inches, nobody believed he couldn & # x27 ; t be a national champion up in day... About it it hurts either the bravest or dumbest guy in amateur wrestling face of the regionals 1 above... 106 Big Ten champions, 106 Big Ten champions, 106 Big Ten champions, 106 Big Ten champions and! 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