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| Coaching and Gable were meant to BE |
In talking with Gable last week, it became obvious this "roast" with his wrestlers would be both satisfying but highly emotional. And why wouldn't it? Stop and think of the number of people the man they call "the Michael Jordan of Wrestling" has impacted while coaching at the University of Iowa. Gable was the Hawkeye head man for 21 years compiling a record of 355-21-2. He mentored 152 All-Americans, 45 National Champions, 106 Big Ten Champions and 10 Olympians including 4 Gold Medalists.
It would be easy to see why the men that make up the history of Gable would want to thank him. But it won't be just the stars that have their say. Any wrestler that ever set foot in the Iowa wrestling room has felt the Gable touch. Gable has that ingredient, that intangible that is easy to see, but hard to describe. Many assert that it is his uncanny ability to focus and rid himself of all distractions that has made him successful. Others say he simply outworked every obstacle put in his way. As a coach, that's what he passed on to his athletes. Not all his wrestlers bought into these theories early on. Despite knowing what makes Gable tick, some resisted the "buy in" plan. Some took longer for the full effect or the opportunity to kick in.
I asked Gable inspite of all the big names he coached, who was his favorite. Of course, he resisted that answer. But he did point out a name that raised his excitement level. Jesse Whitmer. One writer, Ethan Bosch offered this assessment of Jesse. "Whitmer was an 118-pounder for the Hawkeyes in the mid-90's. For three years, he was behind classmate and 4-time All-American, Mike Mena. As far as Whitmer knew, he might never start his entire college career. Instead of getting down about it, he stayed in the practice room. He worked hard. He pushed himself and his teammates to get better. He waited for his opportunity and it finally came. For their senior season, Mena moved up a weight class. Whitmer was ready and ended up winning the NCAA title in Gable's last year as head man. How easy would it have been for Jesse Whitmer to quit as a freshman, assuming he'd be a career backup?"
What Gable remembers about Whitmer is this. Each year the Hawkeyes produce a team poster. The theme for the final Gable campaign was "Who's Next?" A nice catchy idea inquiring of who would be the next national champion in Iowa Wrestling history. On the poster, there were several wrestlers with their backs turned to the camera....Whitmer being one of them. It wasn't until some two years after the fact, that Gable realized the prophetic statement. He glanced at the poster again and was blown away with what he saw. A career back-up, Whitmer had raised his game, listened to his coaches, stayed the course and in the end, saw the fruits of his labor. These will be the type of people swarming to Iowa City this weekend.....the ones that wanted to be mentored.
Saturday night, will be entirely different than Friday. The dinner and appreciation night will be jammed packed with coaches that worked in the Gable system. People like a J Robinson, head coach of the University of Minnesota Gophers. He'll no doubt offer some zingers about Dan's past. And then there will be people like Bump Elliott, former athletic director at Iowa, who gave Gable "the" opportunity. The night is all yours, Dan. Enjoy.
What makes Gable so unique? I checked with Tim Johnson, play by play announcer for College Wrestling and ESPN who I thought could put things into its proper perspective. "Tim", I said. "Let's play word association. WRESTLING." He says, " Dan Gable". "Thanks, Tim, that blows my next word, DAN GABLE", I responded. But you see that's how it is. You simply can not mention one without the other. They are forever intertwined. Johnson mentioned a discussion several years ago at the Gable residence that has been his challenge as a broadcaster. Tim had been a color person for a number of years, but was slowly growing into a new role as a play by play person. "Gable said to me, Tim you're good....but you can be better", Johnson recalled. "That stuck with me and I remember it all the time". Just another example of the Gable reach. It extends off the mat as well as on. Always coaching.....always offering words of encouragement and challenge.
I first met Dan 27 years ago. I was working with Iowa Public Television on a national documentary of Gable's life, "The Gable Touch". I poured over hours and hours of interviews that were shot on the legendary one. The shot ratio was like 150:1 The difficulty was trying to pair down his best comments and tossing the others to the edit room floor. Somehow, Executive Producer, Doug Brooker found a way to package a neat 30-minute show.
Some ten years later I had the distinction of doing another documentary on Dan. This time, not as a production assistant, but as the producer. I asked some of the same questions posed to Dan on the previous documentary, but this time in my own words. And then I got to ask some off-beat questions. "What's one of your favorite movies?", I asked. Surprisingly, he fired back, "It's A Wonderful Life". "I don't watch it every Christmas, but I try to catch it. And each time I get choked up". Maybe, just maybe he sees some of himself in the character Jimmy Stewart so eloquently played.
You don't really have to wonder how a person who had to endure the tragic death of his sister, Diane, early in his young life found a way to cope. He found wrestling and wrestling found him. Indeed, "Its Been A Wonderful Life" for Dan Gable. Take him out of the mix and try and imagine who would fill the void. But he's not done yet. When we started our phone conversation last week, he said, "I don't want to hear any of this "R" stuff, okay, I'm not doing that", he said sternly yet playfully. "Just kidding, just kidding". Truth is... he will still be closer than ever to the Wrestling Nation.
Somewhere I think I hear a little bell tinkling.
Thanks for reading,
John
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