Dan Gable does not believe in luck. The two-time NCAA wrestling champion and Olympics gold medal winning wrestler likened luck to having your name drawn out of a barrel with 1,000 other names in it.

Gable, who was in Cleveland on Friday to speak to and inspire wrestlers from across the area, said preparation and a bit of fanaticism is the key to success not only in wrestling but also in life.

“There is no method in being successful and winning by chance. I don’t believe in ‘by chance.’ I don’t believe in luck,� Gable told the crowd. “When I analyze my 35 years of wrestling before and after I use the term luck to mean I was blessed to have a positive environment around me that gave me a lot of opportunities that were very healthy that a lot of people wouldn’t have at every level. That usually means good people around you.�
During Gable’s 35-year career he won the Iowa state wrestling title three times and two NCAA championships. He holds a combined 182-1 prep and college record. Gable did not surrender a single point in the 1972 Olympics and won the gold medal. He is in the top 100 Olympians of all time and named Wrestler of the Century by Gannett Co.
As a coach, Gable led the Iowa Hawkeyes to 15 NCAA titles, 21 Big Ten team titles and won nine consecutive NCAA titles. He has coached 45 national champions, 152 All-Americans and 106 Big Ten champions. The former Olympian was named NCAA Coach of the Year three times and coached 12 Hawkeye Olympians. Gable was named Sports Figure of the Century in Iowa by Sports Illustrated.
The former Olympian credits good coaching and a willingness to buy into what he was being told as a key to his success
“I listened, I believed and I applied what was being told to me. Where I believe luck played a part is, I was being told great things,� he said.
Gable also told the crowd problems are no excuse not to succeed. “You can either use them for good or you can use them for an excuse and go back,� he said. “As you grow up, you need to become your own person. You must be able to stand, conquer and take on whatever is there.�
He also explained self motivation is a major resource that is under utilized by athletes, students and people in all professions.
“A lot of people are searching for motivation. You should not have to go any farther than your family or your profession to be doing what you really want to do,� he said. “If you’re not doing what you really want to do, then you’ve got to figure out how to develop that passion.�
The best team, according to Gable, is the team of independent young men who have minds of their own and are willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done, coach or no coach. Young men who are willing to go on their own to be the best.
Bradley Central athletic director Turner Jackson knows exactly what Gable was talking about.
As a young wrestler at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Jackson faced Gable in his first match at the Southern Open wrestling tournament in 1971.
“I was just lucky enough, out of 40-something wrestlers, to draw him the first match. I was an 18-year old freshman. I was scared to death and just glad I didn’t get hurt,� Jackson laughed. “He was a two-time NCAA champion and already a world champion at that time. He was a legend and I was scared to death. He pinned everybody in the tournament.�
Now, when Jackson looks back on his first match with the former world champion, it brings a smile to his face knowing he survived a match with the best in the world and his own wrestling career made it past one of the toughest hurdles.
“If you start your college career out that way, it’s pretty much all down hill. If you start with Gable, it doesn’t get much tougher than that,� Jackson said. “I wrestled some pretty tough guys, but I can’t say any of them were any tougher than Dan Gable.�
Jackson said he is glad for the experience and glad for the memory. Not every wrestler can say they faced a world champion. But, on the other hand, those who did will never forget.
“Now, when I look back on it, it was pretty neat. At the time I don’t know how neat it was,� Jackson chuckled. “I’ve talked to him once or twice since then. He is a legend. You go to Iowa or anywhere and mention Dan Gable and they know who he is.�