I don’t really following wrestling a bunch, but it is always interesting to see how the championships play out.
Gable Steveson came back this year for his 4th year of eligibility after leaving for the WWE and NFL. He won gold in Tokyo. Hasn’t lost a NCAA or international match since 2019. In 2024-25 season, until Saturday, had not had a single take down against him.
1970: Larry Owings of Northwestern beat Dan Gable in the NCAA finals in Gable’s last collegiate match. Gable had not lost in his college career…nor his high school career. He was 181-0 in that run. Gable went on to win the 1972 Olympic gold medal in dominating fashion, going 6-0 and not giving up a single point.
That is still considered to be the greatest NCAA wrestling upset of all time.
And, yes, Gable Steveson was named after Dan Gable.
(BTW, I was at the NCAA championships this weekend, but did not attend Saturday’s two sessions for personal reasons. Apparently, most of the other matches were stalling snore-fests)
I wondered if that might have been the case.
Do you think Dan would have lost any matches his freshman year like Steveson did if he wrestled? Both to the NCAA champion?
Not likely. Generational talent.