I didnt know you could do that. At Iowa State, he became an NCAA Division I national runner-up and two-time national champion. Gable's college career record was 117-1, with his only loss being in the final match of his final season to Larry Owings of the University of Washington. Earned bachelor's degree and master's degree in education from the University of Washington. The move was so fast that Perri stopped the match and walked to the scorers table to ensure that the proper points were awarded. If so, he must have had to have gone 142 for his qualifying tournament before the Big Dance, right? How Much Is Dan Gable Worth? When the 13-11 decision was announced in Owings favor, the crowd erupted in a standing ovation. And that was before he won gold at the 1972 Munich Olympics. He was intrigued by Owings' swagger. 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. Then, one night about 10 years ago, he had an epiphany, which he believes came from God. His physical makeup was legendary, his results extraordinary. Gable grew up in Waterloo, Iowa. Owings went to work on top, forcing Gable into a passive position and generating a stall call against the Cyclone for a point. However, because of NCAA. Only one man who ever lived can say he beat Dan Gable, and that man is 1968 Canby Union High School grad Larry Owings. SPORTS ILLUSTRATED is a registered trademark of ABG-SI LLC. Waterloo, Iowa 50701 #SwimWithTheCurrent. But Gable made a gritty comeback, as his fans expected him to, late in the match. Michael Jordan is the Dan Gable of basketball. Yes. The two met in the finals of the 1970 NCAA wrestling championship. Larry Owings, Coach/Official, Canby, Oregon. Gable calls his loss to Larry Owings of Washington his greatest loss. Gable won, easily, but Owings scored some points and even put the champ on his back one time. In this conversation, we talk about Owings' childhood, high school career, and the match with Gable. His days now are spent talking -- talking on stages and in boardrooms across the country on the speaking circuit; talking to millionaires over dinners to raise money for a sport hes trying to save; talking to strangers who still worship him like a god -- here in Iowa there are, at latest count, three bronze statues of him in the state. The YouTube video cuts to black. When Owings arrived, the mind games, so subtly important in this sport, began. It meant that when they met, it would be for the national title - Gable's final college match. He was driven. 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. A few old black-and-white wrestling photos turn up in the image results, but mostly he finds himself staring at photos of strange faces. 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. In his first 117 college matches, undefeated, including two national championships. With less than a minute remaining, the scoreboard showed Owings leading 9-8, but Gable actually had a 10-9 lead. Gables obsession with preparation and routine was already legendary; the stories are almost outlandish -- but they are all true. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. However, Owings turned things around, becoming a two-time Oregon high school state champ, winning the 136-pound crown as a junior in 1967, and the 138 title in 1968 (pinning all his opponents at state). 405 West Hall of Fame Avenue Stillwater, OK 74075 Phone: (405) 377-5243 Email: info@nwhof.org The fans, said Roderick, "were in shock, as well as excited seeing history. Open daily. By the time the two wrestlers took center stage of the arena for the fourth match of the evening-- Gable in a sleeveless cardinal-and-gold jersey and separate trunks; Owings in a one-piece purple piece with U of W monogrammed on the chest -- it was so loud, with a standing room crowd of nearly 9,000 squeezed into McGaw Hall, that the wrestlers couldnt hear the ref, Pascal Perri, unless they leaned in close. The crowd edged forward. <> Don't get caught in the cradle." He had pinned everyone in the 1970s national tournament before this match, and he was considered to be the unquestionable favorite against a wrestler he beat two years prior at the Olympic Trials. Owings was very squirmy and hard to control., But Owings recollection, recorded immediately after his great victory, is probably still true to this day: When it was over, I looked at Dan, and he looked like he didnt know what had happened.. WA Death Notices. He went in for Gables leg and picked up a clutch third-period takedown, almost catching the Cyclone off guard as time ticked down. "It's the biggest upset ever in the sport, and it's a fascinating story. His career had been one of perfection -- he was 64-0 as a high schooler, a three-time state champion, and 117-0, with two national championships, entering the final collegiate match of his career -- and there was no reason for Gable to be anything other than supremely confident when he arrived with his teammates in Evanston. Grant won in '69 @ 145 and again in '70 @ 150. I told him I used to wrestle in North Dakota, won a state championship in 1987. That's what I thought. Iowa Wrestling Lands Commitments From Spencer Lee and Gavin Teasdale, TONY RAMOS TO LEAVE IOWA FOR NORTH CAROLINA, FORMER IOWA HEAVYWEIGHT TERRANCE JEAN-JACQUES SIGNS DEAL WITH WWE, TONY RAMOS FEELS "BETRAYED" BY IOWA, LEAVING IOWA PROGRAM, DAN DENNIS BEATS TONY RAMOS, WILL WRESTLE IN THE OLYMPICS IN RIO. He Googles his name on the iPad. As Sports Illustrated reported in its coverage of the 1970 NCAA's, "Larry Owings was far more accomplished than most people realized.". It made him want another crack at the legend, but he wouldnt have a chance until that final round of the 1970 national championship at the Northwestern University fieldhouse in Evanston, Ill. In the Olympics, he not only won every match, he did so without giving up a single point. He tried an arm-bar move, coming over Owings' shoulder in an attempt to lock him up and take him down. But Dan Gable, of course, is so much more than one result. He even had the honor of facing Dan Gable, then a sophomore at Iowa State and already a national champion. Is that so? As a college sophomore, he defeated Dan Gable in one of the biggest upsets of NCAA finals history,. While at Iowa State, Gable continued his winning ways by capturing three Big Eight Championships, earning All-American honors all three years. Call 1-800-GAMBLER. stream They are not your average antique shop. Owings thought to himself, Im not going to the Olympics, Why am I cutting weight? Anything that I can do to help keep these kids away from the video games, and the drugs, the violence and the gangs, Im going to do it.. Perri brought the two wrestlers back with 17 seconds left for a final grab-and-hold. He went on to finish 2nd as a junior and senior. Owings had a not-so-successful start; nicknamed Porky, Owings lost all eight of his matches in his first year in junior varsity competition at Canby High, wrestling for coach Larry Wright. Is the hardest S.O.B. Dan had a lot of pressure on him. His 1970 NCAA finals victory over Dan Gable cemented his place in wrestling history. Earned bachelor's degree and master's degree in education from the University of Washington. The teasing was merciless and nearly crushed him, but it also fueled him to drop the weight and spend extra hours in the gym, and by his senior year he was the best wrestler in the state, competing in national tournaments and Olympic trials. He was a legend in his home state and across the country with his work ethic and drive to succeed in wrestling. After beating up on them, he thought to himself, OK, Im still good. So I went up to 149, he says, and I told myself that hed beat me, and everybody will leave me alone. It was not a contest: Gable won 7-1. He won't allow it. "He tired me out more than I thought he would," Gable told Tomashek. It was close throughout the three-period match, and the constant crowd noise was deafening. He describes Owings as a "Charles Lindbergh persona, quietly confident," who believed he could equal Gable's strength and conditioning. He just smiled and congratulated me, never once mentioning he was an NCAA national champion! Owings had one more thing Gable didn't have - implacability. Larry Owings Invitational - Wrestling Event - FloWrestling Larry Owings Invitational Larry Owings Invitational on Dec 21, 2013 in Canby, OR. While the result of the match against Owings was unusual, in comparison with Gable's previous results, his effort is undeniable. Great article, Mark, thanks. He holed himself up in his room, he didnt talk to anyone, he didnt even return his parents phone calls. Gable's college career record was 1171, with his only loss being in the final match of his final season to Larry Owings of the University of Washington. Maryland Governor Larry Hogan smiled after being presented with a prayer book during a visit to Cardinal Hickey Academy on February 26, 2016 in. The Cyclone collected himself after the takedown, taking a timeout to adjust his contact lens before going back to the middle. Then he would wrestle two hours a day. Where Are They Now: Catching up with Cubs legend Ernie Banks. The wrestler would go on to win a national championship. Iowa shocked college baseball on Saturday, dominating top-ranked LSU 12-4 in the Karbach Round Rock Classic. Larry Owings, on the other hand, returned to Oregon, and faded into obscurity, at least as far as the wrestling world was concerned. Phone: (405) 377-5243 Results Placement Matches (16 Man) Team. The match spawned a book, a documentary, countless magazine articles, and decades of reflection. And if he could use them to help somebody else, he should. One competitor already knows hes going to win, and the other knows hes going to lose before either steps onto the mat, Gable likes to say. A Seattle Times article, Whatever happened to Larry Owings? comes up, as well as the Wikipedia entry for Dan Gable. Dan Gable won 13-4 in a match that would serve as the central motivation for Owings two years later. Washington's Larry Owings knocked off Iowa State's Dan Gable for the 1970 NCAA championship at 142 pounds. World Champion", "Trump honors legendary Iowa wrestler Gable at White House", "Dan Gable among speakers discussing victims' rights", "Himself the victim of a violent tragedy, Gable says loss can result in some good", "Bio: Dan Gable 15 National Championships. "It was my mom's worst fear." 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. The way Owings sees it, there was his life before the match and his life after: before 1970 he was a nobody hungry to make a name for himself in the sport, though also an introvert completely unequipped for the attention that would come. Im emotional about it. Canby Coach Larry Wright encouraged Owings to continue his wrestling at the highest level. The regular season winds downs on the final Sunday before conference tournaments. [6], In addition to coaching folkstyle wrestling at the University of Iowa, Gable coached freestyle wrestling. His voice cracks, his eyes flicker, and suddenly, he goes silent, grasping for words. '@$6. Hes not. BURROWS Beverley. National Wrestling Hall of Fame. After losing 20 pounds and growing several inches, nobody believed he couldn't be a wrestler anymore. And then I got greedy. Gable had pinned an astonishing 70 percent of his opponents entering the final, and now he determined to pin Owings to close out his collegiate career. The article didn't mention the fact that Caldwell had pinned Metcalf the previous season. He prefers to show them, firsthand. 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. "At that point, once I saw the score and only three seconds left, I knew he couldn't get two points," Owings said. He respected his pinning ability.". He won every college match before dropping his last match in a stunning 13-11 loss to Washington's Larry Owings in the 142-pound finals in 1970. But that was my gig, too. Over the first two periods the match went back and forth, and when the match stretched into the third period the energy of the hall seemed to change -- from frenzy to palpable anxiety -- as the crowd seemed to realize that Gable was in a fight. View the profiles of people named Larry Owings. Really?. It was during 117-1 at Iowa State University that lost to Larry Owings in 1970. Where do you go from there? Owings remained one of the top wrestlers in the country, but as disappointments mounted -- he finished second in the NCAA championships in 1971 and 72 -- Owings began to feel like his national championship win was a curse. Of NCAA finals victory over Dan Gable won 7-1 his voice cracks, his effort is undeniable fact. With Gable 's strength and conditioning cradle. freestyle wrestling takedown, almost catching the Cyclone collected himself the. ], in comparison with Gable for a point but Gable made a gritty comeback, as fans! 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