Iowa City

Hall of Fame wrestling coach and Iowa legend Dan Gable was among the special guests as F&M Bank celebrated its 125th anniversary in Iowa City.

Gable brought several of the most significant awards from his career, including his Presidential Medal of Freedom, presented to him by President Donald Trump in 2020, his Real American Freestyle (RAF) championship belt, and the gold medal he won at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, West Germany.

Also attending the celebration was Gable's grandson, Gable Mitchell, who played baseball at the University of Iowa before being drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays.

Presidential Medal of Freedom

Gable spoke about receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, in 2020.

"This is the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which was presented to me by Donald Trump. Some people have said it was taken away, but I said, 'I don't care who the president is, I'm keeping it.'"

College career

Although Gable became synonymous with the University of Iowa, he actually wrestled collegiately at Iowa State University, where he established himself as one of the greatest wrestlers in history.

From high school through nearly the end of his college career, Gable won 181 consecutive matches before suffering the only loss of his amateur career in his final collegiate match.

"I ended up going 181–1 in high school and college."

Rather than letting the defeat define him, Gable said it became one of the most valuable learning experiences of his life.

"That match taught me a lot. One reason I'm a good coach is because I spend a lot of time analyzing things."

Olympics

Gable captured the gold medal in freestyle wrestling at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. During the tournament, he won all six of his matches and did not surrender a single point.

"I went through six matches and only had points scored against me in one. I scored a lot of points on my opponents."

He also reflected on the overall performance of Team USA.

"We did pretty well as a team."

Following his competitive career, Gable coached three U.S. Olympic wrestling teams in 1980, 1984 and 2000. Although the United States boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics, Gable remained part of the coaching staff.

The 1984 U.S. team won seven gold medals, one of the most dominant Olympic performances in American wrestling history. At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, where Gable served as co-head coach, the U.S. team earned one gold medal, one silver medal and two bronze medals.

Coaching career

Gable served as Iowa's head wrestling coach for 21 seasons and built one of the greatest dynasties in college sports.

During his tenure, the Hawkeyes won every Big Ten championship and captured 15 NCAA team titles, including a record nine consecutive national championships from 1978 through 1986.

He coached 45 NCAA individual champions, 106 Big Ten champions and 152 All-Americans. Before retiring in 1997, his final Iowa team shattered the NCAA tournament scoring record by totaling 170 team points.

Before becoming head coach, Gable spent four seasons as Iowa's assistant coach under Gary Kurdelmeier. When Kurdelmeier accepted an assistant athletic director position, Iowa promoted Gable, believing it was the best opportunity to keep him from leaving for another head coaching job, possibly at his alma mater, Iowa State.

Real American Freestyle

Along with his Olympic gold medal and Presidential Medal of Freedom, Gable displayed a Real American Freestyle championship belt that he had received about a week earlier.

"This is something I received about a week ago from Real American Freestyle, a freestyle wrestling organization. Freestyle wrestling is different from high school or college wrestling."

Gable said the promotion has quickly gained momentum.

"They're holding their 10th or 11th event, I believe, in Milwaukee. They've had a lot of success with the way they present their events, combining entertainment with high-level wrestling. The athletes are competing hard, so it has some of the excitement of professional wrestling, but the competition is real."

He explained that he attended one of the events and was surprised when organizers honored him with the belt.

"I attended one of their events, and they presented me with this award. It's made of heavy metal, and they gave it to me in recognition of the coverage Fox has provided."

Real American Freestyle launched in 2025, with wrestling icon Hulk Hogan serving as one of its founders. The promotion features Olympic-style freestyle wrestling and airs on Fox Nation through pay-per-view events.

RAF has partnered with USA Wrestling, allowing eligible college wrestlers to compete while maintaining their NIL eligibility.

Several well-known mixed martial artists have been involved with the promotion, including former UFC champions Colby Covington, Henry Cejudo, Chris Weidman and Tony Ferguson. Current UFC fighters such as Aljamain Sterling, Michael Chandler and Bo Nickal have also participated.

Joe Rogan  

Gable also reflected on appearing on The Joe Rogan podcast in 2021 during Episode No. 1627.

The nearly three-hour conversation covered his childhood, wrestling career, training philosophy, the loss in his final collegiate match and the death of his sister, Diane Gable, which he discusses in his book A Wrestling Life: The Inspiring Stories of Dan Gable.

Gable recalled that Rogan was drinking his own beer, "Gable," during the interview, something he found amusing.

He said he was surprised by how long the conversation lasted and joked that the hardest part came after the interview had ended. "The process of getting me out of the room was a little difficult, but it turned out really well."

He also praised Rogan's studio. "It was like a movie studio."

Books

Gable also displayed two of his books during the event: A Wrestling Life: The Inspiring Stories of Dan Gable (2015) and A Wrestling Life 2: More Inspiring Stories of Dan Gable (2017).

He explained that the first book primarily focuses on his early life and wrestling career, while the second centers more on his coaching career and later accomplishments.

College athletics 

Many attendees took the opportunity to ask Gable questions, including his thoughts on the current state of college athletics.

Gable said he believes loyalty has become increasingly rare in sports.

"I think there's not much loyalty in sports anymore. It's happening at every level, even in high school. Loyalty has been a big part of my life, though, and it's paid off for me. If I hadn't stayed loyal, I probably would have lost half my money by now."