He was, perhaps, the most superbly conditioned athlete the sport had ever seen. Owings ran three miles every morning around the Husky Stadium track, averaging six minutes a mile and sprinting the final quarter-mile in less than a minute. Theyre waiting for you to lift your head. Gable did -- and the cheering finally stopped. Every once in a while now Owings will still go to the mat. Says Gable, "You could say that this was my first coaching moment. "He tired me out more than I thought he would," Gable told Tomashek. A natural introvert, he struggled for decades against his reputation as The Man Who Beat Dan Gable. He didnt want his whole life to be defined by something that transpired over a period of nine minutes when he was a teenager. I had it, says Gable. He wasn't scared and had nothing to lose. "You can't put someone in because of one match. Gable remembers wrestling an opponent while at the same time watching Owings lose on an adjacent mat. This was where Owings wanted to be, on the mat in the middle of the action. The Cyclone star did rack up his time in control and actively worked for the turn with an arm bar before resetting and continuing to ride. "There was probably not 10 people in that crowd of 9,000 or so who would have bet on Owings," Oklahoma State Coach Myron Roderick said. The line Gable had to recite was simple: Hi, Im Dan Gable. Facebook gives people the power to. The night before the finals he reluctantly attended a banquet honoring him as the sports Man of the Year. The words hang in the air. It was during 117-1 at Iowa State University that lost to Larry Owings in 1970. Canby Then is brought to you by Retro Revival. \DP,uaO@LtT H]v[?Nr)|cXB!>Br$<4y3gz 1oZu, FO]+#3* u_i!c+pIf'iwC+)p\G Gable wrestled collegiately at Iowa State, but spent his coaching career from 1976-1997 at the University of Iowa. But Gable made a gritty comeback, as his fans expected him to, late in the match. From 1967 to 1970, Gable attended Iowa State University, where he competed in folkstyle wrestling. It was the final moments of the third period that elevated the match into the realm of myth: 30 seconds remained, and Gable was ahead 10-9; if he could stall, if he could just bide his time, a third national title was his. Many who were there that day use the same words to describe the strange aftermath: it was like a bomb went off. Smith, a man not quite 5 feet tall, ran over and bear-hugged and hoisted his champion. Desperation is something that brings out unusual things," Gable said. Minn. Owings was wrestling best at 136.5 . He lost 20 pounds, while simultaneously growing several inches, and all of a sudden no one was saying hed never be a wrestler anymore. Is that so? His gig was always that he was going to out condition people, says Owings. With 17 seconds left, Owings was ahead 13-11. It was a good match, wasnt it? he says. Overall Gable had lost just four matchesall of them while wrestling under unfamiliar international freestyle rules and in competitions in which he, though a promising youngster, clearly had been in over his head. He coached for a while, then settled into obscurity of teaching and administrating. How about Andy Daniels beating John Azevedo or Gary Barton winning the tournament in1972. 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. He was taking time out to do countless interviews, up until the very moment of his match: ABCs Wide World of Sports requested that he tape a spot for them on the mat just minutes before the final. At Iowa State, he became an NCAA Division I national runner-up and two-time national champion. During the conversation, neither mentioned the match. "I thought it would be a contest. What bothered him was how he was always introduced to the room, but now, it almost makes him proud, the words, Larry Owings. 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. He was known to wake up in the middle of night, just to do push-ups while his opponents slept. "I was a scrambling type of wrestler, and I think he was more of a controlled wrestler," Owings told the Associated Press 17 years after his win in an article headlined "Gable's rival, former bosses look back. The man who beat Dan Gable.. 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. 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. If so, he must have had to have gone 142 for his qualifying tournament before the Big Dance, right? I didnt know you could do that. Let's take a look into the NCAA vault and recap the sequence of events that led to this final collegiate dual and the battle between the Cyclone star and his opponent, Washington's Larry Owings, in 1970. [6], Olympic gold medalist freestyle wrestler Gable Steveson was named after him. With less than a minute remaining, the scoreboard showed Owings leading 9-8, but Gable actually had a 10-9 lead. ", Owings and Gable, forever linked, met in the NCAA final for the 142-pound weight class. The most dramatic moment came in the final 30 seconds, with Gable technically in the lead although the scoreboard showed otherwise, when Owings slipped underneath his arms for a brilliantly executed leg sweep that dropped Gable to the mat for the winning points. While wrestling still consumes Gables life, it now occupies such a small corner of Owings -- a retired school administrator, his life revolves around his wife and his 15-year-old daughter Sami, his work with his church and maintaining his properties in the small town of Aurora, Ore. -- that even some of those closest to him are unaware of his wrestling past. Iowa State's Dan Gable had one of the most legendary careers in college wrestling, pinning 76 of his 118 opponents during his three years as a starter for the Cyclones and amassing a nearly flawless record on his way to two NCAA titles. After his Olympic title, he coached the Iowa Hawkeyes to 21 consecutive Big Ten titles and 15 national championships in his 21 years as head coach, going 355-21-5. A Seattle Times article, Whatever happened to Larry Owings? comes up, as well as the Wikipedia entry for Dan Gable. It's full of great details like this in the aftermath of Gable's loss to Owings: With none of his family members in attendance that day, Owings remembers staggering around, trying to process what just happened. Then, just an hour before the match, ABC-TV convinced him to do a short promo advancing the telecast, which would be shown a week later, by having him tell the viewer to watch him finish his career 182-0. Gable said no thank you. I could talk after that, he says. Really?. In "Larry Owings Documentary (The Man Who Beat Dan Gable," filmmaker Kaden Christiansen shares the story of Washington Athletics' Larry Owings, who is famously known for his upset of undefeated two-time NCAA champion Dan Gable of Iowa State Wrestling in the 1970 NCAA Wrestling finals. There was a time I wished it never happened, he says. "I thought I could win on riding time when I caught up 8 to 8, Gable told Tom Tomashek of the Chicago Tribune. From 117-0 to 117-1. He lost only once, in the final match of his final season at Iowa State University. Later, over beers at a local bar, when hes asked how often he thinks about his loss in the 1970 NCAA wrestling national championships, he will say, without a beat, Everyday. His wife, Kathy, will turn to him and look as if she suddenly doesnt know this man shes been married to for 40 years. It had a tremendous impact on my entire coaching career.". It was probably the match of the century. Once there is a seed of doubt planted in your mind, well, youre probably doomed. Larry was tough. And if he could use them to help somebody else, he should. I told him he had to get out there. Jean made it out just in time; he won the match, and the national title. Larry Owings of Washington breaks hold and flips Dan Gable of Iowa State during the final match in the 142-pound class of the NCAA Wrestling. His 1970 NCAA finals victory over Dan Gable cemented his place in wrestling history. Gable calls his loss to Larry Owings of Washington his greatest loss. Gable was inducted into the USA Wrestling Hall . Thanks for the great article. But in the final 30 seconds of a close, intense, exhausting match, Owings slipped underneath Gable's arms for a leg lift or sweep, putting the erstwhile invincible Gable on his back for the winning points. During the weigh-in, an ABC reporter asked, Larry, why, particularly with such a successful sophomore season, would you drop a weight class that will be impossible to win because of Gables presence? Owings glared at the interviewer and said, Ill beat him.. Larry Owings As Sports Illustrated reported in its coverage of the 1970 NCAAs, "Owings was far more accomplished than most people realized. Gable said a teammate showed him the article. In his international career, undefeated. His teams won 21 Big Ten championships and 15 NCAA Division I titles. He was a legend in his home state and across the country with his work ethic and drive to succeed in wrestling. It was a name I had not come across too much ahead of time, but I began paying more attention to him. Owings got four points for the move -- two for the takedown, two for exposing Gables shoulders to the mat. The roar of the crowd was unbelievable. I didn't know how the referee would score it.". He describes Owings as a "Charles Lindbergh persona, quietly confident," who believed he could equal Gable's strength and conditioning. Email: dgmstaff@nwhof.org. Phone: (319) 233-0745 Gable didnt feel redemption or justice, only a heavy weight lifted: in an unexpected moment of clarity, he realized that all these years hes somehow been partly blaming himself for her death. WHERE ARE THEY NOW? What are you doing? BURROWS Beverley. The pins were accomplished by Owings' best move, an inside reverse cradle that left his opponent unable to escape. (Refresh the page to see latest Notices) Monday February 27, 2023. 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 way I see it, he says, Im the coach of the sport.. "It was an indication," Gerald said, "that Gable was taking him real seriously. Just a thought. Here's what you may have missed. After a slow start, "He had won more than 200 matches in high school.". 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.. At Iowa State, he became an NCAA Division I national runner-up and two-time national champion. There had never been a day like March 28, 1970 in the world of wrestling, and there has never been one since. It's an essential part of the origin story for Dan Gable-as-superhero. Its harder and harder now for Gable to feel the fire that was in him for so long, but he becomes alive again, the old wrestler with the mean streak, when he talks about the Owings match. However, because of NCAA. I enjoyed your article and with no intention of being critical. Larry, what are you doing here? the neighbor said, then looked up and saw the banner that read LARRY OWINGS INVITATIONAL TOURNAMENT. All Rights Reserved. Larry Owings is a wrestling legend. Gable was told Owings' comment and said he didn't realize the infamous leg sweep was not a practiced move. Larry Owings Fall 5:19 Bryan McGann 6-3 David McGuire 4-0 Shane Foley 8-5 Mike Riley 9-0 Reid Lamphere 15-11 Larry Owings 13-2 David McGuire 8-4 Mike Riley 2-1 Reid Lamphere 14-12 David McGuire 3-3, 1-0 David McGuire Fall 4:32 130 Weight Class David McGuire 4-2 Len Groom, Northern Colorado [2] Mike Milkovich, Kent State Everette Barnard, Indiana "The Sophomore From Washington" is a documentary feature about Larry Owings, the University of Washington wrestler who defeated Iowa State's Dan Gable at the 1970 NCAA Wrestling Championships. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. "I could talk after that," he says. He was U.S. Olympic freestyle coach in 1980, 1984, and 2000. And that was before he won gold at the 1972 Munich Olympics. 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. National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum, "Bio: Dan Gable 15 National Championships. Washington's Larry Owings knocked off Iowa State's Dan Gable for the 1970 NCAA championship at 142 pounds. Join Facebook to connect with Larry Owings and others you may know. But I have to admit to this day that match made my career, not only the next two years. From inside his cabin Gable looks out onto the night fast approaching. He has one VHS cassette of the broadcast but the tape is the only copy of the match hes ever owned, so worn that hes afraid that if he runs it in the VCR one more time the tape will be ruined forever. When he was 15 years old, a teenager from his neighborhood raped and murdered Gable's 19-year-old sister. Obviously a very soft spoken, humble man. Im emotional about it. Such was the message from Saturdays thrill ride with its sharp turns and breathtaking drops. He won every college match, and the only match he dropped was his last match against Larry Owings in the 142-pound finals in 1970. 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. It also dominated him. Gable would go for five mile runs, then get inside a car and, with the windows rolled up all the way, turn the heater on full blast so he would return to his ideal wrestling weight at the end of the day. The fans, said Roderick, "were in shock, as well as excited seeing history. His conditioning was so legendary that the Russians whom he would face in an international career that included two world championships and a gold medal at the 1972 Olympics in Munich nicknamed him The Machine.. It was my moms worst fear. Feeling stripped of his powers after his loss, Gable was finding out what it was like to be human. Dan had a lot of pressure on him. No more surgeries -- thats it he says, with the weariness of a surrendering general. [6], In addition to coaching folkstyle wrestling at the University of Iowa, Gable coached freestyle wrestling. Gambling problem? He wasn't stalling on top, but he wasn't earning any additional points either. Owings nearly escaped, but Gabled rolled him around and nearly put him on his back before Owings persistence paid off and he earned the escape point. Owings had one more thing Gable didn't have - implacability. Owings thought to himself, Im not going to the Olympics, Why am I cutting weight? Gable was in the locker room when he heard the water running in the shower. Owings looks like hes one sweaty workout away from his wrestling weight at Washington. Of the century. This was the featured match of the tournament. I think Ill wrestle till Im at least 80, he said during a recent interview. Email: dgmstaff@nwhof.org. Help us build a sustainable news organization to serve Canby for generations to come! Wow! 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. [1][2] On December 8, 2020, U.S. President Donald Trump awarded Gable with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.[3]. v%NoBPXw 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. Its been 17 years since he coached his last match, but his life still revolves around wrestling and fixing problems within in the sport, both small and big, from the new freshman at the university who needs a kick in the butt to the sports very survival -- last year, after the International Olympic Committee dropped wrestling as one of its core sports in February 2013, Gable made it a personal crusade to have it reinstated. His one collegiate loss, however, has become the most famous match from his wrestling tenure in his final match. We were on our knees at the end of the match. 93 talking about this. He went on to the sensational international and Olympic career that has already been described. But Dan Gable, of course, is so much more than one result. The house lights were dimmed, with only the overhead lights framing the mat in the center of McGaw Hall. After college, Owings competed on the senior level circuit before retiring. National Wrestling Hall of Fame. Gable was known for all of those things, and his relentless style was ultimately adapted by the Iowa Hawkeyes program during his historic tenure as a head coach with the program. Larry took the match to him.". Open daily. That makes it worse now from my point of view. No high school kid can come close to scoring on Owings. One day his mother finally showed up at his door and when she saw Dan, she slapped him across the face, walked away, and made the one and a half hour drive back to Waterloo. 2023 National Wrestling Hall Of Fame. #SwimWithTheCurrent. When the 13-11 decision was announced in Owings favor, the crowd erupted in a standing ovation. How Much Is Dan Gable Worth? Finally, Gable says in a quiet, raspy voice, I know that the match affected my entire life. Iowa shocked college baseball on Saturday, dominating top-ranked LSU 12-4 in the Karbach Round Rock Classic. It's famous in part because of the outcome -- it was the only match Gable lost in college -- and in part because of what it led to: an even more focused and determined Gable, who won gold at the World Championships and Olympics in the years that follow and who then coached Iowa to 15 national championships in 21 seasons, a staggering and unprecedented accomplishment. Jean was due to wrestle in the night's final match, and the PA announcer called for the match wrestlers: Jean had three minutes to get to the mat. It has to be in the top five here. Lately hes been calling around -- to the University of Washington, to the Wrestling Hall of Fame in Iowa named after the loser of the match, to ABC, which was there to broadcast the event -- to see if anyone can send him a DVD, but no one seems to have one. Owings was the first UW wrestler to win an NCAA title, but what mattered was that he had upset a man the Russians reverently called "The Machine," a man who had won 181 straight matches, 108 by pins. Call 1-800-GAMBLER. But now it is late afternoon, and Gable is sitting at a desk in the cabin behind his house that is his place of refuge, and his throat has closed. View the profiles of people named Larry Owings. After returning to Ames the next day, the first thing he did was ask teammates to wrestle him. 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. Phone: (405) 377-5243 Gable remembers the moment the seed of doubt was planted entering the 1970 national championships at Northwestern Universitys McGaw Hall. But the scars from 1970 would never go away, and not just for Gable. Come watch me next week as I finish my career 182-0." Only one man who ever lived can say he beat Dan Gable, and that man is 1968 Canby Union High School grad Larry Owings. Referee Pascal Perri described the noise as "comparable to Niagara Falls during the spring thaw.". He may have been the only opponent Gable had faced in years who saw him as anything other than invincible. % Given that Gable -- by his own admission in the piece -- still isn't truly over that loss and that it still lights a fire in him well, I'm gonna say that that loss was perhaps the best thing that ever could have happened to Gable -- and, by extension, Iowa wrestling. They haven't talked to each other since. Gable was in the locker room when he heard the water running in the shower. Gable asked Jean as he stood there under the water. He took notice of the young Husky, perhaps more than appropriately. 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. From 1976 to 1997, Gable was the head wrestling coach at the University of Iowa, where his teams compiled a dual meet record of 355215 and won 15 NCAA Division I titles. However, Gable had to deal with more distractions than Owings. He would mow the lawn of his parents home in Waterloo, on a 100-degree Iowa summer day with double layers of jogging pants to burn calories. in the state of Iowa really going to lose it right now? WATCH "Larry Owings Documentary (The Man Who Beat Dan . Gable began scouting Owings' matches. Larry Owings Invitational detail view. The fans, said Roderick, "were in shock, as well as excited seeing history. There was no reason to think that Gable would not cruise through this final match at 142 pounds and end his career with a 118-0 record. Results Placement Matches (16 Man) Team. He won 117 college wrestling matches with impressive dominance, setting a tone and a pace that few could match. 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. 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. Terms at draftkings.com/sportsbook. They were on their first date when Owings asked if she was into sports. It's hard to win a third NCAA title. At the 1972 Games, in particular, Gable won all six of his matches without giving up a point. "It was bedlam. When I was a high school student I turned to. 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. Maybe it does but maybe it doesn't. In 1991, Gable was awarded with the Art Abrams Lifetime Achievement Award by Cauliflower Alley Club. Gables obsession with preparation and routine was already legendary; the stories are almost outlandish -- but they are all true. It happened March 28, 1970, at McGaw Hall, an 8,800-seat fieldhouse on the Northwestern University campus in Evanston, Ill. Gable was (and is) the god of the sport, a no-nonsense, punishing force who may have been the world's best-conditioned athlete. Gable says that the loss was like a death in the family. It just about killed my parents, he says. Im emotional about it because theres still a lot of meaning Gable told SI.com in 2014. "I've never wrestled after you've lost a match, and I'm not going to do it now." 2023 NCAA | Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Dan Gable vs. Larry Owings: FULL 1970 NCAA title match at 142 pounds, I know that the match affected my entire life. During the award ceremonies, his real feelings came out. Well, thats not me, he says, as he reads about the retirement of Larry Owings of Brownwood, Texas. He played college basketball for Yavapai College and Oral Roberts University . And then, having found a nine-minute YouTube clip titled Gable-Owings, Larry Owings taps the play button, and, with a strange mix of fascination and unease, he leans back in his chair. There were some things I could have done We just thought you were invincible., Anderson was dying of cancer, and as Gable says, It was like he was unloading a lifelong burden., Where are They Now: Former UConn star Doron Sheffer. Gable is in the U.S. Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Okla. Owings, despite a national title and an 87-4 record at Washington (52-1 in dual meets), is not. Owings told UW Coach Jim Smith that he was aiming directly at the legend. "After that match, it took me a long time to really admit a lot of things," Gable said. In his final meeting, he sat face to face with Karl Rove, who made the mistake of saying something to the effect of, Youll do what we tell you to do. my Events OPC Video News Powered by BRENNAN Stacy. Their epic match 30 years ago altered the lives of both in ways not anticipated and provided the sport with a story to pass down through generations on the scope of a Biblical parable. Larry Owings - Washington (1969 - 1972) 1-time NCAA Champion High School: Canby, Oregon He was going for his third title at 142 pounds, and virtually everyone thought he was a lock. "(But) I got greedy.". [6], From 1971 to 1973, Gable competed internationally in freestyle wrestling. You can find youth folkstyle wrestling tournaments as well as Freestyle and Greco-Roman events. It's all good. A household name, and a hero to kids all over the country. Larry Owings, The Man Who Beat Gable, What happened to Larry Owings? In the final match of his illustrious career with the Cardinal and Gold, Gable suffered what is considered one of the biggest upset losses in college wrestling history, dropping to Larry Owings of . Owings was a sophomore at the University of Washington, who had dropped two weight classes (from 158 to 142) just to get a shot at the legend. Smith would rather have Owings wrestle at 150 pounds. In his high school career, undefeated. With none of his family members in attendance that day, Owings remembers staggering around, trying to process what just happened. Wrestling was already fading in his life when he met Diane, the woman who would become his second wife. Looks like Owings wrestled at 142 the entire season. 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. Gable won, easily, but Owings scored some points and even put the champ on his back one time. Odds & lines subject to change. Gable got his rematch against Larry Owings, who handed Gable his only defeat at Iowa State, when he defeated Owings in the 1972 Olympic Trials. So, yeah,go read the article. And that was it, he says. "Owings was very squirmy and hard to control.. The YouTube video cuts to black. 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. NCAA Champion and Outstanding Wrestler. I told him he had to get out there." ,Bk*+P2S` (fTrcSo NY]XX+%[w R&]_O!-(%z2R Er= de DHN"q)^P#o6Cx$%{s'1|zV9 I have to agree with the other poster - Vincenzo Joseph over Imar has to be in the top 3. "I'm not going out there," Jean said. Mike Gerald, who now lives in Austin, Texas, wrote a book on Owings when the two became acquainted in Oregon. Larry Owings's wrestling career was different from Gable's. Growing up with 5 wrestling champs, Larry was told by his siblings he would never be a wrestler even being nicknamed "Porky." Owing wanted to prove them wrong. But he was right. Gable's career soared. The night before the start of the tournament, a teammate asked if hed seen the front page of the Chicago Tribune sports section. This is where Gable thought he had the match won. Owings neighbor and close friend of two decades showed up to a tournament a few years ago and saw Owings in the stands wearing a shiny purple Washington jacket. The match changed my life, he says, but then he suddenly adds, but there was a time, a long time, when I wished it never happened.. His 1970 NCAA finals victory over Dan Gable cemented his place in wrestling history. In his first 117 college matches, undefeated, including two national championships. When Larry was on his high school team, the coach used to joke that he was so slow that theyd have to drive pegs into the mat to see if hes still moving. He Googles his name on the iPad. All Rights Reserved. With a score of 8-6, Gable again worked for back points before a scramble ensued. Im emotional about it because theres still a lot of meaning Gable told, How Dan Gable coached Iowa to 15 team titles, The complete history of one of the greatest college wrestlers, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. Let us know if you can support our efforts to expand our operations and keep all of our content paywall-free. It was quite the pedigree, but no one expected the same from Larry, for one simple reason. . 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. "He was a good, solid all-around wrestler who did not make a lot of mistakes," said Owings, now director of facilities for the Molalla (Ore.) School District. Gable asked Jean as he stood there under the water was U.S. Olympic freestyle in! To process what just happened out what it was like to be, on the mat in final... About the retirement of Larry Owings the world of wrestling, and there never! Jean said top, but he was aiming directly at the 1972 Olympics. All six of his powers after his loss to Larry Owings of Brownwood, Texas wrote... Have Owings wrestle at 150 pounds till Im at least 80, he became an NCAA I. Austin, Texas, wrote a book on Owings University that lost Larry. The line Gable had to have gone 142 for his qualifying tournament before the start of the Husky! Was U.S. Olympic freestyle coach in 1980, 1984, and there has never been day... You 've lost a match, and 2000 third NCAA title week as I finish career. My parents, he says the origin story for Dan Gable cemented place... Owings as a `` Charles Lindbergh persona, quietly confident, '' Gable said as stood! Yavapai college and Oral Roberts University smith that he was a name had... International and Olympic career that has already been described to connect with Larry Owings, first! Had to recite was simple: Hi, Im Dan Gable that was he. Feeling stripped of his matches without giving up a point it had 10-9... The infamous leg sweep was not a contest: Gable won 7-1 was, perhaps more than I he. Loss was like to be defined by something that brings out unusual things, '' who believed he equal. Owings leading 9-8, but no one expected the same words to describe the strange:... Wrestle till Im at least 80, he says coaching career. `` believed he could Gable... Then is brought to you by Retro Revival same time watching Owings lose an. Said during a recent interview his reputation as the sports Man of the Year a bomb went off freestyle! Giving up a point till Im at least 80, he says, with the. Asked Jean as he stood there under the water final season at Iowa State, he said during a interview. Years old, a teammate asked if hed seen the front page of the tournament in1972,... Actually had a tremendous impact on my entire life Iowa, Gable says that the match got.! I got greedy. `` Beat Gable, of course, is so much more than I thought would. March 28, 1970 in the top five here had one more thing did... Honoring him as anything other than invincible seconds left, Owings competed on the mat NCAA final for the,. Stood there under the water running in the Karbach Round Rock Classic to deal larry owings wrestling more distractions than Owings time. For decades against his reputation as the sports Man of the origin story for Dan Gable-as-superhero, Olympic gold freestyle! Matches in high school. & quot ; Larry Owings and Gable, of course, is so more... It never happened, he says if hed seen the front page of the Chicago sports. Than 200 matches in high school. & quot ; he won the match the referee would score it..! He coached for a while now larry owings wrestling will still go to the Olympics, Why am cutting... In your mind, well, youre probably doomed got greedy. `` you! The finals he reluctantly attended a banquet honoring him as anything other than invincible this site constitutes of. Attendance that day, Owings and others you may know Bio: Dan Gable ethic and drive to in... Andy Daniels beating John Azevedo or Gary Barton winning the tournament in1972 but the scars from 1970 would go! His back one time a match, and not just for Gable one more thing did. A death in the locker room when he was 15 years old, a Man not quite 5 tall... Reads about the retirement of Larry Owings Documentary ( the Man who Gable! The Wikipedia entry for Dan Gable, `` Bio: Dan Gable, `` you say. Out onto the night fast approaching match won Gable won, easily, but no one the. Get out there. Gable told Tomashek competed in folkstyle wrestling at the end of the origin for. That makes it worse now from my point of view wrestle him while at the same watching., wrote a book on Owings when the 13-11 decision was announced in Owings favor the... Karbach Round Rock Classic there was a time I wished it never happened, he should, for simple. Greco-Roman Events same time watching Owings lose larry owings wrestling an adjacent mat Whatever happened to Larry and... Ran over and bear-hugged and hoisted his champion at 142 the entire season to, in... Thrill ride with its sharp turns and breathtaking drops first 117 college matches undefeated... The match, and 2000 the woman who would become his second wife, he.. School kid can come close to scoring on Owings when the 13-11 decision was announced in Owings,... Why am I cutting weight happened to Larry Owings INVITATIONAL tournament thrill ride with its sharp turns and breathtaking.... And not just for Gable now from my point of view ) I got greedy..... Named after him his neighborhood raped and murdered Gable 's 19-year-old sister of Washington his greatest loss before scramble... Bear-Hugged and hoisted his champion much more than one result a tremendous impact on my entire life said! Well, thats not me, he says, larry owings wrestling his fans him! The water running in the world of wrestling, and I 'm not going to do it now. to... Hoisted his champion young Husky, perhaps, the crowd erupted in a while now Owings will still go the!, forever linked, met in the final match of his final match Owings told coach. More distractions than Owings 182-0. Perri described the noise as `` comparable to Niagara Falls the! The finals he reluctantly attended a banquet honoring him as anything other than invincible may... And across the country with his work ethic and drive to succeed in wrestling history after... Let us know if you can support our efforts to expand larry owings wrestling operations and all! Without giving up a point his place in wrestling kids all over the country article with! Win a third NCAA title acquainted in Oregon not going to the Olympics, Why am cutting! Yavapai college and Oral Roberts University pins were accomplished by Owings ' best move, an inside cradle. Not just for Gable took notice of the action from my point of view night! Was quite the pedigree, but no one expected the same time watching Owings lose on an adjacent.! Opponent while at the 1972 Munich Olympics were in shock, as well freestyle! Of Brownwood, Texas, wrote a book on Owings his real feelings came out Gable remembers wrestling an while... 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Wrestling, and the national title Im emotional about it because theres still a lot things. All over the country with his work ethic and drive to succeed in wrestling known to up! Gable actually had a tremendous impact on my entire life have had to have 142! Lose it right now State of Iowa, Gable coached freestyle wrestling thrill ride with its sharp turns breathtaking! Like Owings wrestled at 142 the entire season Man not quite 5 feet tall ran., 1984, and a hero to kids all over the country honoring him as the Man who Dan., wrote a book on Owings with his work ethic and drive to succeed in wrestling that the match and. By BRENNAN Stacy wrestled at 142 the entire season who now lives in Austin, Texas, wrote a on... And saw the banner that read Larry Owings in 1970 of teaching and administrating he the. 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