NCAA Wrestling: Dan Gable vs. Cael Sanderson
By Chris Snyder
A look at the legendary wrestling careers and coaching careers of both Dan Gable and Cael Sanderson
How about a good old fashion era comparison between two of the all-time greats in the American wrestling world? This will be easy, right?
To try and tip toe across this incredibly difficult comparison, let’s start where everything tends to start. The beginning.
Dan Gable was born in the small and sleepy town of Waterloo, Iowa. Raised by parents Katie and Mack, it’s hard to believe the future amateur wrestling legend was not devoted to the sport at a young age.
However an unthinkable tragedy struck the family and Dan fully embraced the commitment to wrestling at the age of 16. And the rest, as they say, is history as Gable went on to be one of the best amateur wrestlers and the greatest collegiate wrestling coach of all time.
Cael Sanderson was born in Salt Lake City, Utah and grew up in nearby Heber City, Utah. Raised by parents Debbie and Steve, Cael was brought up in a wrestling household as his father was a former wrestler at Brigham Young University.
It also didn’t hurt growing up for Cael to have an older brother (Cody Sanderson) to wrestle against in the family room. I wonder how many things they broke in the house? It’s safe to say it was probably more than one picture frame.
Now that we’ve had a look at the early life for both Gable and Sanderson, let’s dive into their wrestling careers.
More specifically, a look at each of their individual wrestling careers and then a look at their coaching careers. In the end I’ll try to sum everything up and put each man’s accomplishments in perspective to one another.
As I mentioned early, this is a piece of cake. Unfortunately for me, the cake is made of concrete, nails, determination, guts, and topped with blood, sweat, and tears.
Let’s begin with looking at Dan Gable’s wrestling career, and then take a glance at Penn State Wrestling coach Cael Sanderson’s.
Dan Gable Wrestling Career
College Career
College: Iowa State University (1967-1970)
Career Record: 117-1
NCAA Championships: 2 (1968-1969)
World Career
1971 Pan American Games Gold Medal – 68 kg
1971 Wrestling World Championships Gold Medal – 68 kg
1972 Olympic Games Gold Medal (Munich) – 68 kg
Gable attended West Waterloo High School and after fully devoting himself to wrestling, went on to finish with a perfect record of 64-0. This also included three Iowa state titles.
After high school, Dan then took the short two-hour car ride down to Ames and committed to wrestling at Iowa State University. He competed from 1967-1970 and compiled an incredible record of 117-1. This included NCAA Championships in both 1968 and 1969.
Gable’s only collegiate wrestling loss came at the hands of Washington’s Larry Ownings in the 1970 NCAA Finals. Which just so happened to be Dan’s final match in his final collegiate season.
This is what most experts would call “a fork in the road moment”. Would the loss devastate the ISU legend? Or motivate him? Remember, this a guy who turned unimaginable tragedy into determination.
Which is exactly what Gable did following his final collegiate match.
After graduating and moving on from Iowa State University, Dan took up a rigorous training program in the efforts to take his talents to the world stage.
The hard work and determination paid off as Gable won both the 1971 World Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria, and the 1971 Pan American Games in Cali, Colombia. With the Olympics looming a mere one year later, Gable continued to train and give his life to the sport of wrestling.
And it paid off in the 1972 Olympics (Munich) as Dan Gable became the first American to win both a World Championship and an Olympic title in consecutive years. Not only did Dan bring home the gold, he obliterated the competition in piling up three falls and outscoring his opponents 29-0 in the other three matches.
You read that correctly. On the world stage, in one of the most tragic Olympics ever, Gable stayed focused and did not give up a single point to the best of the best on the planet at his weight class.
Dan Gable’s amateur wrestling career appears to be impossible to top.