They said Id never be a wrestler because I was too fat, he recalled, much later. Energy, aggression, speed and endurance. Maryland Governor Larry Hogan smiled after being presented with a prayer book during a visit to Cardinal Hickey Academy on February 26, 2016 in. By choosing I Accept, you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies. No more surgeries -- thats it he says, with the weariness of a surrendering general. This is where Gable thought he had the match won. He said he "coached some wrestling ". It is the subject of an old wrestling match from 44 years ago that has him go silent. "I thought I could win on riding time when I caught up 8 to 8, Gable told Tom Tomashek of the Chicago Tribune. It's all good. National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum, "Bio: Dan Gable 15 National Championships. He also became the greatest coach in U.S. college wrestling, winning 17 NCAA titles, and 21 Big Ten Championships. Finally, Gable says in a quiet, raspy voice, I know that the match affected my entire life. When I was a high school student I turned to. Darrell Keller, Oklahoma State DEC Larry Owings, Washington, 16-12 150 lbs Stan Dziedzic, Slippery Rock DEC Jay Arneson, Oklahoma . Iowa shocked college baseball on Saturday, dominating top-ranked LSU 12-4 in the Karbach Round Rock Classic. 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. 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. Here is Larry Owings: sitting at his dining room table in his modest house in the Oregon countryside, 30 miles outside of Portland, on a May afternoon. Wrestling was already fading in his life when he met Diane, the woman who would become his second wife. He was intrigued by Owings' swagger. In fact, the result was so expected that Gable filmed a commercial with ABCs Wide World of Sports encouraging viewers to watch his final match by saying "Hi, Im Dan Gable. I didn't know how the referee would score it.". 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. Working out from under Gable gave Owings momentum and confidence, and he translated that energy into a takedown of his own against his opponent to give Owings the lead 3-2 in the match and rode out Gable for the remainder of the first period to finish the first three minutes on top. In the Olympics, he not only won every match, he did so without giving up a single point. He went on to finish 2nd as a junior and senior. By the end of the second period, Owings had stretched the lead to 7-2 and the crowd was hysterical. Looking at the photo now, Gable says, I felt -- I feel -- like I let everyone down. After Gable received his second place trophy, there was a loud ovation in the hall that stretched on for minutes, until one of Gables teammates approached him and said, Gable, lift up your head. Yeah, college basketball is ready for March. Was I annoyed? says Owings. Perri had given Owings two points for the takedown and two for a near-fall, as Gable's shoulders were briefly exposed to the mat. While at Iowa State, Gable continued his winning ways by capturing three Big Eight Championships, earning All-American honors all three years. Washington's Larry Owings knocked off Iowa State's Dan Gable for the 1970 NCAA championship at 142 pounds. Is the hardest S.O.B. He walked over and saw his teammate Chuck Jean there. Such was the message from Saturdays thrill ride with its sharp turns and breathtaking drops. His results were extraordinary. In 1966, he entered Iowa State, 110 miles away in Ames. It was the final bout of Gable's storied career; prior to meeting Owings, he had never lost in scholastic competition. Gable's teams compiled a dual meet record of 355215. Id beaten the best in the world -- it was the pinnacle of my career, and would be, no matter what, says Owings. But he was right. It also dominated him. He grew up the youngest of five Owings brothers, all of them wrestlers; Larry, overweight growing up, was always the least likely of the Owings brothers to go one to become a great in the sport. 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. Theres the verbal stuff, here and there. NCAA Indivdual Champions. The wrestler would go on to win a national championship. 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. 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. Now nearly 70 but still strong as an ox, Owings is not one to use a blackboard to teach his wrestlers how to do a takedown. When he was 15 years old, a teenager from his neighborhood raped and murdered Gable's 19-year-old sister. My nickname was Porky. Everyone called me that, even my teachers at school. Terms at draftkings.com/sportsbook. Owings, who said, "I did not really realize the scope of what I accomplished," never again won the championship, losing in the NCAA finals his final two years. f&6wZ> "It was an indication," Gerald said, "that Gable was taking him real seriously. Owings has not talked to Gable since 1980, and that was a brief conversation to ask him to consider looking at a wrestler in his district. Gable was inducted into the USA Wrestling Hall . Owings strategy in the match was his strategy in all his others: to wear out the other guy; he was, in short, going to out Gable Gable. After beating up on them, he thought to himself, OK, I'm still good. Obviously a very soft spoken, humble man. He tried an arm-bar move, coming over Owings' shoulder in an attempt to lock him up and take him down. Then he would wrestle two hours a day. I didn't know he passed away in 2013, but that explains the omission of Joseph/Martinez. And that was it, he says. 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. "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. % Yes. As for Owings, people did not leave him alone. The pins were accomplished by Owings' best move, an inside reverse cradle that left his opponent unable to escape. WATCH "Larry Owings Documentary (The Man Who Beat Dan . Owings had won. Gable was in the locker room when he heard the water running in the shower. Let us know if you can support our efforts to expand our operations and keep all of our content paywall-free. He has softened in his old age -- thats what nine grandchildren will do to you -- and lately he has been more reflective; a stack of papers on the desk is the memoir hes working on with a writer. "It was my mom's worst fear." He prefers to show them, firsthand. Now I read this and learn his win was the greatest upset in wrestling history at the time and still ranks in the top three. Don't get caught in the cradle." Conditioning was a big part of my preparation.". "I could talk after that," he says. 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. "It was a move," Owings said, "I had never done before or since.". Instead, he thought of it as a reason to train with even more determination: "The more you can settle into focusing on what you have and what you would like to do and where you want to go a positive point of view the quicker things turn around and positive things start to happen. Gable, then and now, says the near-fall was "a judgment call.". After college, Owings competed on the senior level circuit before retiring. "After that match, it took me a long time to really admit a lot of things," Gable said. Well, thats not me, he says, as he reads about the retirement of Larry Owings of Brownwood, Texas. 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. He will show up at a practice at a high school just a few miles from where he lives now, and he will stand in front of the teenagers and say, If you can score on me, you can win the state title. Some of the wrestlers will think hes joking. 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. Email: dgmstaff@nwhof.org. 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. A stalemate brought the wrestlers back to the center, but, within seconds, the match was over. With a score of 8-6, Gable again worked for back points before a scramble ensued. I told him he had to get out there. Jean made it out just in time; he won the match, and the national title. "At that point, once I saw the score and only three seconds left, I knew he couldn't get two points," Owings said. It was Gable's first loss of his collegiate wrestl. 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. The night before the finals he reluctantly attended a banquet honoring him as the sports Man of the Year. Email: dgmstaff@nwhof.org. 2023 National Wrestling Hall Of Fame. Earned bachelor's degree and master's degree in education from the University of Washington. "It's the biggest upset ever in the sport, and it's a fascinating story. At Iowa State, he became an NCAA Division I national runner-up and two-time national champion. (Refresh the page to see latest Notices) Monday February 27, 2023. It was probably the match of the century. He wrestled Gable one more time, in the 1972 Olympic Trials, losing 7-1. 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. 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. Larry Owings is a wrestling legend. "I had never heard that before. But in ink? NCAA Champion and Outstanding Wrestler. He is turning on his iPad, hoping to find clips of the match that would change his life in unexpected and complicated ways. Thanks for the great article. Now, it was like a burden was lifted. Gable was given a four-minute standing ovation during his introduction as the ceremonies stopped. It had a tremendous impact on my entire coaching career.". stream He now does university fund raising and works with the U.S. Olympic team. He had two points in riding time that would be rewarded at the end by Perri. Many who were there that day use the same words to describe the strange aftermath: it was like a bomb went off. He clings to it like a drowning man trying to stay afloat, because he understands what once had defeated him also made him a champion. They made up songs about me and teased me unmercifully.. Again in '69 @ 137. Theyre waiting for you to lift your head. Gable did -- and the cheering finally stopped. 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. It has to be in the top five here. But it will have to wait till next time, on Canby Then. As painful as the experience was, looking back, he believes it may have helped toughen him up. To understand the legend of Larry Owings, you must first understand the legend of Dan Gable. While the result of the match against Owings was unusual, in comparison with Gable's previous results, his effort is undeniable. The result, though unexpected, put the crowd of 8,500 on its feet throughout the match and gave them [the athletes] a shattering ovation when it ended, per the New York Times. I know that the match affected my entire life. He holed himself up in his room, he didnt talk to anyone, he didnt even return his parents phone calls. 0@f@b'>dnk;k2 E\ 5EFsmdm9_-3uyKfmp}Mv$F+\ 8PBMvZ4li-miLbccx*kj3 j CL# ^3>=@aW6F(qmDCL4*@u|hw-fTy-[pal{5@V 08Nl+FNt@@*eF$~1H*UXj1(B`xfLE!HsZm!| "(But) I got greedy.". Just sitting here, talking about it it hurts. Come watch me next week as I finish my career 182-0. Gable kept bungling the lines, and the take took half an hour; by the time he was finished, without having gone through his regular pregame warm-up, every seat in the area was already filled, and the match was about to start. Every sport except boxing and wrestling, she said. 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. A Des Moines newspaper reporter once wore an Iowa hat to a Russian village during the Cold War, in the mountains near the Siberian. But I have to admit to this day that match made my career, not only the next two years. He was known to wake up in the middle of night, just to do push-ups while his opponents slept. He had a chance to face Owings again three weeks later, then again seven months later, but Owings lost in the preliminary round. my Events OPC Video News Powered by 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. 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. #SwimWithTheCurrent. Larry Owings, Coach/Official, Canby, Oregon. Owings grew up in the Ninety-One School district, the youngest of five brothers who were all high school wrestling state champions. But now he is about to try. Hes not. My strategy was to throw everything I could at him, keep him so busy he wouldnt be able to get into a rhythm in the match, Owings later said. Id never experienced that before, says Gable. Once the period began, it was Owings on top, temporarily, before Gable notched a reversal to tie the score at 8-8 with just over 1:45 to go in the third. The fans, said Roderick, "were in shock, as well as excited seeing history. The final seconds ticked down, and it was actually Owings, in the lead, who went for a final takedown. It was one of the greatest upsets in American sports: an unknown sophomore from the University of Washington slaying the god from Iowa State and one of the most astonishing streaks in sports history. And teased me unmercifully.. again in '69 @ 137 his effort is undeniable final seconds ticked,. My career 182-0 -- I feel -- like I let everyone down Hall of Fame and Museum, Bio... Match that would change his life when he was 15 years old, a from... Room when he met Diane, the woman who would become his second wife tremendous impact on my entire.. On them, he not only the next two years brothers who were there day. 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