A Wrestling Life: The Inspiring Stories of Dan Gable
What does it take to be an Olympic gold medalist and to coach a collegiate team to fifteen NCAA titles? In A Wrestling Life: The Inspiring Stories of Dan Gable, famed wrestler and wrestling coach Dan Gable tells engaging and inspiring stories of his childhood in Waterloo, Iowa; overcoming the murder of his sister as a teenager; his sports career from swimming as a young boy, to his earliest wrestling matches, through the 1972 Olympics; coaching at the University of Iowa from the Banachs to the Brands; life-changing friendships he made along the way; and tales of his family life off the mat. A celebration of determination, teamwork, and the persevering human spirit, A Wrestling Life captures Gable’s methods and philosophies for reaching individual greatness as well as the incredible amount of fulfillment and satisfaction that comes from working as part of a team.
An Interview with the Author
Growing up in Connecticut, Scott Schulte was always more of a runner than a wrestler, as evidenced by his 4:17 mile in high school. However, like so many of us, he was pulled into the sport by his older brother Paul, who despite only starting wrestling his junior year of high school finished second in the state as a senior and went on to wrestle at Brigham Young University. Paul later returned home to help coach Scott to a state championship.
After his wrestling career finished, Schulte settled on writing as his profession, where he has done magazine profiles on celebrities like Roger Staubach and Derek Jeter. His most recent project is a new book about wrestling legend Dan Gable entitled A Wrestling Life: The Inspiring Stories of Dan Gable. We sat down with Schulte to discuss the new book; what it was like working with Coach Gable; and how wrestling prepared him as a writer.
Wrestling Stories: What’s the biggest lesson you learned from your time wrestling?
Scott Schulte: Wrestling taught me how to deal with adversity, so that when life punches back — as it does on numerous occasions — you know how to keep fighting back. I rely on this lesson as a writer because you get a lot more rejections than acceptances, but just like how all wrestlers experience more losses than wins when they first start you can recognize that these rejections and losses are learning opportunities. Wrestling also taught me about accountability and intrinsic motivation. In high school, I used to go downstairs to the basement every night to get an extra workout in alone, and I draw on that mental toughness when writing, which is also a solitary experience. Lastly, wrestling teaches humility — to never let the wins go to your head or the losses go to your heart.
WS: Dan Gable is perhaps the biggest legend in wrestling, and so much has been written about him. What inspired you to write a new book?
SS: I had been doing a lot of magazine articles around celebrities, and I came away form these articles with little snips of their lives and thought there was an opportunity to write more about the details. Then I met Dan at the 2012 Olympic Trials and pitch the idea to do a magazine article about his sister’s murder. After finishing the magazine article I pitched the idea for a full book.
WS: You structured your book in a unique way, making each chapter a standalone story. What went into that decision?
SS: I knew that I could never write a biography, and I thought that this concept was a more interesting structure for the reader. Plus Dan Gable is just full of so many amazing and inspiring stories that I knew that people would be interested in reading them. In fact, originally the book was just going to be 20 stories, but there was just too many to limit it to that number, and even with all the ones we choose I feel like there were still so many more we left out.
WS: Tell us about some of the stories that were included in the book.
SS: We have the classics that every wrestling fan is familiar with — the Brands Brothers, Barry Davis, and Lincoln McIlravy to name a few. And we also have ones that speak to a side of Coach Gable that fewer people are familiar with: his family. There is a story for each one of his daughters, chosen by them to characterize their relationship with their father, and his wife Kathy also chose a story. Hearing from them really speaks to how good of a job he did raising a family, and these five chapters are some of my favorite in the book.
WS: You grew up with a poster of Dan Gable in your bedroom. What was it like collaborating with someone you looked up to on this project?
SS: What was amazing was how he just felt like a normal guy, and I really felt like we hit it off within 30 seconds of him picking me up from his hotel to drive me to his house. Working with him was amazing because he was laser committed to the project and told story after story, so it really just felt like two guys having a conversation. What was also amazing was getting to meet and interact with the Gable family, who are all just wonderful people.
WS: What can a young wrestler take away from reading your book?
SS: My hope is that this book inspires readers to become better wrestlers and better people. I think everyone should read and re-read the chapter on Mitch Kelly because it is the perfect example of someone who listened to everything Coach Gable had to say and as a result of that focus was able ready to capitalize when his opportunity came. That’s one of the biggest lessons from the book: that if you do what you are supposed to do and always be prepared, then you can be ready when your moment comes
WS: Thank you so much for time Scott, and we wish you best of luck with the book and encourage all of our readers to pre-order their copy.
SS: Thank you for speaking with me, and anyone who wants to preorder the book can do from Prairie Lights Books at http://bit.ly/1BtvsLt or by calling 1–319–337–2681.
Originally published at wrestlingstories.org.
