A Season on the Mat: Dan Gable and the Pursuit of Perfection

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Description

For the past twenty-one years, Dan Gable’s Iowa Hawkeyes have dominated wrestling to an extent rarely seen in any sport. In A Season on the Mat, award-winning reporter Nolan Zavoral explores Iowa’s storied wrestling program and Gable’s record of excellence in an unprecedented, intimate look at the man and his methods.
As Gable approached the 1996-1997 season, he used to be a mere shell of his usual, vigorous self. A dozen back and knee surgeries had reduced his proud athlete’s walk to that of a stooped, shambling old man.
A Season on the Mat chronicles this dramatic season, in which Gable led his team – far from his most talented – to the national title. Zavoral takes the reader at the back of the scenes, into the stifling heat of the wrestling room where young men from places like Rock Falls, Iowa, or Philip, South Dakota, sacrifice everything they’ve just to be part of the Hawkeye program. We watch strong-willed athletes like Mike Mena, whose struggle to make weight almost cost him a shot at the national championship; Lincoln McIlravy, who overcame persistent severe headaches to win his third national title in his four-year career; and the entire other wrestlers who contributed to a record-breaking performance at the NCAAs, scoring the most points in collegiate wrestling history.
But most important, we see the man at the back of the Gable legend. From his difficult upbringing, interrupted by the tragedy of his sister’s brutal murder, through the single defeat that haunts him to this day, to the ups and downs of his phenomenal coaching career, Gable has come to symbolize to many all that may be special about this demanding, elemental sport.
Had Dan Gable played baseball or basketball instead of wrestled, not only would ad campaigns have been built around him, but also a wing in the hall of fame. Gable, a true athletic icon, dominated his sport–a virtually obscure one by American standards–as no one has before or since. An Olympic champion, Gable used to be virtually unbeatable. As a coach, he is been dauntingly invincible. His Iowa Hawkeyes have won 10 straight national championships–15 altogether–and each Big 10 title in the sport since Gable took over the program in the mid-1970s. A Season on the Mat is the engrossing narrative of Iowa’s 1996-97 Cinderella season, Gable’s finale as coach, and the intriguing hold wrestling has on its participants. Still, Gable is the clear star here. With drama and pathos, creator Nolan Zavoral profiles him as a fiercely driven and competitive man, wracked by physical and emotional pain as he grapples with the life-altering decisions that he knows it is time to make.

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