Gable's Brief Brush with Politics

Iowa wrestling icon Dan Gable delivered some interesting insights on his brief foray into politics years ago to a group of Delaware County Republicans Tuesday night.

Much of Gable's speech was a GOP pep talk. But he also took time to recall  his brief consideration of a gubernatorial run in 2002.

He recounted a trip to Washington D.C., where he was brought to the office of some guy named Karl Rove.

"He looked at me and said, `Coach, you're done being a coach,'" Gable said. "'From now on, you do what we tell you to do.'

"I said, 'I do?'" Gable recalled. That didn't sit well with a guy who made his mark on the world doing things his way.

"I walked out of that office that night. I was able to make a decision not to move forward," Gable said.

On the same trip, Gable and Chuck Larson Jr., a former state GOP chairman in Iowa, came across the office of U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone of Minnesota. Gable wanted to meet the wrestler-turned-politician. But Gable said Larson, a staunch conservative, was resistant to visiting the liberal senator.

Gable prevailed, of course, but Wellstone's secretary said he was too busy to see anyone without an appointment. Gable asked her to tell Wellstone that he stopped by, and they departed

They didn't get far when Wellstone busted out of his office and ran down the hall yelling Gable's name.

"He was the happiest guy in the world to meet me," Gable said of his bipartisan grapplers' summit.

"We've got two sides. We can be hostile. But it doesn't have to be that way," Gable said.

Wellstone died in a plane crash while campaigning for re-election in 2002.