By Gary Abbott
USA Wrestling
While on vacation recently, I spent some quality time with wrestling legend Dan Gable.

Gable was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame as a Distinguished Member in 1980 and is also the namesake for the National Wrestling Hall of Fame Dan Gable Museum in Waterloo, Iowa.

Gable, who I have known for 30 years, wasn’t actually with me on that vacation. But while I was on the airplane or hanging out at the beach, I read “A Wrestling Life 2: More Inspiring Stories of Dan Gable,” which was written by Gable and veteran wrestling leader Kyle Klingman. It was a very good read, and time well spent.

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Granted, I am a wrestling fanatic who has lived through many of the years covered by Gable and Klingman, and I know most of the people who are mentioned in many of the stories. As a wrestling journalist, I covered many of the events mentioned.

However, this book is not just for wrestling nerds like me. I think it would be an excellent book for anyone who wants to know more about Gable and wrestling. It gives great insight into the thought process of Gable and his life, from the eyes of a highly-successful, driven individual.

The book, which is published by the University of Iowa Press, became available on June 1, although wrestling fans could pre-order the book in recent months. It is a follow-up on “A Wrestling Life,” a book that Gable penned with Scott Schulte that spent two months on the New York Times sports bestseller list.

I can actually hear Gable throughout the book, using the kind of language and expressing himself in the way that we have become familiar over many years. When I spoke to Gable about the book at this year’s Hall of Fame, he explained that he sat down and wrote much of the book himself, rather than telling his story verbally to his co-author. Gable really wanted to make this book even better than his previous book projects.

However, I can also see the work of Kyle Klingman, the director of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame Dan Gable Museum in Waterloo, Iowa, also weaved into the book in each chapter. Klingman has been a longtime columnist for WIN Magazine and a leading historian within wrestling. Instead of just including Gable’s thoughts on many of the stories, Klingman interviewed a ton of wrestling people who were profiled, and included their thoughts in many of the stories. These additional perspectives truly added a ton of depth to these stories, and widened the appeal of the commentary.

Right off the bat, anybody who is involved in wrestling should read the start of the book, a chapter entitled “Gable Trained: An Introduction. In simple and direct terms, Gable gives his philosophy for success in wrestling, the approach and attitude that led to his success and the success of the teams that he coached. Gable breaks it down into 23 specific concepts that goes into being Gable Trained. He explains each concept in the way only that Dan Gable can. Just by reading this chapter, anybody can get something they can use in their own lives.

If you want a little bit more of Gable’s roadmap to success, Chapter 28 is entitled “The Gable Edge.” Gable walks you through his life and tells you how his personal journey shaped him, and how it affected him as he achieved his various milestones. At the end of the chapter, Gable explains how he went “above and beyond the already established norm,” giving examples on a year-by-year basis.

Every chapter has a different subject, and Gable takes you deeply into the topic, with his personal spin on things. Fans will enjoy Chapter 8, which is called “Royce, Mark and Bruce: The Toughest, the Smartest, and the Hardest Worker,” with tales about Royce Alger, Mark Mysnyk and Bruce Kinseth. Then, in Chapter 15, entitled “Fan Favorites,” he details the careers of Mike DeAnna, Rico Chiapparelli and Ray Brinzer.

Gable is not afraid to take on unpleasant topics, including a section in the book where he explains why his 1987 team did not win the NCAA Championships, and was unable to claim its 10th straight NCAA title when they lost to rival Iowa State at the NCAA Championships in Maryland. The team wore a Roman Numeral X on their singlet all year, signifying the quest for 10 in a row, and they fell short, in spite of being favored. Gable puts much of the blame on himself and the culture that had developed on his dynasty team. He explains that “each year, we were slipping a little further away from the attitude of hard work and discipline that it took to build what we had at Iowa.”

There are a few cool things at the end of the book for us wrestling nutcases. Gable does a year by year review of his 25 years as head coach, where his Hawkeyes won 25 straight Big Ten titles, with a review of each NCAA Championships performance. That was great stuff for college wrestling fans. And there is a chapter entitled Names in the Sport, in which Gable gives his thoughts about dozens and dozens of key wrestling athletes, coaches and leaders.

If you enjoy good people stories, with a healthy dose of success philosophies mixed in, this book is for you. If you love wrestling, it is a no-brainer. If you are interested in the world view, according to Dan Gable, it is perfect for you. We can expect to see Coach Gable make some appearances for book signings in the next year, and we will gladly share information on how you can meet Dan and get his autograph on the book.

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The book can also be found on Amazon and through other major book sellers.

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