Iowa State and global wrestling legend Dan Gable was at the Ames Public Library on Wednesday to talk about his past and his new books.

Gable was one of the best wrestlers in history, compiling a 181-1 record at the prep and collegiate levels, and then going on to win a gold medal at the 1972 Munich Olympics. His only loss came in his last collegiate match ever.

“I won 181 matches in a row, and I lost one, and then I got good,” Gable said.

Gable also went on to coach the University of Iowa, where he would coach the Hawkeyes to 15 national titles while amassing a record of 355-21-5.

Retired now, Gable has now written two autobiographies about himself that delve into his personal life and are aimed to serve as motivation for those reading them.

Gable currently does a lot of work to help wrestling gain notoriety due to its low representation, but he is not discouraged.

One of the things he is asked to do sometimes is to give speeches to football teams before their upcoming games. He has been asked twice by Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer to talk to the players the day before the game.

This year, before the Vikings played the Cardinals, quarterback Kirk Cousins delivered a pregame speech and quoted Gable, saying, “When I shoot, I score. When you shoot, I score.”

People love to give Gable a platform, not just because he was so good as an athlete but because he loves public speaking, and he provides inspiration for a lot of people.

It translated perfectly to coaching, where he had a tough love attitude and was able to coach Iowa to one of the most dominant stretches in college wrestling history.

“Know your subject … and know your subjects,” Gable said.

For Gable, his subjects were the athletes he coached and tinkered until he could bring out the best in every one of them.

Gable coached 12 Olympians in his time with Iowa, passing the torch onto the next generation of great wrestlers, while adding accolades onto his own historic legacy as well.

Gable also spoke about his family and what they have meant to him, and how he has tried to pass wrestling down to his kids, and his extended family.

He also has a movie coming out about wrestling that he helped contribute to, and he was given a small role to thank him for the help.

Gable is remembered by Iowa State and Iowa for incredible feats, and he uses his platform for things that are important to him and the wrestling community as well as motivational speaking.

Gable is making sure he continues to stay on top even after his career has ended.