May 6, 2011
- Order Tickets to Gable’s Gold Retirement Celebration
- USA Olympic Trials – Iowa City, Iowa
- Download your Iowa Hawkeye iPhone app!
- Carver-Hawkeye Arena Revitalization
- Iowa and the Big Ten Network
- Big Ten Network: Free Hawkeye Video
- 24 Hawkeyes to Watch
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Former University of Iowa Director of Athletics Chalmers “Bump” Elliot, the man who brought Hawkeye legends Dan Gable and Hayden Fry to the UI campus, has been added to the growing list of guest speakers at Dan Gable’s retirement celebration. “Gable’s Gold: A Celebration of Dan Gable’s Legacy” will be held June 4 at the Marriott Hotel and Conference Center in Coralville, Iowa. The event is open to the public.
Elliott served as Iowa’s AD for 21 years before retiring in 1991. He hired Gable to head the wrestling program in 1976 after Gable had spent the previous four seasons as an assistant on Gary Kurdelmeier’s Iowa staff. Gable led Iowa to 11 national titles and 15 Big Ten championships during the Elliott era.
“It’s going to very difficult being here without (Bump),” Gable told the Cedar Rapids Gazette following Elliott’s retirement announcement. “He gave everybody a fair chance to be successful within the proper way of doing it.”
Elliott joins a list of guest speakers that includes Gable’s former college and Olympic teammate Ben Peterson; Hawkeye head wrestling coach Tom Brands; former Hawkeye wrestlers Mike DeAnna and Terry Brands; Minnesota head wrestling coach J Robinson; and UI Director of Athletics Gary Barta.
The reception is scheduled to begin with a social hour at 5:30 p.m. Dinner is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. with a program to follow. Tickets for the reception and sit-down dinner are $50 per person, or $500 for a table of 10, and can be purchased online by clicking HERE. Tickets can also be purchased over the phone at (319) 335-9323 or (800) IA-HAWKS, or in person at the Carver-Hawkeye Arena West entrance. Ticket office hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Tickets are limited and must be purchased before May 27.
Gable is considered, by most, to be the best collegiate wrestling coach in the history of the sport. He was Iowa’s head coach for 21 years and compiled a 355-21-5 record that included 15 national and 21 Big Ten team titles.