Dear Mr. Douglas:

My older brother was a competitor at the '68 Olympic Trials, I believe he took tenth ( in your weight class). Almost every time I see him I ask him to recount the events that took place during that match. He told me that during weigh-ins he was standing in line and he turned around for a minute and saw a man that he described as having a body like a "Greek God."
He said this man had arms twice the size of his and his hands were not only big but they seemed to hang down to his knees. The chest on this person he described as enormous. The only thing that ran through his mind was, Oh God please don't let me have to wrestle him. He told me that he actually wanted to wrestle Dan Gable, he thought he could beat him and still feels that way. You see my brother was the JC state champ from California, personally I think he was the greatest ever. Anyway, the man he saw behind him in line was of course you.

He told me of the match between you and Mr. Gable, how you took him down at will and the only point he scored was when you let him go. My brother described the match as though you were wrestling against somebody in high school, as we all know, Dan Gable was the defending undeafeated division 1 NCAA champ. I have heard this story in detail so many times I swear I was there. He also told me how Sam Huff pinned Dan Gable. He said he took him down with a firemans and and took Gable to his back, the first time he had been there, to his credit Gable got away. My brother said he could almost read Huff's mind, it if he said , "well that worked pretty good, lets try it again." so he did. He took him down with another fireman's, put him on his back, pinned him and that was it. Then everyone was waiting for the match of the tournament, or for that matter the match of of all time, you and Huff. But that didn't materialize, you blew through Huff, I believe he said 9-1. I could be wrong about the score of course, but in any event he said you made it look easy. I'm not try8ing to discredit Dan Gable in any way. He came back in 72 and did not give up a point in the Olympics, plus he is one of the all time great coaches. I just get so tired when I hear someone talking about Dan Gable being the greatest of all time. When I do hear people talk about Dan Gable being the greatest wrestler of all time and how he only lost once in his career, I tell them of the time when Mr. Gable not only lost once in his career, I tell them of the time when Mr. Gable not only lost twice in one day, he got spanked.
I just want you to know that just as it's impossible to come up with a consensus all time greatest quarterback or pitcher, there is no greatest wrestler, however, if they ever do vote for one, you will most certainly get my vote.

Sincerely,
Robert Dean

In the last 15 seconds of the match, Gable tried to go upper body. I threw him with a headlock which would have been a five point move or a touch fall.