A group of about 40 were gathered at the Mary J. Barnett Memorial Library in Guthrie Center Tuesday evening to listen to a wrestling legend. Olympic Gold Medalist Dan Gable gave a presentation as part of the library’s speaker series in association with the Smithsonian Institute’s “Hometown Teams” exhibit.

The former University of Iowa head coach talked for over an hour about his loyalty to his home state, some of the changes in wrestling, and some personal stories from his books, “A Wrestling Life” and “A Wrestling Life 2.” He also answered questions about recruitment, developing young wrestlers, and his family.

The majority of the presentation however was centered around celebrating community achievements. Gable charged those assembled to promote their community accomplishments, specifically on town entrance signs. “I really like the fact that towns are famous. I like that people do something there, (they’ve) done something there. I like that it’s unbelievable…Do yourselves some good. Be proud and get some bragging rights. The more, the better things that you can talk about Guthrie Center, maybe I’d have been there earlier had those (welcome) signs been up.”

Before the presentation, Gable casually chatted with a group of about 20 and toured the exhibit. The next event in the series is University of Iowa Day on Saturday, with a tailgate party and speakers from 11am-1pm.