Douglas Blubaugh
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| Nationality | American | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | December 31, 1934 Ponca City, Oklahoma, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | May 16, 2011 (aged 76) | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| Sport | Freestyle Wrestling | ||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Douglas Morlan Blubaugh (December 31, 1934 – May 16, 2011) was an American wrestler and Olympic Champion. He competed at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, where he became the freestyle Olympic Gold Medalist at welterweight, defeating the legendary 1956 Olympic Champion and 3-time World Champion Iranian Wrestler Emam-Ali Habibi.[1]
Blubaugh, born in Ponca City, Oklahoma, was an AAU Champion and an NCAA Champion in 1957 at Oklahoma State University. In 1959 he won another AAU Championship, winning the Outstanding Wrestler Award. Also in 1959 Blubaugh won a Pan-American Games Gold Medal before he made the 1960 Olympic team. While a student at OSU, Blubaugh was initiated as a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity; in January 2011, he was inducted into the TKE Oklahoma Hall of Fame.[2] In 1979, Blubaugh was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame as a Distinguished Member.[3]
For his efforts in Rome, Blubaugh was named the World's Outstanding Wrestler in 1960.[4] Blubaugh later became wrestling coach at Indiana University.[1]
He resided in Tonkawa, Oklahoma, until his death in a traffic accident while riding his motorcycle.[1] He was struck by a pickup truck, which ran a stop sign.[5]
Blubaugh continued to be an ambassador for the sport of wrestling until his death on May 16, 2011 at the age of 76.
References
- ^ a b c Klingman, Kyle (May 17, 2011). "FLASH: Olympic Champion Doug Blubaugh passes away at 76". themat.com. USA Wrestling. Archived from the original on May 23, 2011. Retrieved May 18, 2011.
- ^ "Helen Ford Wallace — Parties, Etc. — March 27th". The Oklahoman. March 27, 2011. Retrieved October 15, 2022.
- ^ Doug Blubaugh. National Wrestling Hall of Fame. Retrieved September 17, 2022.
- ^ "Douglas Blubaugh Obituary (2011) Oklahoman".
- ^ "Doug Blubaugh was tougher than he was good," NewsOK, Barry Tramel, 10 August 2017
External links
- Douglas Blubaugh at the International Wrestling Database
- Douglas Blubaugh at Olympedia
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- 1934 births
- 2011 deaths
- Wrestlers at the 1960 Summer Olympics
- American male sport wrestlers
- Olympic gold medalists for the United States in wrestling
- People from Ponca City, Oklahoma
- Sportspeople from Oklahoma
- Oklahoma State Cowboys wrestlers
- Indiana University faculty
- Road incident deaths in Oklahoma
- Motorcycle road incident deaths
- People from Tonkawa, Oklahoma
- Medalists at the 1960 Summer Olympics
- Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States
- Pan American Games medalists in wrestling
- Wrestlers at the 1959 Pan American Games
- Ponca City High School alumni
- Medalists at the 1959 Pan American Games
- American sport wrestler stubs
- American Olympic medalist stubs