Douglas Blubaugh

Douglas Blubaugh
Medal record
Men's wrestling
Representing the United States
Olympic Games

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 received a gold medal in freestyle welterweight, defeating the five-time world champion, the legendary Iranian Wrestler Emam-Ali Habibi.^[1]

Blubaugh, born in Ponca City, Oklahoma, was a two-time AAU Champion at Oklahoma State University 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.^{[citation needed]}

For his efforts in Rome, Blubaugh was named the World’s Outstanding Wrestler in 1960.^[2] 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.^[3]

Blubaugh continued to be an ambassador for the sport of wrestling until his death on May 16, 2011 at the age of 76.