Douglas Blubaugh Explained

Douglas Blubaugh
Fullname:Douglas Morlan Blubaugh
Birth Date:31 December 1934
Birth Place:Ponca City, Oklahoma, U.S.
Death Place:Tonkawa, Oklahoma, U.S.
Sport:Wrestling
Event:Freestyle and Folkstyle
Collegeteam:Oklahoma A&M
Team:USA
Country:United States
Coach:Myron Roderick
Club:U.S. Army

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.

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 Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: TKE Oklahoma Hall of Fame.[1] In 1979, Blubaugh was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame as a Distinguished Member.[2]

For his efforts in Rome, Blubaugh was named the World's Outstanding Wrestler in 1960.[3] Blubaugh later became wrestling coach at Indiana University.

He resided in Tonkawa, Oklahoma, and continued to be an ambassador for the sport of wrestling until his death in a traffic accident on May 16, 2011.[4] He was struck on his motorcycle by a pickup truck, which ran a stop sign.[5] He was 76.

Notes and References

  1. News: March 27, 2011 . Helen Ford Wallace — Parties, Etc. — March 27th . . October 15, 2022.
  2. https://nwhof.org/hall_of_fame/bio/32 Doug Blubaugh
  3. Web site: Douglas Blubaugh Obituary (2011) Oklahoman. .
  4. Web site: FLASH: Olympic Champion Doug Blubaugh passes away at 76 . USA Wrestling . Kyle . Klingman . themat.com . May 17, 2011 . May 18, 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110523040653/http://www.themat.com/section.php?section_id=3&page=showarticle&ArticleID=23600 . May 23, 2011 . dead .
  5. http://newsok.com/article/5559704 "Doug Blubaugh was tougher than he was good," NewsOK, Barry Tramel, 10 August 2017