Douglas Morlan Blubaugh (December 31, 1934 – May 16, 2011) was an American

wrestler Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves diffe ...

and Olympic Champion. He competed at the

1960 Olympic Games The 1960 Olympics may refer to: *The 1960 Winter Olympics, which were held in Squaw Valley, United States *The 1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad () and commonly known as Rome 19 ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, 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 Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

, was an AAU Champion and an NCAA Champion in 1957 at

Oklahoma State University Oklahoma State University (informally Oklahoma State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Stillwater, Oklahoma, United States. The university was established in 1890 under the legislation of the Morrill Act. Originally known ...

. 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 Tau Kappa Epsilon (), commonly known as or Teke, is a social college fraternities and sororities, fraternity founded on January 10, 1899, at Illinois Wesleyan University. The organization has chapters throughout the United States and Canada, maki ...

fraternity; in January 2011, he was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame. In 1979, Blubaugh was inducted into the

National Wrestling Hall of Fame The National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum and hall of fame for amateur wrestling, headquartered in Stillwater, Oklahoma. In 2010, it began operating the Dan Gable Museum in Waterloo, Iowa. History The museum was awarded to Stil ...

as a Distinguished Member. For his efforts in Rome, Blubaugh was named the World's Outstanding Wrestler in 1960. Blubaugh later became wrestling coach at

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...

. He resided in

Tonkawa, Oklahoma Tonkawa is a city in Kay County, Oklahoma, Kay County, Oklahoma, United States, along the Salt Fork Arkansas River. The population was 3,015 as of the 2020 United States census. History Named after the Tonkawa tribe, the city of Tonkawa was foun ...

, and continued to be an ambassador for the sport of wrestling until his death in a traffic accident on May 16, 2011. He was struck on his motorcycle by a

pickup truck A pickup truck or pickup is a Truck_classification#Table_of_US_GVWR_classifications, light or medium duty truck that has an enclosed cabin (truck), cabin, and a back end made up of a cargo bed that is enclosed by three low walls with no roof (th ...

, which ran a

stop sign A stop sign is a traffic sign designed to notify drivers that they must come to a complete stop and make sure the intersection (road), intersection (or level crossing, railroad crossing) is safely clear of vehicles and pedestrians before contin ...

."Doug Blubaugh was tougher than he was good," NewsOK, Barry Tramel, 10 August 2017
/ref> He was 76.

References

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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 Sportspeople 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 in wrestling Wrestlers at the 1959 Pan American Games Ponca City High School alumni Medalists at the 1959 Pan American Games 20th-century American sportsmen {{US-Olympic-medalist-stub