Doug Blubaugh, winner of the gold medal in the welterweight class at the 1959 Pan American Games following his brother Jack, who won gold in the bantamweight class at the 1955 Pan American Games, was also a two-time AAU Champion (1957/59) and 1957 NCAA Champion before he made the 1960 Olympic team. Blubaugh had been third at the 1955 NCAAs and second in 1956 before winning the 1957 title. At Rome he beat the supposedly unbeatable Iranian, Emam Ali Habibi, and then had a clear road to the gold medal. For his efforts, Blubaugh was named the World’s Outstanding Wrestler in 1960.
Blubaugh later became wrestling coach at Indiana University, and assistant coach at Michigan State, in addition to coaching the US teams at the 1971 World Championships and Pan-American Games. His son followed him as a top high school wrestler in Indiana. In the late 70s, Habibi became embroiled in the political turmoil in Iran and, although he remained there, he arranged for his family to emigrate to the United States, where they settled in Indiana. In a high school wrestling match in 1980, the sons of Blubaugh and Habibi competed for opposing teams, although they did not face each other directly.
United States