Medal Winners
Waterloo native and wrestling legend Dan Gable received the highest civilian honor this nation presents–the Presidential Medal of Freedom–in an Oval Office White House ceremony presided over by President Trump on Monday.
The award in its current form was created during the John F. Kennedy administration. By my count, Gable is the sixth native Iowan to receive the honor, and the first in nearly 30 years.
The first was labor union leader John L. Lewis, born in Lucas County, who was presented the honor by President Lyndon Johnson in 1964.
Then came the legendary agronomist Dr. Norman Borlaug, a Cresco native, who received his medal from President Gerald Ford in 1977.
The legendary actor John Wayne was born Marion Morrison in Winterset, and was honored by President Jimmy Carter in 1980.
Mason City’s music man, Meredith Willson, was presented the medal by President Ronald Reagan in 1987.
Then came television hall of famer Johnny Carson, born in Corning, who was presented the medal by President George H. W. Bush as he retired from the “Tonight Show” in 1992.
Then, this past Monday, Dan Gable.
There have been others with some Iowa ties, of course…but we think that’s the list of native-born Iowans to be so honored.
And of that half-dozen…only Gable was born here, educated here, and made his name on the world stage from his lifelong home base in Iowa.
All worthy…but the latest honoree, for those reasons, perhaps even more so.
