Douglas Blubaugh

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.[1]

Douglas Blubaugh

Personal information
Nationality	American
Born	(1934-12-31)December 31, 1934 Ponca City, Oklahoma, U.S.
Died	May 16, 2011(2011-05-16) (aged 76) Tonkawa, Oklahoma, U.S.
Sport
Country	United States
Sport	Wrestling
Event(s)	Freestyle and Folkstyle
College team	Oklahoma A&M
Team	USA
Medal record Men's freestyle wrestling Representing the  United States Olympic Games 1960 Rome 73 kg Pan American Games 1959 Chicago 78 kg Collegiate Wrestling Representing Oklahoma A&M NCAA Wrestling Championships 1955 Ithaca 147 lb 1956 Stillwater 157 lb 1957 Pittsburgh 157 lb

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 TKE Oklahoma Hall of Fame.[2] In 1979, Blubaugh was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame as a Distinguished Member.[3]

For his efforts in Rome, Blubaugh was named the World's Outstanding Wrestler in 1960.[4] 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.[5]

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