Steveson presented Hodge Trophy at Minnesota-Ohio State football game

Photo: WIN publisher Bryan Van Kley (second from left) presented the 2021 WIN Magazine/Culture House Dan Hodge Trophy to 2021 NCAA champion and Olympic gold medalist Gable Steveson Thursday night at the Minnesota-Ohio State football game in Minneapolis. Joining them were Gopher head coach Brandon Eggum (left) and assistant coach Trevor Brandvold.

2021 has been quite a year for Gable Steveson, who captured his first NCAA championship in March for Minnesota, then most recently captured an Olympic gold medal for the United States in freestyle wrestling in Tokyo … all around the age of 21.

And on Sept. 2, 2021, the heavyweight wrestler from Apple Valley, Minn., was honored by his Gopher faithful and WIN Publisher Bryan Van Kley, who presented Steveson the 2021 WIN Magazine/Culture House Dan Hodge Trophy, presented annually each year by ASICS, before over 50,000 Gopher fans during Minnesota’s nationally-televised game with Ohio State.

Steveson shared the nation’s most coveted award — named after the late Oklahoma University legend — with Iowa’s three-time NCAA champion Spencer Lee.

“The atmosphere at the season-opener for the Gophers was electric with them playing the No. 4 team in the country on a prime-time television night game on Fox,” Van Kley said. “Gable did an awesome job honoring his Gopher fans and getting them into a frenzy while he accepted the Hodge, the crowd chanting ‘U-S-A, U-S-A,’ as he held the award above his head in the end zone.

“It was a privilege to present the Hodge to him and we’re very grateful to award sponsor ASICS for their continued support of the Hodge and wrestling. As it should be, wrestling was in the spotlight well last night as the sell-out crowd honored Gable with a standing ovation. It made me extremely proud of Gable, the Hodge and our sport to be apart of it.”

Steveson, named after the legendary wrestler/coach Dan Gable, is still determining if he will return for another year of college wrestling or go into other professional opportunities like pro wrestling or MMA.

The former four-time Minnesota state champion from Apple Valley High School, has compiled a 67-2 career record for the Gophers. That included a 2021 NCAA championship over Michigan’s Mason Parris this past March and a 2019 NCAA runner-up spot. Steveson, who has won his last 34 college matches was also seeded No. 1 in the 2020 NCAAs which were supposed to be in Minneapolis at U.S. Bank Stadium, but were cancelled because of the pandemic.

On the international stage, Steveson made the most of his first Senior-level competition in early August when he scored a come-from-behind match-winning takedown with less than a second left to beat World champion Geno Petriashvili of the Republic of Georgia for the 125-kilogram Olympic title in Japan.

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