Just a few short years ago, Gabe Dean was a standout football player at Lowell HS (MI), where he starred at quarterback and led the Red Arrows to a state title as a sophomore, and a runner-up finish later on his his high school career. Dean was also honored as the the AP Division 1-2 Player of the Year as a junior.
As many football players do, Dean (whose father Dave is the former wrestling coach at Michigan State) also starred on the wrestling mat as well. As a high school wrestler, Gabe went 40-0 and won the state title at 189 pounds as a junior at Lowell, collected a hard-fought runner-up finish as a senior, and then made the decision to further his wrestling career at Cornell, one of the top wrestling programs in the country.
As a sophomore at Cornell, Dean won the national wrestling title, and was the #1 seed heading into the NCAA Championships this season when battled his way to the finals against Nebraska's TJ Dudley.
Before taking the mat for that match, Dean read the following letter that he had written previously in front of cameras. In it he shares a number of powerful messages that all athletes should take time to listen to.
After reading this, Dean went on beat Dudley to capture an elusive second straight national title in his weight class, and while that feat has drawn a ton of attention, the stuff in this video coming from a young college athlete is something that, truly, everyone should see and take to heart.