Dave Schultz (amateur wrestler)

David Leslie Schultz (June 6, 1959 - January 26, 1996) was an Olympic and World champion freestyle wrestler.

Born in Palo Alto, California, he grew up as an overweight kid. Many teachers and classmates mistook his dyslexia for mentally retardation. Schultz would win both his first national and international wrestling titles in 1977 – the same year he had become a state champion as a senior at Palo Alto High School. As a high school senior he pinned 2-time NCAA champion and NCAA "Outstanding Wrestler" Chuck Yagla at the Great Plains Championships. This qualified him to compete on his first U.S. international team in the Tblisi Tournament in Soviet Georgia, considered by many in the wrestling community as the "toughest tournament in the world". Schultz earned a silver medal and was the highest-placing American at the tournament. Due to the timing of Tblisi, Schultz failed to qualify for the California State Championships. His legendary coach Ed Hart petitioned the California Coaches Association to allow Dave to compete without qualifying. Competing at 2 weight classes above his normal weight, Schultz's closest match in the California State Championships was 12-1 in the finals. Later that year he won his first national title by winning the U.S. National Open Greco-Roman Championships and won the award for most falls in the least amount of time. Schultz's senior year is considered by most experts as the most successful senior year in U.S. high school wrestling history. In college Schultz was a three-time NCAA All-American, first at Oklahoma State University and then twice at the University of Oklahoma. In 1982, he was the 167-pound weight class NCAA Champion defeating Mike Sheets from Oklahoma State University in the finals by criteria tie-breaker in overtime.

Dave Schultz would go on to win 10 Senior National titles (eight in Freestyle and two in Greco-Roman) over a 19 year span, at three weight divisions: 149.9 lb, 163 lb and 180.5 lb. In international competition, Schultz won a 1983 World Championship and then a 1984 Olympic gold medal. He won four World Cup and two Pan American Games titles, and is the only American ever to win the prestigious tournament in Tbilisi, Georgia twice. In all, he was a seven-time World and Olympic medalist. Together, Dave and his brother Mark Schultz were the first American brothers to each win gold medals in the same Olympics, and likewise the first and only American brothers to win World and Olympic Championships.

At various times, he also served as an assistant coach at the University of Oklahoma, Stanford University, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Training for another Olympic bid and coaching the private Team Foxcatcher squad in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, Dave Schultz was shot and killed on January 26, 1996 by the team's sponsor, John E. du Pont. A member of the DuPont family, du Pont had exhibited bizarre and threatening behavior preceding the murder. At the trial, neither the prosecution nor the defense suggested a motivation for the crime. A jury rejected DuPont's request to be found not guilty by reason of insanity, and he was found guilty but mentally ill. DuPont was sentenced by Judge Patricia Jenkins to 13-30 years incarceration.

Dave's body was cremated. His surviving family includes his wife, Nancy; his son, Alexander; his daughter, Danielle; his brother Mark; his half brother Michael; his half sister Seana; and both parents Dorothy Jean Saint Germain and Philip Gary Schultz. In 1997, he was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame as a Distinguished Member.

Athletic achievements

* 1982 NCAA Division I Champion, 167 lb class
* 1983 Senior Freestyle world champion, 163 lb
* 1984 Olympic gold medalist, 163.1 lb
* 1986 Goodwill Games gold medalist
* 1994 Goodwill Games silver medalist
* Seven-time USA Senior Freestyle champion (1984, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1993, 1994, 1995; all except 1988 (180.5 lb) at 163 lb)
* Five-time World Cup champion (1980, 1982, 1985, 1994, 1995)
* Two-time Pan American Games champion (1977 (Greco-Roman), 1987(Freestyle))
* Three-time AAU National Champion (1977 GR, 1981 FS, 1982 GR)
* Three-time NCAA Division I all-American (1978, 1981, 1982)
* Two-Time Tbilisi Champion (1984, 1991)
* Two-time Olympic Festival Champion (1985, 1987)
* Two-time Sunkist International Champion (1989, 1990)
* Three-time DeGlane Challenge Champion (1983, 1990, 1991)
* Three-time World silver medalist, 163 lb (1985, 1987, 1993)
* Two-time World Bronze medalist (1982, 1986)

Sources/External links

* [http://www.themat.com/specialevents/2007/schultz/default.php Dave Schultz Memorial International Open]
* [http://www.wrestlinghalloffame.org/bio.php?id=107 Dave Schultz at the National Wrestling Hall of Fame]
* [http://schultzwrestling.org/ The Dave Schultz Wrestling Club] , founded in his memory by Nancy Schultz
* [http://www.paloaltoonline.com/weekly/morgue/news/1996_Jan_31.SCHULTZ.html "Palo Alto Weekly" obituary] , with recollections of Schultz as a youth - January 31, 1996
* [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/olympics/longterm/wrestlng/tribute.htm "Washington Post" obituary]
* [http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/events/1996/olympics/weekly/960812/olyrassl.html "Sports Illustrated" article] by Rick Reilly on the 1996 U.S. Olympic wrestling team drawing inspiration from the memory of Dave Schultz and the presence of his wife and children at the Atlanta Games