Mark Schultz (wrestler)

Mark Schultz
Weight 82 kg
Born (1960-10-26) October 26, 1960
Palo Alto, California, U.S.
High school Palo Alto High School
State championships 1 (California)
College University of Oklahoma
NCAA championships 3
Olympic team United States
Olympic medal Gold
Medal record
Men's freestyle wrestling
Representing the  United States
Olympic Games
1984 Los Angeles – 82 kg
World Championships
1985 Budapest – 82 kg
1987 Clermont-Ferrand – 82 kg
Pan American Games
1987 Indianapolis – 82 kg
World Cup
1982 Toledo – 82 kg

Mark Philip Schultz (born October 26, 1960) is an American Olympic and 2-time World champion freestyle wrestler and a Distinguished Member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame,[1] the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame, the California Wrestling Hall of Fame, and the San Mateo Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame. Additionally, he was promoted to the rank of black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu by Master Pedro Sauer on January 23, 2016.[2]

He and his late older brother Dave Schultz, also a wrestler, were noted for both winning gold medals in wrestling in the same Olympics (1984). They are the only American brothers to win both World and Olympic Gold; they won more NCAA, U.S. Open, World, and Olympic titles than any American brother combination in history.

Early life

Mark Schultz was born in 1960 in Palo Alto, California to Dorothy Jean St. Germain (née Rich)[3] and Philip Gary Schultz. He was their second son; first-born Dave was 17 months older. They had two half-siblings, Michael and Seana. Schultz is of half Ukrainian Jewish and half British descent.[4] His paternal grandparents were Estelle (Bernstein), the daughter of a prominent paper company executive, and Maxwell L. Schultz, a business consultant.[5][6] The boys attended local schools. Schultz got interested in gymnastics and started competing.

Athletic career

High school career

Mark Schultz attended Palo Alto High, where he was coached by Ed Hart.[7] He competed first in gymnastics, winning the Northern California All-Around Gymnastics Championships for his age group. During his junior year in high school, he moved to Ashland, Oregon and switched to wrestling. After one semester he transferred back to Palo Alto, but was declared ineligible, ending the year with a 4–6 record. As a senior he did not win any tournaments until the state qualifiers where Schultz won the league, region, section, and the state. He and Colt Doyle (Poway High School) are the only California State Wrestling Champions never to win a regular season tournament.

Collegiate career

Schultz attended UCLA and went 18-8 his freshman year. He transferred to the University of Oklahoma, redshirted, and in the following three years (1981–83) won three NCAA Championships. Schultz was the NCAA Champion his sophomore year at 167 lbs. His junior year Schultz moved up to 177 lbs where he faced two-time NCAA Champion (1980, 1981) Ed Banach[8] and former NCAA Champion (at 167 lbs in 1980) Matt Reiss.[9] Banach was on track to become the first 4-time NCAA champion in history; however, Schultz beat Banach 16-8 in "one of, if not the best, NCAA finals match of all time"[10] and was named Outstanding Wrestler for the tournament.[11] In his senior year Schultz went undefeated and set the University of Oklahoma record for most victories in a single season without a loss. Schultz was also named University of Oklahoma's "Big 8" medallion winner for outstanding senior male student-athlete.

Olympics and World championships

In 1984 Mark and Dave Schultz both won Olympic Gold in wrestling events, as did the American twin Banach brothers. The following year Mark won the World Championships and faced competitors from all the Eastern bloc countries who had boycotted the 1984 Olympics. In the World finals, Mark built a 10-2 lead after one minute and won 10-5. Mark Schultz is the only 1984 Olympic Champion to win the 1985 World Championships; his brother Dave was the only 1984 Olympic Champion to have won the 1983 World Championships. When Schultz won another World Championship in 1987, he became the first Olympic Champion to add two additional World titles; he also tied Lee Kemp's U.S. record for World golds. In 1991 Mark Schultz, Lee Kemp, and John Smith were recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records as "The most world titles won by a U.S. wrestler."

At the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, he finished in 6th place. This was while he was wrestling for Team Foxcatcher and the infamous John du Pont, who would later murder Mark's brother Dave.

Coaching and mixed martial arts

After eight years in retirement from wrestling competition, Schultz became the first Olympic gold medalist to enter mixed martial arts under bare-knuckle "no-holds-barred" rules in the UFC.[12] Schultz replaced Dave Beneteau at UFC 9 in 1996, facing off against the Canadian Gary Goodridge. He won the bout by doctor stoppage due to a cut.[13] Schultz was paid $50,000 for his victory. Schultz is ranked by one commentator as the greatest wrestler in UFC history.[14] He suffered damage to his back in the fight. At the time he was a coach of wrestling at Brigham Young University.

Coaching and competition

Schultz was the assistant wrestling coach at Brigham Young University from 1991-1994 when he was named head coach. In 1993 Schultz had a widely publicized submission grappling match with Rickson Gracie, a protagonist of a martial art known as Gracie Jiu - Jitsu which came to America from Brazil. Rickson is one of the greatest all-time "No-Holds-Barred" rules fighters and could be considered the greatest Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner ever. At the time only two non-Gracie family members were Gracie Jiu-Jitsu black belts. One was 8th degree black belt Pedro Sauer. Mark fought in UFC IX with Professor Sauer in his corner. Pedro, a 150 lb martial arts master had a widely publicized "No-Holds-Barred" rules fight with Mr. Utah Lance Bachelor a 250 lb bodybuilder. On January 23, 2016 Mark earned a Gracie Jiu-Jitsu black belt under Professor Sauer. In 2000 BYU dropped wrestling and men's gymnastics due to Title IX issues.

Personal life

On January 26, 1996, Mark's brother Dave Schultz, who had worked as a coach for the "Team Foxcatcher" for multimillionaire philanthropist John Eleuthère du Pont, was shot and killed by Du Pont who had been displaying increasingly odd behavior in the months before the murder. Four months after Dave's murder, Mark competed in and won an early mixed martial arts event at UFC 9.[13]

In media

Athletic titles

Mixed martial arts record

.
Res. Record Opponent Method Event Date Round Time Location Notes
Win 1-0 Gary Goodridge TKO (cut) UFC 9 May 17, 1996 1 12:00 Detroit, Michigan, United States Mark was entered in as a late replacement for another fighter.

References

  1. ↑ "Honoree: Mark Schultz". National Wrestling Hall of Fame. 2015. Retrieved January 11, 2015.
  2. ↑ http://www.bjjee.com/featured/wrestling-legend-mark-schultz-promoted-to-bjj-black-belt-by-pedro-sauer/
  3. ↑ "Mark P Schultz". CaliforniaBirthIndex.org. 2015. Retrieved January 11, 2015.
  4. ↑ "Mark Schultz: Books, Biography, Blog, Audiobooks, Kindle". Amazon.com. 2015. Retrieved January 11, 2015.
  5. ↑ World Biography. 2–3. New York, N.Y.: Institute for Research in Biography. 1948. Retrieved January 11, 2015.
  6. ↑ Who's Who of American Women. Marquis Who's Who. January 1976. ISBN 978-0-8379-0409-2. Retrieved January 11, 2015.
  7. ↑ Brown, George; Prioleau, Cassie (February 19, 2010). "Palo Alto High School wrestlers Dave and Mark Schultz remembered for Olympic gold medals, love of wrestling". The Paly Voice. Palo Alto High School. Retrieved January 2, 2012.
  8. ↑ "Honoree: Ed Banach". wrestlinghalloffame.org. Stillwater, OK: National Wrestling Hall of Fame. Retrieved January 2, 2012.
  9. ↑ "NC State Wrestling's History of Success". gopack.com. CBSi Advanced Media. Retrieved March 24, 2015.
  10. ↑ Moore, Roger (February 10, 2012). "Schultz-Banach bout among the best: Championship matches make indelible mark on wrestling fans". NCAA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Retrieved March 24, 2015.
  11. ↑ "52nd NCAA Wrestling Tournament results" (PDF). nwhof.org. NCAA. Retrieved March 24, 2015.
  12. ↑ "UFC Olympic Gold medalist wrestlers". Retrieved August 28, 2014.
  13. 1 2 Messano, Tommy (August 15, 2008). "What a medal can mean to mixed martial artists". ESPN Sports. Retrieved January 11, 2015.
  14. ↑ "Factgrinder: The 25 Greatest Wrestlers in UFC History". Bloody Elbow. August 11, 2013. Retrieved January 11, 2015.
  15. ↑ Schultz, Mark & Thomas, David (2014). Foxcatcher: The True Story of My Brother's Murder, John du Pont's Madness, and the Quest for Olympic Gold. Penguin. ISBN 0241971993.
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