ACHIEVEMENTS
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- 7x World and Olympic Champion
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- 6x World Medalist
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- 10x US National Champion
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- 5x World Cup Champion
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- 2x Tbilisi Champion
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- NCAA Champion
Dave's History
Norman, Oklahoma
Dave Schultz was a California high school wrestling champion and attended the University of Oklahoma, where he became a 1982 NCAA champion defeating Mike Sheets from Oklahoma State University in the finals by criteria tie-breaker in overtime.
Kyiv, Soviet Union
In 1983, Dave dismantled his Soviet opponent to become a World Champion, thus reaching the pinnacle of the sport.
Los Angeles, California
In 1984 Dave won an Olympic gold medal, competing with the United States team. He also won the gold medal in the 74 kg weight class over Martin Knosp from West Germany.
Indianapolis, Indiana
In addition to his Olympic gold medal, he won gold at the 1987 Pan American Games and 1987 Goodwill Games.
Georgia, USA
Dave was the only American ever to be a two-time champion at the Tbilisi Tournament in Georgia.
Atlanta, Georgia
Among many other top U.S. wrestlers, Schultz trained 1996 Olympic Gold Medalist Kurt Angle who later became a professional wrestler.
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Early In The Sport
Dave Schultz spent the majority of his childhood in Palo Alto, California where he transformed from a pudgy, goofy kid hampered by dyslexia, into a 17-year-old prodigy, thrilling Russian crowds at the notoriously competitive Tbilisi tournament. Dave was not a great athlete. But, he pursued the technical aspects of wrestling with the intellectual vigor of a Stanford professor (where he would later spend three years as an assistant coach).
Armed with humility, a huge smile, and a propensity for Eastern European languages, Dave gravitated towards the best wrestling in the world, wherever that may have been. He engaged and disarmed world-class athletes and coaches with his light-hearted banter, then soaked up whatever knowledge they were willing to share. In 1978 Dave won a California High School State Championship, in 1982 He won an NCAA title for the University of Oklahoma and in 1983 he dismantled his Soviet opponent to become a World Champion, thus reaching the pinnacle of the sport.
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An American Hero
At the 1984 Games in Los Angeles, California, Schultz quickly became a media favorite. He played with reporters and captured the fascination of Americans with humor, punctuated by his unique insights into wrestling and life; then made them squirm as he twisted his opponents into alarming positions that didn’t quite seem possible. The building shook with intensity as Dave methodically worked his way through the Gold Medal match virtually uncontested. He capped the moment by blowing kisses from center-mat to his young wife Nancy, who was beaming with pride. As the referee raised Dave’s hand in victory; an American legend was born.
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An Accomplished Career
Over the next 12 years, Dave became one of the most decorated American wrestlers of all time, winning 10 National Open titles and 7 World Championship medals. But, what set this man apart from other great champions and elevated him into the Pantheon of wrestling immortality, were the things he was doing off the mat. Whether in a room full of foreign dignitaries or a Moscow sauna with five Russian janitors, Dave was the person that everyone was drawn to. And he achieved this dynamic, not by touting his own impressive accomplishments, but with effortless diplomacy born out of a genuine curiosity about other people and their experiences throughout the world.
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Athlete, Coach & Leader
He possessed an innate ability to listen, to connect, and to make people feel understood. Throughout his short life, Dave applied his unique interpersonal skills to further his impassioned agenda — making the United States Wrestling Team the best team in the world. Part elementary school teacher part Russian gangster, Dave used his relationships within the international wrestling community to create a free exchange of knowledge between Eastern Europe (the Mecca of wrestling technique) and U.S. Athletes; something that had never been successfully achieved before, or since. From 1988 to 1996, with Dave Schultz acting as athlete, coach, and all-around spiritual leader, the U.S. Wrestling Team steadily rose through the world ranks until ultimately capturing a first World Title in 1993, and then another in 1995. Dave was a true champion in every sense of the word.
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A Tragic End
Unfortunately, this meteoric rise to world dominance would be cut short by three shots of a gun, wielded by an eccentric madman caught in a downward spiral of drug addiction and paranoid schizophrenia. On January 26, 1996, Gold Medalist wrestler David Leslie Schultz was murdered by John E. du Pont, an eccentric heir to the du Pont chemical fortune. America stayed pinned to their televisions as du Pont holed up in his sprawling white-pillared mansion and a three-day police standoff played out in prime time. Less than a mile away a wife and two small children wept, struggling to comprehend new lives without a father.
An entire community of wrestlers, throughout the world, were brought to their knees mourning the loss of a champion, a friend, and quite possibly the most influential individual in the history of their sport.
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The Legacy to Remember
Dave’s death proved catastrophic to everyone whose life he had touched both on and off the mat. Dave has been posthumously honored in almost every way possible. The Dave Schultz Wrestling Club was founded by his wife, Nancy. The Dave Schultz Memorial International is held every year at the U.S. Training Center. The National Wrestling Hall of Fame honors outstanding high school senior citizen athletes with the Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award. He has been inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, the California Hall of Fame and the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame to name a few.
Today, Dave’s adult children, Xander and Danny, remain wonderfully surrounded by the wrestling family. Nancy Schultz continues to be active in the international wrestling world and joins us as an equity partner here at RUDIS.
dave schultz Collection
Sly Fox Duality T-Shirt
Sly Fox Duality Hoodie
Sly Fox Mat Master Elite Shorts
Sly Fox Mat Master Crewneck
The mind is like a muscle. You have to train it just like you train your body to be at its best.
The mind is like a muscle. You have to train it just like you train your body to be at its best.
I Had a Blast. Thanks.
Dave Schultz (USA) vs (Iran) 1995 World Championships
